Imbruing a brand with Diplomatic luxury

Consulate Apartments is a business run by my Uncle out of Nelson. I joke at how this result is really a bit of ‘nephew art’ (nephew art (n): the concept of an executive at a professional firm hiring an unskilled younger relative to do design or produce an artwork).

The apartments comprise of a 1940’s building that was once the honorary Italian consulate’s home. (Apparently his tomatoes were famous in central Nelson at the time.) They bought it in the mid nineties as a run down, damp ridden pit with the intention of ‘doing something’ with it.

It only took ten years to get started (being a builder’s house) and a strong vision to turn the result into Nelson’s preeminent luxury accommodation. Nothing was spared. Even light fittings have been made by local craftspeople. Italian marble and appliances have been fitted.

The thought about the detail was the starting point for the brand. Detail is everything.

Italian was a great place to start, much of the interior design features strong Italian cues, so the identity therefore reflects a consulate that has been restored to its former glory.