One much-loved object from your home. One coveted object you WANT in your home.

That’s the brief for Design Lives HERE, Objectspace's annual design event with Here Magazine, presented by Cemac Commercial Interiors.

We’re back in 2023 with four new speakers ready to reveal something they treasure, and something they’re coveting.

Your speakers are:
• Rosanna Raymond – MNZM, art world royalty, Sistar S'pacific and SaVAge K’lub original
• Chris Parker – self-proclaimed people's princess of New Zealand and funniest person we know
• Dr Karamia Müller – academic, curator, writer, first Sāmoan woman in the world to receive a PhD in Architecture
• Tom Hishon – the chef, entrepreneur and Objectspace neighbour behind Orphans Kitchen, Kingi, Daily Bread and our cheese roll obsession

Here Magazine’s Simon Farrell-Green returns to host this dynamic evening centred around design, collecting and discovery.

Countdown is on! Grab your tickets here.

$50 per head, which includes entertainment, espresso martinis concocted by Scapegrace and Allpress Espresso, wines from Black Estate and Greystone, beers from Liberty Brewing, fizzy from Almighty and Good Sh*t AND good eats by Tom Hishon himself!

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Get to know your speakers:  

Rosanna Raymond MNZM

Sistar S’pacific aka Rosanna Raymond is a notable producer of, and commentator on contemporary Pacific culture in Aotearoa and internationally. She is a long-standing member of the art collective the Pacific Sisters and a founding member of the SaVAge K’lub. Rosanna specialises in working within museums and tertiary institutions, and has achieved international renown for her writing, poetry, performances, installations, body adornment, and spoken word. She was awarded the Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Pacific Senior Artist for 2018 acknowledging her contribution to the arts, is a former Chester Dale Fellow at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and holds a Master of Philosophy from Auckland University of Technology Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau. This year Rosanna was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of her services to Pacific Arts. 

Chris Parker 

The self-proclaimed People's Princess of Aotearoa, Chris Parker is most commonly known for his funny Instagram and Tiktok videos, his legendary win on Celebrity Treasure Island and most strangely a felted hat he made during the 2020 nationwide lockdown that now resides at The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira. Chris tours his award winning comedy shows nationally and internationally to sell-out crowds. He’s performed to 5 star reviews and sell-out crowds in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, is a regular face on your television, has been nominated for Television Personality of the Year and received the inaugural Topp Prize from the New Zealand Comedy Trust for Aotearoa’s the most generous and gifted comedian. Last year he arrived at Objectspace with a small felted doll depicting Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. Dorothy took pride of place in our exhibition twisting, turning, winding: takatāpui + queer objects.

Dr Karamia Müller

Dr Karamia Müller is a Pacific academic specialising in indigenous space concepts. Currently a lecturer at the School of Architecture and Planning, University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau, her research specialises in the meaningful ‘indigenisation’ of design methodologies invested in building futures resistant to inequality. On top of being the first Sāmoan woman in the world to receive a PhD in Architecture, Karamia undertakes a variety of creative, multi-disciplinary projects. These have seen her collaborate with artists such as Rebecca Ann Hobbs and Simon Denny, publish the bilingual picture book How Do You Say “Thank You”?, write regular columns for ArchitectureNow and ArchitectureNZ, work with research group Forensic Architecture, curate exhibitions for the likes of Artspace Aotearoa and Gus Fisher Gallery, and speak at all sorts of interesting events (like this one).

Tom Hishon 

Tom Hishon is a chef, entrepreneur and neighbour of Objectspace. He’s spent the last decade opening iconic eateries with his friends, beginning with Orphans Kitchen in 2013, then the first outpost of the Daily Bread empire in 2018 and seafood restaurant Kingi in 2020. Recently he’s applied his passion for food sustainability and ability to invent runaway hits to WithWild, a food initiative that incorporates conservation and wild animal management. WithWild supplies consumers and restaurants with nutrient dense wild food that has as much purpose as it does flavour. Tom was Metro Chef of the Year in 2016 and received Cuisine Magazine’s inaugural Innovation in Food award - they also gave his restaurant Kingi two hats! He has been quoted (by us) as saying “We could definitely do a mountain of cheese rolls!” and we’re looking to hold him to it for Design Lives Here.