Blog Archives

Manaakitanga Behind Our Strong Covid Response

Manaakitanga Behind Our Strong Covid Response

There is a deeper reason why New Zealand has “fared so much better”, than say, the United States in combatting Covid-19, and it’s manaakitanga, according to New Zealanders Matthew Milner and Richard Ngata, who…

Chopper Pilot Tony Monk Adds Drama to Cup

Chopper Pilot Tony Monk Adds Drama to Cup

The America’s Cup scene-stealer this week may be the supporting actor that has been racing them: the helicopter filming the races between Emirates Team New Zealand and Italy’s Luna Rossa for international television broadcasts,…

Can You Have an America’s Cup Without Americans?

Can You Have an America’s Cup Without Americans?

“After a few weeks of intense sailing competition for the qualifying Prada Cup, the Italian boat Luna Rossa, left the American boat Patriot and the British entry Britannia 11 in her wake. The America’s…

NZ Fintech Companies Have Sights Set on Hong Kong

NZ Fintech Companies Have Sights Set on Hong Kong

“As a small country and market by population, it is second nature for New Zealand businesses to explore and expand into new geographies,” New Zealand Trade Commissioner for Hong Kong and Macau Kiwa Whatarau…

Metal Heroes Alien Weaponry on the Up

Metal Heroes Alien Weaponry on the Up

Alien Weaponry are part way through a tour of their homeland, New Zealand, Eleanor Goodman reports for UK heavy metal magazine, Metal Hammer. The run of dates is called the Level One Tour, named…

Whina an Exacting Assignment for Rena Owen

Whina an Exacting Assignment for Rena Owen

None of veteran New Zealand actor Rena Owen’s tough previous roles prepared her for the demands – both physical and emotional – of playing Māori matriarch and political activist Whina Cooper, in the new…

Victorian Government Appoints Sir David Carruthers

Victorian Government Appoints Sir David Carruthers

Former chair of the New Zealand Independent Police Conduct Authority and judge of New Zealand family and youth courts, Sir David Carruthers, has been appointed by the Victorian government to oversee the implementation of…

Ancient Ngawha Kauri Witness to Great Change

Ancient Ngawha Kauri Witness to Great Change

About 42,000 years ago, Earth was beset with oddness. Its magnetic field collapsed. Ice sheets surged across North America, Australasia and the Andes. Wind belts shifted across the Pacific and Southern Oceans. Prolonged drought…

Designer Josh Nelson Inspired by People-Watching

Designer Josh Nelson Inspired by People-Watching

Josh Nelson doesn’t own a car. Because of this, he regularly takes public transport around his home of Auckland, watching locals interact on bus and rail, Giacomo Lee writes for a story published online…

Dominant Victory for Māori Ferns in Townsville

Dominant Victory for Māori Ferns in Townsville

NZ Māori Ferns “delivered an emphatic 24-0 win over the Indigenous All Stars” in “a thoroughly one-sided” contest played out in Townsville, Todd Balym writes for NRL News. Not only did the Māori side keep…

Why NZ’s Cheeky New Porn PSA Went Viral

Why NZ’s Cheeky New Porn PSA Went Viral

The New Zealand-made Keep It Real Online advertising campaign that reminds parents to speak to their children about the pitfalls of pornography and other internet harms quickly went viral when it was released in late…

Emilia Wickstead Shows Another Polished Collection

Emilia Wickstead Shows Another Polished Collection

London-based designer Emilia Wickstead is always a glamorous highlight of the London Fashion Week schedule, at the end of last month the New Zealand-born designer debuted her latest collection via an audience-free runway filmed in a…

Portland-Based Artist Vo Vo’s New Show Ignites

Portland-Based Artist Vo Vo’s New Show Ignites

After working four months with a tapestry company to create a textile for an upcoming show, New Zealand-born Portland-based artist Vo Vo ran into a problem: The company refused to print the design, Shannon…

Special Group Delivers for Uber Eats at Super Bowl

Special Group Delivers for Uber Eats at Super Bowl

In just about every Super Bowl, there are ads – and, by extension, an agency or two – that come out of nowhere and make a splash, Doug Zanger reports for US industry publication,…

Spectacularly Good Dan Carter Calls it Quits

Spectacularly Good Dan Carter Calls it Quits

“News of Dan Carter’s retirement sends me back to that match, the second Test against the British and Irish Lions at Wellington in 2005, the greatest he ever played. Watching it…

All Blacks Face Hosts in Blockbuster ‘23 Cup Opener

All Blacks Face Hosts in Blockbuster ‘23 Cup Opener

“The 2023 Rugby World Cup will open on a Friday night in Paris when France, the hosts, take on New Zealand, at the very least the sport’s most famous team, and usually its best….

War Correspondent Kate Webb Subject in New Book

War Correspondent Kate Webb Subject in New Book

Vietnam was less quagmire and more a crucible for more than 468 women accredited reporters during a war where lives and deaths could never be measured by lines on a map. Journalist Elizabeth Becker’s…

Christchurch Has Come Long Way Since Deadly Quake

Christchurch Has Come Long Way Since Deadly Quake

Christchurch had survived earthquakes before, but the seismic jolt that hit on February 22, 2011, had a shallow epicentre of just 5km on a previously unknown fault that lay directly under the city. The…

US Production Company Snaps Up Meg Mason Book

US Production Company Snaps Up Meg Mason Book

“The production company behind movies such as 12 Years a Slave, Gone Girl and Bohemian Rhapsody has snapped up” the film and TV rights for Foxton-born Christchurch-raised writer Meg Mason’s latest novel – a…

Jaimee Lupton’s Haircare Brand Monday Gets Global

Jaimee Lupton’s Haircare Brand Monday Gets Global

The brainchild of New Zealand-based beauty entrepreneur Jaimee Lupton, Monday Haircare made its stateside debut this month debut at Target and Ulta, Celia Shatzman reports for Forbes. Monday Haircare made quite the splash when it…

Six60 Play World’s Only Stadium Tour

Six60 Play World’s Only Stadium Tour

They’re currently the planet’s biggest touring band, putting on huge shows in their COVID-free homeland, NME reports. In his own words, Six60’s frontman, Matiu Walters, told the magazine how that feels. “When New Zealand went into…

Lucy Blakiston’s Insta Page Hugely Popular

Lucy Blakiston’s Insta Page Hugely Popular

Celebrities like Ariana Grande, Bella Hadid, Halle Berry, Reese Witherspoon and Chrissy Teigen are just some of the followers of Lucy Blakiston’s Instagram account, Shit you should care about. Morgane Solignac interviews the 23-year-old…

Amazing Race’s Phil Keoghan Fronts Tough as Nails

Amazing Race’s Phil Keoghan Fronts Tough as Nails

Over the last two decades, Phil Keoghan has mostly led a nomadic life, Praveen Sudevan writes for The Hindu. As the host of The Amazing Race, a reality adventure show with 15 Emmy awards,…

What If the UK Had Shut as Quickly as NZ?

What If the UK Had Shut as Quickly as NZ?

“The UK’s physical isolation sets it apart from its continental neighbours, but could its island status have protected it from the full horror of Covid-19, had it closed borders in early 2020, as New…

Chef Analiese Gregory Revels in Tasmanian Wild

Chef Analiese Gregory Revels in Tasmanian Wild

New Zealand-born chef Analiese Gregory, 36, tells the Financial Times “why she turned her back on the world’s chicest restaurants to set up home – and a kitchen – at the edge of the…

Stunt Royal Zoë Bell Embracing Collaboration

Stunt Royal Zoë Bell Embracing Collaboration

It’s been 20 years since New Zealander Zoë Bell arrived in Los Angeles, where she soon took her stunt double career to another level. The Waiheke Island-native made her name after the iconic stunt collaboration…

LA Gallery Owner Blown Away by Emma McIntyre

LA Gallery Owner Blown Away by Emma McIntyre

Auckland-born artist Emma McIntyre’s first show out of New Zealand, ‘Pour plenty on the worlds’, is now on in Los Angeles at Chris Sharp Gallery, the new establishment’s debut show. Sharp, who co-curated the New…

Singer Sarah Mary Chadwick Says It All on New Album

Singer Sarah Mary Chadwick Says It All on New Album

On the launch of her new album, Me and Ennui Are Friends, Baby, New Zealand-born Melbourne-based singer Sarah Mary Chadwick “interrogates the forensic intimacy and specificity of her songs”. Jenny Valentish interviews Chadwick for…

There’s Extreme Tension Coming Home in the Dark

There’s Extreme Tension Coming Home in the Dark

“The enormity of nature hits you like a freight train in the early scenes of James Ashcroft’s taut and sinewy first feature, Coming Home in the Dark,” David Rooney writes in a…

New Zealanders in Wintry Berlin Cope with Covid

New Zealanders in Wintry Berlin Cope with Covid

Artist Ruth Buchanan is one of a number of New Zealanders “holed up” in Berlin, “in the middle of a long, dreary Covid winter”. Former DJ Emma Jean Gilkson, writing for The Spinoff, is…

Sun Journalist Dan Wootton Heads to GB News

Sun Journalist Dan Wootton Heads to GB News

Lower Hutt-born Dan Wootton, 37, the Sun journalist who broke the story of “Megxit”, is leaving to present a daily show on GB News and write for Mail Online, Amol Rajan reports in a…

Exeloo Named America’s Best Public Toilet

Exeloo Named America’s Best Public Toilet

The West Auckland-designed and manufactured Exeloo unit was named top toilet at the inaugural Best Restroom in America awards, which were held in November, Esther Taunton reports for Stuff. The “touchless” toilet was the subject…

Tourism NZ Pleads End to Socially-Influenced Pics

Tourism NZ Pleads End to Socially-Influenced Pics

New Zealand is really bored of your Instagram posts, Rob Picheta writes for CNN. The country has launched a new tourism campaign, urging travellers to stop mimicking photos they see online and “share something…

Elizabeth Knox’s The Absolute Book Wry and Precise

Elizabeth Knox’s The Absolute Book Wry and Precise

New Zealand author Elizabeth Knox’s 2019 novel, The Absolute Book, is reviewed alongside UK-based Everina Maxwell’s Winter’s Orbit, by Canadian writer Amal El-Mohtar for The New York Times. “Here are two novels that are, in some ways, opposites:…

Comedian Rose Matafeo’s 2021 is Shaping Up

Comedian Rose Matafeo’s 2021 is Shaping Up

With an acclaimed romcom, one-off HBO special and a new sitcom out this year, 2021 is looking good for New Zealand-born rising comic, Rose Matafeo, who is based in the UK. NME’s George Fenwick recently…

Grazia Publishes Daniel Ido’s Take on Auckland

Grazia Publishes Daniel Ido’s Take on Auckland

From the smell of the sea to mountainous ranges, there is no secret Auckland is a unique city. Drawing inspiration from his hometown, US-based Grazia guest editor and artist Daniel Ido frames exactly what…

Fifa Exec Sarai Bareman Understands the Margins

Fifa Exec Sarai Bareman Understands the Margins

From her time as a player on the Samoan women’s national team to becoming deputy secretary general of the tiny Oceania Football Confederation, few people are better suited to addressing the challenges faced by…

Popular Film Baby Done Released in UK

Popular Film Baby Done Released in UK

With New Zealand-made film Baby Done just released on digital platforms throughout the UK, the BBC’s Emma Jones writes about the film’s star, Rose Matafeo, and how the film explores misgivings about motherhood. Matafeo, 28,…

RuPaul’s Drag Race Heads Down Under

RuPaul’s Drag Race Heads Down Under

Emmy-winning production company World of Wonder is bringing RuPaul’s drag queen reality series to New Zealand and Australia, and it will be appropriately titled RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under, Dino-Ray Ramos reports for Deadline. RuPaul…

New Zealand Tops Lowy List with Covid Response

New Zealand Tops Lowy List with Covid Response

New analysis undertaken by Australian think tank the Lowy Institute has found that New Zealand has handled the coronavirus pandemic more effectively than any other country in the world, Stephen Dziedzic reports for ABC…

Local Creatives On Navigating a Post-Covid World

Local Creatives On Navigating a Post-Covid World

In a recent online i-D magazine article, young New Zealand creatives – including photographer Apela Bell (pictured), designer Charlotte Jennings, and performers Benee and Teeks – explain to readers “what it looks like on…

German Publication Has High Praise for PM

German Publication Has High Praise for PM

For its January 2021 issue, the German magazine View has declared Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern the “best politician in the world” and features the 39-year-old on the cover, with the words: “She defeated coronavirus…

Filmmaker Charlotte Larsen On Her Latest Projects

Filmmaker Charlotte Larsen On Her Latest Projects

US-based Charlotte Larsen, 38, is poised to become a household name. The New Zealand native has found success as a producer and actress on popular films like Gloria and Great Expectations. She is currently…

Monique Bossie Puts Fashion into Rashies

Monique Bossie Puts Fashion into Rashies

New Zealand-born Monique Bossie is the brains behind Kin Swim, one of a growing number of brands reinventing the rashie to combat a problem all Australians encounter – the harsh sun, Stephanie McKenna writes…

Artist Simon Denny Reflects on Berlin Art Programme

Artist Simon Denny Reflects on Berlin Art Programme

Co-founder of the Berlin Program for Artists (BPA) New Zealand-born Simon Denny, 39, (pictured right) explains why artists are essential to the fabric of Germany’s capital city in an article for UK art magazine, Frieze. “When…

Is Letterboxd Becoming a Blockbuster?

Is Letterboxd Becoming a Blockbuster?

Early last decade, Matthew Buchanan (pictured right) and Karl von Randow, web designers based in Auckland, were seeking a passion project, Calum Marsh writes for The New York Times. Their business, a boutique web…

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta Charts a Course

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta Charts a Course

The first Māori woman to be foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta is an experienced lawmaker known for her deep roots in Māori tribal diplomacy, Charlotte Graham-McLay writes for The Washington Post. Mahuta has her work…

Graeme James Revives Lost Art of Shipwreck Song

Graeme James Revives Lost Art of Shipwreck Song

“It’s been a while since” anything like “a gripping seafaring-disaster song” has “come along, but to that list we can now add ‘The Voyage of the James Caird’ by New Zealand singer-songwriter Graeme James,”…

London Tattooist Nikole Lowe Inks Wallpaper

London Tattooist Nikole Lowe Inks Wallpaper

New Zealand-born tattooist Nikole Lowe, 47, who lives in London and runs studio, Good Times Tattoo, has taken her skills in a new direction – wallpaper design. After the studio was closed by Covid-19,

Shearing World Record Broken by Megan Whitehead

Shearing World Record Broken by Megan Whitehead

Gore shearer Megan Whitehead, 24, recently took on a nine-hour-long challenge officiated by the World Sheep Shearing Records Society, shearing 661 strong wool lambs in the time period to beat the previous solo women’s…

Emerging Actor Nathalie Morris Plays Teen Parent

Emerging Actor Nathalie Morris Plays Teen Parent

“Every few years, a tabloid story pops up about a teenager who didn’t know she was pregnant until she started giving birth. We never really hear about what happens next. The new Australian series…

Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks a Slam Dunk

Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks a Slam Dunk

General manager of basketball team the Brooklyn Nets, New Zealander Sean Marks, 45, ended up getting the job and producing a miracle turnaround while transforming Brooklyn into a prime destination that superstars Kevin Durant and…

Our Covid Response the Best of a Bad Year

Our Covid Response the Best of a Bad Year

Covid may have made 2020 a year to forget, but amid the gloom there were plenty of positive moments, with countries like New Zealand and led by women having “systematically and significantly better” Covid-19…

Time to Reimagine Symbols of Identity

Time to Reimagine Symbols of Identity

“What’s with those jandals, hokey pokey ice-creams, buzzy bees, Swanndris and gumboots? Far from being random and unrelated objects, these icons of so-called Kiwiana tell a story of late 20th-century nostalgia at a moment…

That Looks Like a Digitalised 90s Catalogue

That Looks Like a Digitalised 90s Catalogue

It was in The Mount as it’s known to locals, that model Becca Haeger launched what would become That Looks, which according to Zoë Kendall, reporting for Britain’s i-D magazine, presents as a shoppable…

Manukura a Blessing and a Unifying Symbol

Manukura a Blessing and a Unifying Symbol

Manukura, a rare, snow-white kiwi that inspired a children’s book and was the first of its kind ever hatched in captivity has died at the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre after multiple surgeries to remove…