Höglund Art Glass

The local legend is that Ola Höglund left Kosta Boda because of creative differences; nowadays their web and printed material are more polite about the beginnings.

The premise used to have many shed-like buildings and we could go around looking at Ola (and his apprentices) blowing glass, or visit the art glass shop, the "seconds" shop, the gift shop (which, among other things, carried Gotland sheep fleeces), eat at the cafe (we used to go late on Saturdays to have passion fruit cheesecakes), or have a picnic in the garden.

Then they got involved with making official gifts for the Sydney Olympics and the two America's Cup yacht races in Auckland; they opened shops in Auckland, Sydney and Tokyo and a studio in Australia; they built this big shop/entrance, and closed off the rest of the premise; now you pay NZ$15 to see glassblowing and I'm not sure what happened to the cafe or the garden or whatever else that stand beyond the tall walls. And of course no photography anywhere; I had to get permission to shoot this.

They have beautiful pieces; their wares are given as state gifts by NZ prime ministers. Good on them for working so very hard and being so successful; too bad for many locals that we can't go spend a leisurely weekend afternoon at Höglund any more.

EDIT: We revisited the gallery and was given a chance to meet and speak with Marie Simberg-Höglund on August 7, 2010. We posted some new information in our August 8, 2010 post.

As regards what I wrote in this post in 2007:

• The local legend about Ola is not true - Ola left KostaBoda for a job in Swaziland where he trained local people blowing glass for 3 years before he came to NZ. The local legend refers to Ola's father Erik Höglund who left his position as a designer at KostaBoda to work as a fulltime artist in Sweden.
  
• Between 2002 and 2007, they ran a "Friends Program" where all locals + 10 of their friends and relatives were given free passes for guided tours. Since then, all visitors can read about the process and view a video in a room behind the Gallery reception, and then proceed to view glass-blowing on days when it is taking place, free of charge.

Nelson Art Map #9

At the front of Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. The work is called "Earth-sky" by OZ sculptor Ingo Kleinert.

Newmans

This is the other side of the wall seen on the left in Tuesday's photo. My gym was here until February, and before that, a career center helping young people find career paths and jobs.

I saw on Saturday that at one time Newmans was here: Newmans is a coach line still in operation, but as you can see from this map, not around Nelson. A good friend's grandfather was involved with Newmans at one time, I think.

From Rocks Road Looking towards Wakefield Quay

Early evening, on the way to home after hard(?) work.

The Mall-to-Be

This was taken from Seymour Place, the street next to Hardy Street; can you see the facade in the distance? The metal roof structure was removed last week. To the left of the wall is another demolition site about the same size, and together it will be the site of the new mini mall, approximately one city block wide, and one city block deep.

The Rock

Fifeshire rock from Rocks Road, early evening. (wide view here)

Always Keep Your Windshield Clean

These babies appeared from nowhere, waved, posed, then disappeared again. The lesson of the day: conscientious DPers must always keep the windshield clean. Grape Escape Cafe parking lot, Richmond, yesterday.

Shellfish?

I might be wrong but I think he was collecting some sort of shellfish; I'm not sure what kind.

What Kind of Sneakers Do You Like?

While waiting for a dental appointment caused by psychosomatic pains Monday afternoon, I found the Autumn 2007 edition of the Time Magazine Style and Design supplement (Pacific edition); in it, I found everything I needed to know about the current A-List sneakers around the world. In Tokyo and Paris, people pay $395 (US$, I think) for a pair. I was disappointed Sydney didn't feature, and learned New Zealand had fallen off the world map, again.

It was fun picturing many of you wearing the high fashion sneakers in your cities. And at the bottom are my far-more-expensive-than-I-expected-and-not-even-pretty pair.

Ex-Wilkins & Fields

I mentioned Wilkins & Fields in relation to Neale & Haddow here. After the Mega store opened last April, the old store in the middle of town, which by then had expanded to nearly an entire city-block, was sold to developers, and now a mini-mall is under way. Happily, the facades of what were originally two or three different stores facing Hardy Street are to remain pretty much the same.

I love the glass windows at the entrance of the old shop.

Port Nelson, Monday Night

There was a weavers' meeting I desperately wanted to go Monday night, in Blenheim, so Ben drove me there. On our way home, around 11.30PM, we say lots of lights at the port, so we drove passed to see a big container ship and men still working. Can you see one of the guys? I'm pretty sure they were loading, as we are not a big importing location, but we couldn't be sure.

Neither of us had a tripod, but I don't think it would have made a difference because we're into something like the fifth day of non-stop gale-force winds; I rested the camera on sign posts and fences, but it didn't matter because I started to shiver in the wind, and towards the end, I was shooting semi-blindly, which is always kind of thrilling.

Hero

His name is Charlie Stanton, and he's in his hand-built trolley "Red Lightning". He is 86 and is a former F1 mechanic. The local paper, Leader, told us he built 5 successful racing car in his life, one of which had a New Zealand Land Speed Record for 12 years in 1950s and 1960s, with an aircraft engine... What a fantastic guy!

The picture on the left picture was taken just after his run, being interviewed by, I assume, the Leader.

This is the end of series forks.

Qucik Spin

Quick spin for audience, but the official might see differently.

Speed Gun

Here is the officer measuring the speed of trolley at the goal line. The result will be shown on the digital display seen on yesterday's post. The most of trolleys did around 38Kph for normal run.