Alice Lines | The Estate at Home
Alice Lines - Editor of Homestyle magazine
The living area at Alice and her partner Nick’s place is drenched in morning sun. The sofa is the Amanta by Mario Bellini for C&B Italia from Babelogue.
Introducing the next profile in our The Estate at Home series
The multi-talented Alice Lines is a valued friend of Webb's, both in her professional capacity as an interior stylist and Publisher and Editor of Homestyle, and also a personal one as a long-time fan of The Estate. A timeless and considered design ethos is central to her work and also comes to life in the beautifully welcoming feel of her 1970s Ōtautahi/Christchurch home — making her the ideal subject for The Estate at Home. We had a chat to Alice about her career, her life down South, and her advice on developing a unique styling signature.
An Alva armchair by Sarah Ellison and Globe cushion by Klay are paired with an Offset stool from Resident.
We are so pleased to be featuring you in our Estate at Home series! How would you describe your home and who you live with?
Kia ora, thanks for having me. I live in Ōtautahi/Christchurch with my partner Nick Burrowes and our son Ted. We moved here a couple of years ago after discovering and falling for a 1970s pole house by architects Trengrove and Marshall. We were living in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland when we purchased it — sight unseen during the COVID lockdown. The decision to move back was made on a bit of a whim, but settling back in has been fairly effortless as both Nick and I grew up in Waitaha/Canterbury.
You relocated to Christchurch recently. Did you have a previous connection to the region? How do you find it compared to living and working in Auckland?
After eleven years in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, we’re enjoying being back down south. We spend a lot of time in the outdoors, and it suits this stage of life for our family. We travel north for work regularly, so still feel like we get to dip back into the best of what Tāmaki has to offer too.
I would consider Christchurch New Zealand’s home of mid-century architecture — so many amazing examples throughout the city. Have you had the chance to view any special standouts since living there and/or through your work?
Yes! I love that aspect of Ōtautahi. There’s a really rich heritage of the built environment here, and organisations like Te Pūtahi do an amazing job of creating opportunities for people to visit architectural gems in and around the city through the annual Open Christchurch festival. I’ve made sure to get along to as many of the mid-century projects as possible each year and have also been charmed by some of the older heritage buildings too — there’s lots to discover once you start looking.
“I’ve always been interested in art and craft practitioners, so lots of our choices are guided by the story of how they’ve been made,” says Alice.
Alice’s Picks from this fortnight’s iteration of The Estate
Alice’s decorating ethos is to wait for the right pieces rather than racing to fill gaps. “We only buy things that we know we’ll have for a long time, so whether it’s functional or decorative, making additions happens slowly,” she says.
Do you predominantly work from home? Is this something that has informed your home layout and design choices? (I spy a desk and chair set-up from Webb’s too!)
Both Nick and I work from home, and when we were considering buying this house, it was certainly on the pros list that the split-level, two-storey floor plan allowed us to work independently from two breakout spaces that are separate from our main living areas. I still want my office to feel a part of my interior aesthetic, and vintage furniture does a good job of bridging the divide that often exists between residential/workspace design.
Homestyle’s focus is “Modern ways to make a life at home in New Zealand.” Looking through your home, I see plenty of examples of modern NZ design vernacular — the Resident Offset stools, Klay cushions, and Snelling Studio Circle Circle table. How do you decide which pieces do and don’t make it into your own home?
Our budget mostly! I am, however, constantly inspired by the work local designers are creating — it amazes me that as we put together each issue of Homestyle, there are always new pieces to share from emerging talents, while more established designers continue to produce great work. It’s more important than ever that we support our local creative industry, so that’s why when we’re considering adding new things to our home, that will be my first port of call.
In their split-level home, a nook in the downstairs living area was just the right size for an office space. They bought a mid-century desk and Vitra Visarol chair from Webb’s to fit. On the wall is a photograph by Tom Blachford from his Midnight Modern series, and a second-hand oil painting by an unknown artist.
On that note, what are some of your favourite purchases from The Estate?
We picked up a set of Vitra Visarol stacking chairs when we moved into our new place, and Nick has a mid-century office desk that was a find from The Estate too. We scored a Parsons side table by Milo Baughman from the Mr Mod collection auctioned by Webb’s recently too.
I get the impression that many of the pieces and artworks in your home have been accumulated gradually and thoughtfully — quite antithetical to the “fast fashion” trend cycles that we’re seeing infiltrate home spaces now. (This “lived-in” aesthetic is also something that I appreciate about many of the homes in Homestyle!). Is there a holy grail piece that you’ve always wanted or are currently keeping an eye out for?
That’s exactly my ethos around making purchases for our home. The first step is identifying your personal aesthetic. Once you have a firm grasp of your taste, it’s easier to reject trends and resist buying things to fill a gap. At the moment, I’m on the hunt for some storage options and am tossing up between a USM modular solution or going down the ‘70s American brutalist route. Handblown glass lighting is on my mind too. I have always thought one of Carlo Scarpa’s chandeliers for Venini would make for a magical dining room situation.
Looking down from the mezzanine above—a Circle Circle coffee table by Snelling sits atop a rug Alice brought back from Istanbul.
On the table is a ceramic bowl she made, and a candle holder by Fiona Mackay.
What would be your three pieces of advice for someone styling their first home interior or editorial project while using objects from The Estate?
1. Think about the mood you want to create room-to-room — how you want them to feel, as well as look.
2. Consider mixing pieces with varying material finishes — shiny with matte, textured with smooth—to create interest that appeals to both the eye and tactility. Further to this, think about mixing pieces from different eras so your interior isn’t a homage to a certain period.
3. Trawl the sales often as you never know what scores might pop up.
Can you talk me through your career and role at Homestyle?
After completing a degree in Visual Communications, I started out working as an art director, and for the last decade, I’ve been the Editor of Homestyle. My partner Nick and I run it together; he manages the business side of things, and I oversee the creative. The magazine is at the heart of what we create, and we also offer home and lifestyle category content services — from strategy, styling and copywriting, to interior design for brands and developers.
Right now there is a lot of discussion around our local media landscape and its future. I would love to hear what you most value about working in print media and what you want readers to experience when they pick up a copy of one of your magazines.
The thing about magazines these days is that they’re multi-channel brands — print, social, email newsletters, online, events… There are lots of ways we engage with our audience. At the core, the print product is an opportunity for people to experience our curated perspective in a space away from their screens. In a world where we’re increasingly online, engaging with offline experiences can enrich your everyday life, and that might be as simple as making a cup of tea and thumbing through the pages of a magazine.
What are you excited about that's coming up for you at the moment?
With Homestyle’s content services in mind, I’ve recently launched a website that shares some more of my styling and interior-specific work — excuse the humble plug — you can find it at alicelines.com
A Parsons side table by Milo Baughman from Webb’s was a recent addition to an upstairs sitting area, alongside the Heirloom sofa by Woodwrights. On the wall is Through the Trees #11 by Kirstin Carlin from Melanie Roger Gallery.
With the pole house design of their home, the view out between the branches of kōwhai and ake ake gives the space a treehouse-like feel.