Roderick (Rod) Howard Fry
Fry in Auckland in 2015.
Born(1969-05-24)24 May 1969
Auckland, New Zealand
EducationSaint Kentigern College
Alma materUniversity of Auckland
Occupation(s)Designer, retailer, writer
Spouse
Laurence Varga-Fry
​
(m. 2001)​
Children1
Websitehttps://www.moaroom.com

Roderick Fry (born 1969) is a New Zealand-born, Paris-based designer, writer and promoter of sustainable and New Zealand design. He is the co-founder of Moaroom in Paris, co-publisher of The Long White Book, designer of the Pi furniture collection and author of the novel A Message for Nasty.

Early life

Fry was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1969, and was raised and went to school in the Auckland suburb of Pakuranga. He gained a Bachelor of Commerce marketing and management degree from the University of Auckland. After living in USA and Canada, Fry learned to speak Mandarin and worked as a product manager for Swiss company, Roche, in Hong Kong, then Taiwan. There he met Laurence Varga, and they moved to Shanghai. There he worked for French design and communication firm Joel Desgrippes and Associates before taking a sabbatical to write his first novel, which is being published in 2022. In 2001, Fry and Varga moved to Paris where they were married. Fry learned to speak French and continued to write.[1][2]

Work

In 2004, Fry and Varga co-founded moa – meubles et objets de Aotearoa, now Moaroom, a Paris showroom and website to promote New Zealand designers who were achieving international attention, but at the time, struggling to maintain a long-term presence in the European press, or to develop ongoing relationships with design museums, distributors and architects.[2][3]

To help European journalists and clients to contextualise and better understand New Zealand design, Fry and Varga published a selection of New Zealand designers, architects, fashion brands and artists, including David Trubridge, Toi Māori Aotearoa, Jakob + MacFarlane and Liz Findlay's Zambesi, in The Long White Book, which showcased their work. The book resulted in strong visibility for New Zealand design and architecture in French and other European design press, including a visit by a journalist from Elle Decoration and Marie Claire Maison to New Zealand to photograph homes and interview local creators.[4][5] High-profile Parisian shops exhibited the work, including the Printemps department store, the design shop in the Pompidou Centre and stores at Charles de Gaulle Airport. Designer David Trubridge credits Fry for his work being added to the permanent collection of the art museum of the Pompidou Centre, which Trubridge says is "one of the most important art galleries in the world".[1][2]

In 2009 Fry started to design sustainable objects himself for inclusion in moa's collection. The Pi collection, a system of metal table legs that can be used with locally sourced wooden tops to make stable dining tables, consoles and desks, is an example of Fry's focus on transporting only parts of objects so that they can be completed by local artisans using local woods. The Pi table was voted best New Zealand table design in 2010 by Urbis magazine.[6][7][8]

Fry has featured in New Zealand media, where he wrote about the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015;[9] and commentated on expat Paris life,[5] the fire of Notre Dame in 2019[10] and his first novel in 2022.[11]

In 2022, Fry completed his first novel A Message for Nasty, which he began in 1999 when he traced the route across China taken by his late New Zealand grandfather during World War II, who was attempting to organise the escape of Fry's Macau-born grandmother and children from Hong Kong after the Japanese invasion. The historically accurate novel is based on their story. The book was launched at the Auckland Writers Festival on in August, and was the week's top selling New Zealand book within two weeks.[12][13][14]

Personal life

Fry shares an apartment in the 11th arrondissement of Paris with his French wife Laurence Varga-Fry and their son. Their Moaroom store is located in the neighbouring 12th arrondissement and their son attends a local public school.[1][10]

Publications

  • The Long White Book, moa – meubles et objets de Aotearoa – sarl, NZ, 2006. ISBN 2952596506.[15]
  • A Message for Nasty, Awa Press, NZ, 2022. ISBN 9781927249840.[12]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Morey, Kelly Ana (11 August 2017). "Meet the New Zealand designers carving out their niche in Paris". Stuff. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 "New Zealand design's French Connection". NZ Herald. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  3. ↑ "New Zealand design's new Paris home". HOME Magazine. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  4. ↑ Agboton, Guy-Claude (11 August 2017). "Moaroom : design d'exception". IDEAT (in French). Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Expats - Rod Fry in Paris". RNZ. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  6. ↑ "Pi table by Roderick Fry for Moaroom". Yatzer. 10 February 2010. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  7. ↑ "Life of Pi". Urbis Magazine. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  8. ↑ "Presenting NZ's best new furniture in our annual Design Awards". HOME Magazine. 1 July 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  9. ↑ Fry, Roderick (20 November 2015). "Paris a week on: Life after the terror attacks". Stuff. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  10. 1 2 "'It looked golden': Kiwi expat describes Notre Dame destruction". NZ Herald. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  11. ↑ "One family's remarkable journey to be reunited during WW2". RNZ. 26 August 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  12. 1 2 "A Message for Nasty | Awa Press". Awa Press | Award-winning publishers of intelligent, thought-provoking non-fiction. 10 April 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  13. ↑ Dennett, Kelly (20 August 2022). "A war, a journey, a survival story, a great love... and now, a book". Stuff. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  14. ↑ "This week's best-selling books". Newsroom. 9 September 2022. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  15. ↑ "Bossley Architects - Ponsonby, New Zealand - Architects - Publications". World-Architects. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
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