86 | (09) 431 2324 sales@smithconstructionnz.co.nz www.smithconstruction.co.nz EQ Mangawhai Design DESIGN Creating beauty for years to come Mangawhai Design provides bespoke kitchens, laundries, wardrobes, vanities and furniture, expertly designed to fit the space available. T T Virginia Wright After a Christchurch Polytechnic course in furniture-making and five years boat building, Samuel Lewis joined a business where he learnt the ins and outs of making kitchens before he finally set up his own business Mangawhai Design in 2017. Working out of his bespoke workshop in Cemetery Road just outside of Mangawhai he’s perfectly positioned to provide bespoke kitchens, laundries, wardrobes, vanities and furniture, expertly designed to fit the space available. Being part of a team building a boat worth $10 million gives one a deep understanding of what attention to detail means, and it’s that level of skill and expertise that Mangawhai Design brings to every job they do. “We cannot compete against the cheapest kitchens, so my point of difference is to make higher end products. “Our focus is sustainability and being as eco-friendly as possible. We use high-end hardware, materials and ply carcasses knowing that what we build will be beautiful for years to come,” says Samuel. Plywood is structurally stronger than the MDF which most kitchens are made of and robust enough to handle wear and tear, including exposure to damp, with fewer problems. Combined with a veneer of oak or walnut you get longer lasting product without the movement you’d have with solid wood, although Mangawhai Design will use that if the client prefers. Whatever the material one constant is Mangawhai Design’s attention to detail as they design and build bespoke kitchens tailored to the client’s space: combining appliances and materials, whether it’s plywood, solid wood, stainless steel plate or stone benchtops, and bringing everything together into a seamless and cohesive whole. “Kitchens aren’t difficult to design but they’re difficult to design well, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing,” says Samuel. There’s no question of that when you’re dealing with Samuel or his cabinet maker Arjan Pedersen who did his apprenticeship with Mangawhai Design, so learnt his craft from an expert. Amber Trevett rounds out the team, combining her design skills with working closely with clients to ensure the final design reflects what they want while fitting into the space available. “We work with clients to find the design, the colour range and any specific appliances they want, which involves an in-depth consultation,” says Samuel. Mangawhai Design specialises in working with their clients to produce something that combines functionality with form in a way that invariably meets if not exceeds client expectations. Whether it’s a kitchen worth over $100,000 for a multi-millionaire building a second home in Northland, or a kitchen renovation for a local with a more modest budget, those clients know they can trust Samuel and his team. While their suppliers may still largely be in Auckland, they work closely with builders and architects as well as local electricians, plumbers and other tradies including “some amazing tilers”, all living within easy reach of Mangawhai, all working together to meet the steady stream of demands from Mangawhai’s growing community. The bottom line is that Samuel enjoys his work. Whether it’s the beautifully crafted, walnut veneer, bespoke kitchen that featured on New Zealand’s Grand Designs, the dream kitchen made out of melamine that the clients love to cook in, or a carefully crafted piece of furniture designed to fit a confined space, what matters to Samuel is that he’s producing something that his clients really like and that he knows will stand the test of time.
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