Backhouse Interiors is a third-generation New Zealand furniture and lighting business with a showroom at 9 Allen St in Te Aro, Wellington. The company was founded in 1948 by Joe Backhouse, a young cabinet maker who built an enviable reputation for quality handmade bespoke furniture — a craft era captured in archived photographs of the Backhouse workshop around 1958 and the JW Backhouse Ltd factory and office staff in Porirua around 1966.
Today the business carries that legacy forward by representing, making and selling quality, timeless pieces sourced in New Zealand and from leading international brands. Its philosophy is simple and quietly ambitious: design that can be loved and used by one generation and handed down to the next, celebrating the modern aesthetic and design innovation while always respecting authentic design.
The range covers the whole home — bedroom, dining, living, home office and outdoor furniture, plus shelving, sideboards, sofas, stools and storage — alongside lighting in portable, suspension, table/floor and wall formats, and accessories from rugs, mirrors and vases to home fragrance and gifts. The brand roster includes Kartell, Stellar Works, Normann Copenhagen, Lambert & Fils, David Trubridge, Feelgood Designs, Plank and Rexite, alongside the Backhouse and Backroom Finds names.
Backhouse also shares its knowledge through the Stories journal — designer spotlights, new-release round-ups and case studies of completed projects such as the Ocean Beach House and Hartfield Jewellers.
Backhouse Interiors has been part of New Zealand's design landscape since 1948, when Joe Backhouse — then a young cabinet maker — founded a business that would become known for quality handmade bespoke furniture. More than seventy-five years on, the company is in its third generation, and its showroom at 9 Allen Street in Te Aro, Wellington is where that heritage meets the present.
The photographs on the About page tell part of the story: the Backhouse workshop around 1958, and the JW Backhouse Ltd factory and office staff in Porirua around 1966. What began as a workshop has grown into a furniture and lighting business working with some of the world's best designs, sourced here in New Zealand and from leading international brands.
The ethos, though, hasn't shifted. Backhouse exists to represent, make and sell quality, timeless pieces — design that can be loved and used by one generation and handed down to the next. The company celebrates the modern aesthetic and design innovation, and it has always respected authentic design.
That balance between making and curating is rare. Backhouse is a business that understands furniture from the inside out — how it is joined, finished and made to last — and that understanding informs what it chooses to represent from the international stage.
The furniture categories read like a walkthrough of a well-considered home: bedroom pieces, benches, cafe tables, chairs, coffee and side tables, consoles, dining armchairs, dining tables, home office pieces, lounge chairs, ottomans, outdoor furniture, shelving, sideboards, sofas, stools and storage. Whether a space needs a single hero chair or a full fitout, the breadth is there.
Lighting is a department of its own — portable, suspension, table and floor, and wall — proof that Backhouse treats light as seriously as furniture. Accessories complete the picture with bins, coat stands, gifts, home fragrance, homeware, mirrors, rugs, trolleys and vases: the finishing touches that turn a house into a home.
The current collection gives a flavour of the floor. Among the dining chairs are the Belvedere from Kartell, the Chair 172 from Feelgood Designs and the Journey Chair from Stellar Works. Overhead and at floor level sit the Dot Pendant by Lambert & Fils — shown in white and tagged for the showroom — and the Kabuki, a Kartell floor lamp presented as 'A Statement in Light'. Kartell's Bonheur Du Jour, a swivel desk, covers the home office, the Componibili is celebrated in its own story as 'A Design Icon', and the extendable Four Table caters to rooms that need to flex.
Part of what distinguishes Backhouse is the company it keeps. The roster spans Kartell, Stellar Works, Normann Copenhagen, Lambert & Fils, David Trubridge, Feelgood Designs, Plank, Rexite, Hivern, JWB and Acdo, alongside the Backhouse and Backroom Finds names. New releases get proper attention too: recent stories cover Normann Copenhagen's new pieces, Stellar Works' latest, the Lambert & Fils Milan release and Kartell's updated materials.
The Stories journal is where the depth shows. Designer spotlights on Studio Yolk and Yuchen Wu sit alongside a piece on the Compasso d'Oro, a look at Rubelli fabric, and case studies of completed projects including the Ocean Beach House and Hartfield Jewellers — evidence of furniture and lighting specified for real homes and real commercial spaces. It is a useful read before visiting, whether you are furnishing a first apartment or specifying a workplace.
For anyone furnishing a Wellington home or workplace, the invitation is straightforward: browse the collection online, shortlist by room or brand, then experience the pieces in person in Te Aro. Three generations in, the test remains the one Joe Backhouse applied at his workbench — quality, timelessness, and design worth handing down.