While on holiday in Napier, New Zealand the other week, I stumbled across this. An Airstream trailer turned into a coffee cart for the Silver Bullet Coffee Company. The cart opened in November 2013, and although the caravan it’s built around dates to 1976, it’s an Airstream – which makes it pure mid-century. Post-deco, but definitely … More Coffee… from the age of dieselpunk
I thought I would conclude my trilogy of deco posts with a few more glimpses of my home town – Napier, New Zealand. The place has spectacularly reinvented itself since its discovery, about 25 years ago, of its own modernist heritage. Today it styles itself the ‘art deco capital of the world’. And in many … More More wonderful architecture from the art deco capital of the world
I’ve spent a few days prowling the downtown streets of my home town, Napier, New Zealand, capturing its art deco heritage. I’ve been writing on it for years – Random House produced my first book on the history of this city, back in 1997. The downtown collection of modernist buildings emerged from a devastating earthquake … More Enjoying the art deco fantasy of Napier, New Zealand
Welcome to 2014! I thought I’d share some photos I’ve taken in the last few days from the art deco capital of the world – Napier, New Zealand. This year’s already stacked for me, certainly writing-wise. I have a book in press and others to finish and get to publishers by deadline. More on that … More Welcome to 2014 from the art deco capital of the world
It’s Christmas again. Where has 2013 gone? Why, the way every year does – quickly, in a sea of good intentions and reorganised plans. I hope everybody has a wonderful festive season. Whether it’s snowing or high summer. And that, somewhere along the way, we get the chance to bring a little more cheer to … More It’s Christmas. Again.
This week’s NaNo Writing Prompt photo is a vision from the golden age of Hollywood. It was an age when streamline moderne reigned supreme, when the movies really were magic, and when the ‘haves’ could still afford – and get – utter luxury in the form of this 1942 Packard Super Eight 160 coupe. At … More NaNo Writing Prompt No. 3
I thought I’d share this dyspostrophic sign I found outside a shop in Marewa, the ‘art deco’ suburb of Napier, New Zealand. Of course it’s an excuse for me to write a headline with three recursions. Trees behind are Canary Island date palms. I took it on a mid-winter’s day, incidentally. Enjoy. The suburb itself is … More Revenge of the return of the son of Rogue Apostrophe
A lot of people hope to write like Ernest Hemingway. Cool. The issue is how. He didn’t just do it by short sentences and by stripping out adjectives and adverbs. If you read his stuff, you’ll also find long sentences, and for good reason. The real secret was what he left out. He knew what … More Sixty second writing tips: it’s what you don’t write that counts
A while ago I spent a delightful few days in Napier, New Zealand, enjoying a weekend celebration of 1930s elite lifestyles, an annual event inspired by the architecture that dominates the centre of town. By design it was more Hollywood fantasy than reality, but that made it all the more fun. An inspiration. The ‘art deco weekend’ also brought … More Inspirations: the spirit of deco and the art of the abstract truth
There is a pleasure about summer that seems to blow away the cobwebs of a busy year and the gloom of winter. Today I thought I’d share a few pictures I took recently in Napier, New Zealand. It’s my home town, though I don’t live there these days; and it underscores the fact that there … More Summer skies, blue waters and a promise for the year
Matthew Wright 
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