Cooke and Fraser’s eclectic treasures

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Thorens record player and Pioneer amplifier. The Thorens was purchased off Trade Me and the amp from Axxent Audio.

Thorens record player and Pioneer amplifier. The Thorens was purchased off Trade Me and the amp from Axxent Audio. Image: Rob Trathen

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Bambi Collection.

Bambi Collection. Image: Rob Trathen

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Vintage Oroton Clock.

Vintage Oroton Clock. Image: Rob Trathen

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Orange Fox, bought  at Spitalfields market in London.

Orange Fox, bought at Spitalfields market in London. Image: Rob Trathen

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Equestrian Owl from Takapuna market.

Equestrian Owl from Takapuna market. Image: Rob Trathen

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Designed by Peter Bartlett in 1959, Cooke and Fraser's classic, modernist house filled with eclectic treasures is home for two television and film creatives.

Versailles Print. Image:  Rob Trathen

The house itself isn’t shy of posing for photographs, having featured in a 1961 issue of Home and Building magazine. You might have thought the occupants, however, would have been, in that they’re usually on the other side of the camera – Brant as a film and TV art director and Kylie as a stylist. In fact, both are obliging when Urbis peeked inside to take a look at the eclectic treasures they’ve collected over the years.

Their cat, Mary-Kate, was especially cooperative, allowing herself to be dressed up in a cape and cowboy hat. Though, you start to imagine that with owners like these, the cat has since resigned itself to costume changes – Kylie’s most recent job was as the stylist on New Zealand’s Next Top Model (while Brant has just wrapped Underbelly: The Real Mr Asia).

With both of them working in film and TV, everything they come across is a possible source of inspiration for a shoot or a scene, and the couple were constantly collecting things out on the road while sourcing. 

Most of their stuff has been found in second-hand stores and are odd, unusual and often funny items. The new pieces are usually art, including Karen Inderbizten-Waller’s moody Versailles photograph. Within their modernist shell, the objects and art contrast with the architecture, softening it, and the clean lines of the space in turn give structure to the mad range of bits and pieces. Here, Cooke and Fraser have picked out some of their favourite pieces and explain their significance.  


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