HOME SERIES x HARRY WERE

Home is a word with many meanings — a place to rest and renew, to gather and grow, connect and commune. It means different things to different people at different times, making it a constant source of fascination and inspiration. 

Through this series, we explore the meaning of home through the eyes and words of creative people who move, intrigue, and energise us.

Home for maker and photographer Harry Were is Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, a corner of the world in which she has fostered her creativity and maker’s spirit from a very young age. 

Ten years ago, Harry started work on her dream to connect with local textile makers around New Zealand to create her own handmade, timeless designs under her eponymous business – a project that feels both personal and informed by her love of community and relationships built through her work. Over time, Harry has brought together a supportive network of women who spin, sew, stitch and knit by hand,  in a collaborative process to create each Harry Were piece lovingly. 

Harry’s work is calming and warm, emanating a deep care for craft, thoughtful details, and local materials, much like her home she shares with boyfriend Emile, two-year old daughter Ida, their two dogs and a cat. 

Filled with dappled light, textiles and handmade objects from near and wide, since becoming a mother Harry and Ida spend lots of time together, Harry mothering while dreaming of new ideas for making and people she wants to collaborate with. Ida plays with her dollhouse, which Harry and Emile meditatively made for her 1st birthday, an intricate and intimate celebration of home. Using real terracotta tiles, bricks, thatched roof and miniature paint brushes to 1:12 scale, the dollhouse is a magical home within their home for Ida’s imagination to run wild. In this conversation, and through her photographs, Harry shares the people, places and rituals that make her home.

How would you describe your home?

Our home was built in the late 1930’s. It was built as a state home and back then they used native timbers. It is very honest and humble, up 25 steps with rock wall terraces out the front and a garden out the back which has a gate into a reserve. A lot of the houses around us are the same style and are still state owned. All are slightly differently. I feel very lucky to live here and alongside people from all different cultures, countries and backgrounds. I feel like we are not the owners but just the caretakers until the next people or generation. We’ve planted native trees as well as fruit trees that we hope to share with the community.

Can you tell me about the place you call home?

We live in a central suburb in the biggest city in Aotearoa. It is very multi cultural with the largest pacific population in the world. 

We found this area and house while walking our dogs up the maunga (mountain), that we now look out to. We have been here for almost 3 years now. There are lots of mature native trees around which attract lots of birds - Tūī, Kererū, Piwakawaka, swallows, rosellas and all through the neighbourhood people have wonderful gardens. Growing feijoas, avocados, bananas, figs, plums, peaches, corn, taro and we can hear chickens too.

I feel like it's a privilege to live in Aotearoa, I never take it for granted. If I go away and come back it always feels like a hug when landing. People are humble. We are very close to nature and the sea, even from a big city, it's very accessible. And I love how barefeet in summer here are everywhere. 

How would you describe your home style?

It is very simple. We would love to renovate in the future but it is definitely not happening anytime soon. So we adapt with how the house is, and we have our few things that make it work for us and my family when they come to stay. We don’t own a lot of things. Emile has made shelves and mirrors, and we put a large table in the living room for when family come to stay, although we tend to eat outside sitting on the grass.

How your creative process inspire your home, and how in turn does home inspire you creatively?

I used to work at home, recently I moved my work things out of the spare bedroom so my brother could live with us for a bit. My home and creative process are really entwined, my daily life inspires my work. Working from a different space has given me a bit more clarity (and space) which is a huge luxury. My work has always been woven into my personal life, the relationships that I make in my work life become some of my closest friends.

"My home and creative process are really entwined, my daily life inspires my work."

Some objects hold the weight of memory, softened by time and shaped by the hands that have held it. Do you have a piece in your home that springs to mind, and would you share the story behind it?

All the pieces that my partner Emile has made for us, he’s a woodworker. I imagine them being passed down through the family along with the dollhouse! My friend Rosemary knitted me a hot water bottle cover before she died. I wanted to come up with something smaller for Rosemary to knit while she was sick, it was her request. It will always be with me and remind me of her hands and her warmth.

Rachel Scott Bowling’s rugs, I was introduced to her work by a friend and met her when I went to London last year. Her rugs are handspun and hand woven by her using local English undyed wool. I bought my first one after my friend John died he was 91. Rosemary his wife used to knit my handspun yarns for me and I was very close to her. John and Rosemary were from England and the rug reminds me of my relationship with them. They are part of our daily lives in our living room, playing blocks, lying on them, the dogs like them too!

Do you have any daily home rituals? How would you describe them?

We light a candle when we have dinner, Ida blows it out when it’s over. After that we have a bath together, have since Ida was a baby. 

What has having Ida taught you that you now carry with you into your home and creative life?

More patience! And presence.

What is Ida’s favourite place in your home and why?

Probably her dollhouse that Emile and I made for her first birthday. It was late but a labour of love in her first year, she grew alongside it. It surprises me how much she likes playing with it now at such a young age.

What does home mean to you?

Warmth.

Thank you to Harry for opening up her home to us. The blanket featured in this edition of Home Series is Norlha's Dense Boiled Tent Blanket. Ida is wearing the Children's Twill Tibetan Shirt. Photography by Harry Were.