For Lyzadie Renault, it’s all about the story: of inspiration, of makers, of materials, and of what draws people to the things they choose to fill their lives with.
For the past five years, Lyzadie has worked alongside some of Aotearoa’s most respected and dedicated craftsmen and women, producing furniture and objects that are beautiful, conceptual, and impeccably well-designed.
A trained architect, Lyzadie’s love of, and talent for, design has obvious roots, but she acknowledges that the seed was likely planted much earlier in life. Having grown up between France and New Caledonia until the age of 13, she recalls how the influences of French culture and her family history – both her grandfather and great-grandfather were furniture-makers, and her father a builder, artist and nature lover – intersected with the experience of visiting her mother’s village in New Caledonia. It was a place where “they made everything pretty much from scratch… Everything was so tactile for me, so alive, so real and raw”.
Whether due to her upbringing or her career as an architect, materiality has become central to Lyzadie’s designs and the enchanting shapes and textures of the New Zealand landscape serve as a consistent throughline in her work. Sometimes the references are literal, as with the braided brass lines of the FLOW collection, inspired by the winding, twisting braided rivers of South Island. In others, they are conceptual, as with the WHITECLOUD collection, where the nation’s name was transformed into abstract, hand-blown glass pendant lights and towering vases of opaque white.
References are also drawn widely from her own life. The curved frame of an armoire and the dog-leg bend of a table leg echoes a lifelong love of motorcycles which began aged 17, working for a family friend who rebuilt old bikes. A New Zealand karate champion at age 17, Lyzadie tells me over Zoom of the influence of martial arts on the DANCEOFGEOMETRY collection. A crucial element in the practice of karate is the kata, a series of dance-like movements performed in order to demonstrate mastery of the martial techniques. Fluid and statuesque, the shapes created by the body in the practice of kata were reflected in the strong forms of DANCEOFGEOMETRY.
In spite of its conceptual depth, Lyzadie’s work in furniture design arose not from some artistic inner yearning but from a simple desire to create furniture crafted here in Aotearoa with a unique New Zealand design language. “We were all buying things from Europe… Scandinavian, French, Italian designs, all these big names. I just felt, ‘Surely we can do this in New Zealand.’”
It was a straightforward proposition but to realise it required finding makers that could compete with the best in Europe. Some were known to Lyzadie already through her work as an architect, while others involved extensive research, and trial and error to achieve her vision of New Zealand made positive luxury. These relationships are built on a shared appreciation for the materials involved and the resulting creations are striking and sophisticated. Beginning with FLOW, the reception to Lyzadie’s work was immediate and almost unimaginable for such a young brand.
Within six months of launching, the FLOW collection was a finalist in the Best Design Awards in New Zealand. An invitation to exhibit at the Milan Design Fair came within the first year, followed that same year by invitations to Paris1618 Positive Luxury, 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen, and Denfair in Melbourne. Since then, the studio has been the recipient of many global awards in recognition of its work, including being awarded the Best Sustainable Furniture Design Studio by APAC Insider in 2020.
The subject of sustainability is of immense importance to Lyzadie and reflects her wider desire that the studio operates in a conscious manner at all stages. From the beginning, she wanted to build an ethical business: local products crafted by the skilled hands of local makers from sustainable materials. Her collaborations with these partners support not only their talents and dreams but also the people and planet around them, with a percentage of every sale donated to social and environmental charities such as Shine or Forest & Bird.
For Lyzadie, these acts of giving are simply part of running a good business. However, they also form part of the story of the design studio, a story that has seen it acquire customers across the world and achieve a startling level of success in just five years. It is the story of a businesswoman and mother, and of all of her experiences and influences. It is a story of makers and materials, and of how ideas are brought to life through wood and glass, metal and leather. Finally, it is a story of how working in harmony with the people and planet around you can yield a better world for everyone involved.
And what is the purpose of this story? To inspire. Whether it is her children, her friends, or a stranger turning through the pages of a magazine, Lyzadie Renault wants to show that you can have success while still doing the right thing – and it doesn’t have to be complicated. After all, she says: “I’m just one of many people that do what they love doing.”
Architecture — LyZadie Design
Photography — Tim Marshall
Fashion — Paris Georgia
Jewellery — Zoe&Morgan
Flower arrangement —White Tree Floral Design
