Upstairs Downstairs
A gallery of design

Swinsons is a long standing name in this country when it comes to wallcoverings — 32 years to be exact. Now under the enthusiastic guidance of the second generation with son Grant Swinson, the company is enjoying a much higher profile. One suspects that their recently opened, distinctive Newmarket showroom, offering the best in overseas design has a lot to do with it. Here architects and interior designers can look at the best in local and international wallcoverings, fabrics, ceramics and objets d'art, at their leisure and in most impressive surroundings. Its the showroom everyone's talking about.

Photography: John Pettitt

Carys and Grant Swinson so love the Galleria arcade in Milan that they have endeavoured to recreate it in their own building.

Wallcovering showroom showing display shelving, room sets and wings of some of the 7000 patterns or colours available.

Designers seating area where selection of wallcoverings and fabrics can be done in comfort and under colour correction lighting.

Reception area showing a two-seater covered in Swinson Baresque 'Schumacher' fabric. The ceramic cheetah and ceramic black and terracotta lampbase from Florence have both been imported by Swinson International Ltd.

When it comes to imported wallcoverings, the name of the game today is choice and service. For years, Swinson Imports Limited have brought in wallcoverings from the U.K. and the U.S.A., however, because of import restrictions, growth was severely limited and the small size of the New Zealand market meant that stocking a large range was impossible. Overseas trade fairs and visits to beautiful showrooms were only a frustration to managing director, Grant Swinson, who was dying to do the same things here that he observed overseas.

The closest he came to an involvement with this international scene was with Baresque Pty Limited of Australia, who handled many of the same brands and this served to form a common link with Swinsons. As commercial interior design in New Zealand burgeoned, Baresque were mushrooming across the Tasman to become the name in imported wallcoverings with the emphasis on commercial. The Tasman connection was on the road to being formalised — last year Swinson and Baresque decided to join forces for New Zealand.

Their first major success was the Regent Hotel contract and since then they have been shaking up the market.

To accommodate the joining of forces, new premises were required. As luck would have it, Swinsons found the perfect building planned for Carlton Gore Road, Newmarket, and quicly concluded the purchase deal. Now a year later, their new building, designed by architects Sinclair-Johns for Argus Management is looking particularly distinctive and inviting. The elegant interior, too, offers interior designers and architects a magical showroom of a standard and quality they are unaccus- page 129

Beautiful Italian Balloon decor decorated in the palest pastel shades of blue, pink and lemon. Matching items include lampbases, pot-plant holders, vases, ashtrays, tissue container and glasses.

Italian figurines — two styles delicately trimmed in gold, another swathed in pink and the fourth jet black for modern decor.

tomed to seeing in this country.

Swinsons now stock 36 items of commercial vinyl wallcoverings, 1.37m (54") wide, in a range of three embosses in the latest and best colours from the Guard range of New York, plus 26 Italian Novalin linen wallcoverings. Add to that another 300 wallcovering items including suedes, linens, weaves, orientals, vinyls, and mylars from around the world on one week delivery from Baresque in Sydney and the other 6,600 items available on indent from Europe and the USA. Imagine! 7,500 wallcovering colours/patterns from the biggest and best the world has to offer.

Swinsons distribute not only for the world's largest wallcovering manufacturer, Borden, but also for the most exclusive names and many small specialists.

To add to this incredible range Baresque have entered into the fabric market in earnest and Swinsons handle sales in New Zealand. Besides such fashion names as Schumacher, a stunning first-ever New Zealand made range of woollen upholstery and partition fabrics with a co-ordinating theme have just been released, allowing limitless possibilities for colour scheme co-ordination.

Not content with wallcoverings and fabrics alone, upstairs at Swinson International Limited, Carys Swinson has the most beautiful display of ceramics selected each year from trips to Italy and other world trade fairs. The selection of ceramic table lamps, pedestals, gift items and animals is awe-inspiring. Here one can find Italian ceramic pots in all colours and terracotta from the top designer names in Italy. These items complement the wallcoverings and all together offer the interior designer one of the most exquisite and comprehensive ranges ever to be presented in New Zealand.

A cream background for Carys Swinson's showroom is a wonderful foil for these magnificent lamp bases featured in the foreground. The Italians are certainly the masters in ceramic ware. An example of this is shown in the Art Nouveau style of the butterfly lampbase in the foreground.