About
Meet Hannah
Originally founded as HM Design in 2017 by Hannah Withy, double black design combines functional fundamentals absorbed during the course of Hannah’s Honours degree in Industrial Design from Massey University, with an early passion for cooking, instilled in her from a young age by her Mum, a professional chef extraordinaire. These elements combined create a perfect mix of form vs function for an area that requires a balance of ease of use & beauty, sometimes a tough combination to balance.
Her early hands-on, grass roots experience in kitchens led her to formal training with the NKBA; she is now a fully qualified Kitchen Designer at the presteigous NKBA Platinum Designer tier.
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With 18 years experience in the industry with several design awards under her belt, Hannah applies international experience to projects across New Zealand, delivering kitchens, bathrooms, laundries, wardrobes, bespoke joinery and interior architecture solutions to a wide scope of projects.
double black design focuses on thoughtful, practical layouts and refined detailing to create spaces that perform as well as they look.
F u n c t i o n a l . T i m e l e s s . S u s t a i n a b l e .
These principles guide every project at double black design.
Hannah enjoys cooking from scratch, particularly when the ingredients are either self grown or sourced from a known source locally, this is common occurrence given her rural residence, nestled alongside the stunning Mt Aspiring National Park. Her ability to cook from scratch is a huge asset given the distance to the nearest supermarket, a good 45 minutes away, of she's out of something its either call the neighbour, or find a substitute.
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Preserves are high on the list for her, particularly Tomato Relish, Kasundi, and Apricot Jam.
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Cooking has been part of Hannah's entire life, her Mum is an accomplished cook & recipe author, so her early years were surrounded by food, cooking, tasting, and even as far as cleaning her Mum's commercial kitchen as a teen (this is where Hannah first fell in love with Corian Benchtop's!)
Current weekly cooking rituals include weekly waffles for freezing & home made pies for kids hot lunches, where despite being time-poor, she attempts to pass on her love of cooking to her 2 daughters, just as her Mum did.
For a kitchen to function, one must be well experienced in the artform of cooking, particulary from scratch.
Hannah’s deep knowledge of cooking, paired with her industrial design expertise in ergonomics, user experience, and fabrication, delivers the perfect recipe for exceptional kitchen, bathroom, and joinery design — setting her apart from the rest.​​
Hannah cooking in her recently renovated kitchen.
Recent culinary adventures...
