Kaiwaka cafe jewel reopens

 

BY JULIA WADE

Northland’s Kawakawa have their Hundertwasser toilets and other Kiwi towns claim fame for metal animals and gigantic vegetables, and now Kaiwaka can boast to having a truly ingenious architectural jewel of its own. 

After five years of major renovations by husband and wife owners Marijke and Rob Valkenburg, with help from son Kane and guest artists, the much-anticipated reopening of the stunning Eutopia Cafe happened on April 12. 

Marijke admits she thought the project initially would only take around 18 months ‘but we are perfectionists’, and says the opening week, and recent Easter weekend, has been ‘one wild ride’.

“There are still a few rough bits to polish up but it feels so good to be finally open!” she says. “We’ve had a great first week finding our feet and very happy with the chef and barista. It's been amazing seeing everyone come through our gates to enjoy our funky space.”

Distinctive along State Highway One with ‘dome topknots’ and curved sculptured walls, the cafe is an awe-inspiring, ambitious building of art, a montage of colour, spectacular mosaics and exquisite murals reflecting the couples vision, passion and multitude of skills. Surprisingly though neither of the Valkenburg’s are experienced artists – Rob is a medical technician with ‘a whole lot of Kiwi ingenuity’ and Marijke is a former art teacher for a primary school and holds a science degree. The couple’s self-designed Kaiwaka castle-home, including mosaic walls and 10 metre turret, was their first experimentation with architectural art. 

“With Eutopia we saw a canvas and knew we could create something,” Marijke says. “It’s been a hard journey, the building first required fundamental structural work before we could get creative, and has needed both of us… I come up with the crazy ideas and Rob figures out how to do them!”

The cafe is also based on an environmentally sensitive philosophy. A solar system heats the water and the menu is balanced on wholefood and organic principles with products sourced locally whenever possible. Marijke also has a raft of plans for the cafe’s future including developing the garden area ideal to hold music events.

However the art works have proved irresistible to some visitors and incredibly six pieces have gone missing in the first few days of business. Marijke says although the artworks hold little monetary value they represent ‘hundreds of hours of work put into creating things of beauty for the community to enjoy’.

“We're still upset by the theft of our artworks, baubles, pots and vases, but we are hopefully optimistic that with their uniqueness coupled with the power of social media, most of them will eventually find their way home,” she says. “We would love to have them back for everyone's enjoyment, for a community that we also want to thank for all their support.”

 For more information, and to view the missing art works, visit Eutopia Cafe facebook page.

After months of work Eutopia is a montage of colour, spectacular mosaics and exquisite murals. PHOTO/Julia Wade