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From the editor - January 2010

Goodbye to the Noughties and welcome to the Teens. Well, nearly � is 10 a teen? Or do we wait until 2013 to be in the real teens?

Remember when there was no such thing as teenage-hood? Tomorrow I go away for a week with my mother and our plan is to record an oral history about her early life. In preparing for this, it struck me that when she was in her teens the concept of a teenager didn�t exist. You were either a child or a young adult � no in-between. The idea that teenagers had wants and needs which were quite different to those of children and adults was unknown. You were too young to be useful and too grown-up to be a child. The emergence of teen culture is a significant cultural shift and with it has come a potent market and a driver of societal change.

With another decade under our belts we can look forward to what this next one will bring. In this issue, celebrating the relaxed summer living of which we New Zealanders are so fond, we have pleasure in introducing Mr Mod himself � Ray Columbus. One of our favourite 1960s sons, Ray is bidding farewell to his Matakana estate before settling into a property requiring less maintenance. He is recovering from a stroke and we wish him an especially healthy New Year.

We feature a Picton bach that seems so familiar it must be the one I stayed in with my great friends the Fuller family of Blenheim back in the 1970s. If it isn�t that one, then it must be one of its neighbours. There are not many places where the sound of the waves comes from beneath the house. But that�s what happens on this little stretch of the Waikawa inlet. Ah, the serenity�

We had fun with our cover lines for this issue and conducted a straw poll to see how many among us knew the iconic Aussie movieThe Castle and its catchphrase, �Ah, the serenity�. It seems that, after more than a decade, it�s still fondly remembered and repeated.

So here�s to a joyous, prosperous � and serene � New Year.

PS We hope you are enjoying our new feature One Last Question, in which we ask an expert about style or entertaining issues around the home. In this issue Sharon Finn of Auckland store Sharondelier talks about using chandeliers inside and out � and, yes, she does mean in the garden.

Story: Kate Coughlan
Photographs: Matthew Williams
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