Page 41 - homestyle New Zealand (February - March 2020)

Design profile —— PEOPLE

Auckland’s Janice Kumar-Ward is
one hard-working lady. When she’s
not pushing boundaries at the helm of
JKW Interior Architecture & Design and
parenting her children Stella and Ted,
she’s working on her side hustle as the
‘Mrs’ of Mr & Mrs Ward, the bespoke
furniture business she runs with her
husband Julian and his brother Tristan.

How long have you been director at
JKW Interior Architecture & Design?
I started the business 11 years ago. Back
then it was called The Recipe, but we
rebranded in 2015 when we bought our
current building in Newton to use as
our workshop/studio. It was daunting
but an unmissable opportunity to
renovate a modernist building and
start along this new path. Today I’m
surrounded by doers — a work-hard,
play-hard, kind and loyal team of seven
staff, all of whom have skill sets that
are invaluable.

What sort of projects do you work
on? We can turn our hand to anything,
residential or commercial, big or
small. Peer reviewing is a new feather
in our cap, where we work alongside ABOVE Janice says she’s
a social person, so she enjoys
an architect, construction team, working collaboratively. “I’m
project manager and often another not afraid to give everyone
designer to help a client fully my opinion and love to hear
theirs too.” LEFT The elegant
understand what they’re getting. file drawers behind the reception
It’s exciting to collaborate with some desk were made for Janice
of Auckland’s best architects, artists by Julian. Atop them sits a
gilded Recess mirror by Simon
and tradespeople — and our clients. Lewis Wards and Sam Burton.
OPPOSITE This view into the
What have been some of your recent drawing studio showcases the
white palette and simple textures
highlights? I love working in the that provide a blank canvas for
regions. Last year, we completed the JKW team’s work. A picture
the restoration of a historic house in ledge at the rear of the room
puts suppliers’ latest and
Dunedin, a grand old dame that had greatest on display.
been turned into three flats. Turning
it back into a warm home for expat
Kiwis inbound from Hong Kong was
an incredible challenge.
We also worked on a fourth-
generation sheep station in a remote
part of Gisborne, on a house that
had its ceilings lowered in the ’70s
by a practical farming family. A new
generation wanted it to feel like it’d >

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