100 | DESIGN INTERIORS Hannah Davies Interior Design & Goldmark Group T T Kim Bowden Queenstown’s beauty inspires décor design The room is lined in dark timber so the pieces stand out against it. “The idea was to create something that felt local and of Queenstown – a boutique of that place rather than a branded space rolled out across New Zealand.” A dark timber-lined jewellery boutique at Partridge Jewellers’ Queenstown store has been named a finalist in this year’s NZ Timber Design Awards for an interior fitout. The jewellery room occupies the first third of the Partridge boutique, with watches and a dedicated Rolex space beyond. For interior designer Hannah Davies, the starting point was place. “The idea was to create something that felt local and of Queenstown – a boutique of that place rather than a branded space rolled out across New Zealand.” Where most fine jewellery retail defaults to bright white interiors, Hannah went the other way. The room is lined in dark timber so the pieces stand out against it. “We wanted this dark space that you enter, and then the jewellery becomes the hero because it’s contrasted by this dusky, timbery space,” she says. The interior uses a single timber palette across floor, ceiling and key surfaces, with variation created through cut and finish. Chrome and polished stainless steel trims sharpen the detailing. At the centre of the room sits a large table with chairs rather than a glass counter, shifting the focus away from transaction-style retail. The table sets the tone for the sale: “Come in, sit down, let’s have a chat about what your aspirations are,” Hannah says. The timber’s charcoal grain was a deliberate choice. Hannah spent time in the Partridge’s workshop and noted the soot left by blowtorch work on surrounding surfaces. “[The timber] had that same sooty, gritty quality that’s the behind-the-scenes of jewellers’ workshops.” Textured venetian plaster wraps the ceilings and walls of the rest of the store, with silver travertine used on the store facade and entrance. The Queenstown landscape shaped the interior, too. “Flying down to look at the site, it’s just stunningly epic,” Hannah says. “The Remarkables, that schist and tussock backdrop when you land. We brought in a soft, mossy-green carpet, green marble tabletops and earthy tones to draw a little bit of that in, just in the small details.” She judges the project’s success by how it feels when you walk in. “It doesn’t shout at you. It’s something humble, but refined, welcoming but elevated.” That approach, she says, reflects a wider New Zealand design language. “The more we pull on our own culture and landscape, the better our interiors are. We’ve developed a very unique New Zealand vernacular, and the more we draw on what’s unique to us, the more our interiors relate to our customers and brands.” Hannah runs Hannah Davies Ltd, specialising in retail and hospitality. She set up her own practice in early 2022, after working with international firms in London. Partridge is a key client, with a second timber-based fit-out completed at 80 Queen Street in Auckland. She’s clear the success of a design project relies on collaboration. “We’re only as good as the suppliers, the quality of the materials, and the craftsmanship at the other end – having that whole process imbued with people who care.”
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