Blog Archives

Lonely Lingerie Features in the New York Times

Lonely Lingerie Features in the New York Times

New Zealand-based label Lonely Lingerie, which was founded by Helene Morris in 2009, is profiled in the New York Times. Launched as a small partnership between Morris and collaborator Steve Ferguson, Lonely calls itself…

Gin Wigmore Making Music at Home in California

Gin Wigmore Making Music at Home in California

“There are singers, and there’s Gin Wigmore,” according to Billboard. “The New Zealand-born, Los Angeles-based artist’s raw, bluesy voice is so distinctive, some pundits are convinced it’s only a matter of time before the…

Rob Bryers and Beefy Blake on a Sporting Odyssey

Rob Bryers and Beefy Blake on a Sporting Odyssey

Meet Aucklander Rob Bryers (pictured right) and Welshman Kieren “Beefy” Blake, two blokes crossing the globe to see a different sport for every day of the year, revelling in the Olympic Games as much…

iZombie Star Rose McIver a Role Model for Fans

iZombie Star Rose McIver a Role Model for Fans

Rose McIver, the New Zealand actress who plays crime-solving zombie, Liv Moore, says the character has become an unlikely role model for many fans, which may explain why iZombie has been ratings gold for…

Banking Boss Ross McEwan Still up for the Fight

Banking Boss Ross McEwan Still up for the Fight

The Royal Bank of Scotland boss, New Zealander Ross McEwan tells the Telegraph about how the bank is helping UK’s small businesses and why trust is important. Opening a new business start-up “hub” on the…

Guardian Rates Uplifting Marlon Williams Debut

Guardian Rates Uplifting Marlon Williams Debut

Marlon Williams’ self-titled debut album is described as “delicious, oddly uplifting misery”, in a review written by Michael Hann for the Guardian. “It’s hard to work out quite how the album from the young New…

Kim Casali’s Love Is An Inspiration

Kim Casali’s Love Is An Inspiration

Auckland-born Kim Casali created the syndicated cartoon feature Love Is…, originally as notes to her future husband, in the late 1960s. As well, in one of the world’s first cases, Casali gave birth to…

Francis Upritchard Opens Her East London Home

Francis Upritchard Opens Her East London Home

In the commune-esque home of New Zealand-born artist Francis Upritchard and her husband, Italian designer Martino Gamper, the colourful trappings of life and work are uniquely integrated. The New York Times is invited into…

Kakapo Genome Sequencing a Whole Lot of Help

Kakapo Genome Sequencing a Whole Lot of Help

A group of kakapo will have their genomes sequenced in the hope it will improve the birds’ genetic diversity. There are only 125 kakapo left and every one of them will have their genetic…

Stylist Lesley Martin Trims her Fashion Budget

Stylist Lesley Martin Trims her Fashion Budget

Invercargill-born Lesley Martin, 61, who is a network stylist for Australia’s SBS, set herself a task to spend nothing on clothes for a year and record her 365 days of outfits, posting the images…

Drone Captures Beautiful New Zealand Views

Drone Captures Beautiful New Zealand Views

An Emirates and Boeing-sponsored video series filmed by drones has captured beautiful footage of Milford Sound, our spectacular mountain ranges and Wellington’s harbour. As well as the islands’ increasingly famous natural scenery, those who wish…

Finola Dwyer Building on Success of Brooklyn

Finola Dwyer Building on Success of Brooklyn

Celebrating six BAFTA nominations and three Oscar nominations, Wildgaze Films duo Wellington-born Finola Dwyer and Briton Amanda Posey look back at Brooklyn’s journey and ahead to their future slate and ambitions. Brooklyn was launched at…

Introducing Food Creative Frankie de Vorms

Introducing Food Creative Frankie de Vorms

With a background in fine art, New Zealand-born Frankie de Vorms’ sweet treats not only taste divine – they’re objects of beauty, according to journalist Alice Ryan who calls into de Vorms’ Cambridge kitchen…

Michael Anderson Takes a Fresh Look at Buffalo

Michael Anderson Takes a Fresh Look at Buffalo

New Zealand-born architect Michael Anderson never thought he would call Buffalo, in New York State home, but after four years at university there in the late 90s, something started to grow on him. At 6’8,…

Michael Long Wins Vic Open with Magic Shot

Michael Long Wins Vic Open with Magic Shot

Cromwell-born former PGA Tour professional Michael Long said he could not have hit the incredible chip shot that won him this year’s Vic Open if he had another 99 tries. Long admitted he thought he…

Megan Gale a Model Tourism NZ Cycling Ambassador

Megan Gale a Model Tourism NZ Cycling Ambassador

Australian model, actor and television presenter Megan Gale, 40, once helped promote Australia to Italy on travel show Getaway, now she will use her Maori heritage to help endear New Zealand to the world. Gale…

Two Great Reasons to Visit Martinborough

Two Great Reasons to Visit Martinborough

New Zealand’s most expensive wine, Marie Zelie Reserve Pinot Noir 2010 is one good reason to visit Martinborough Vineyards, Wharekauhau Lodge is another, says the Telegraph’s Victoria Moore. “Price alone wouldn’t be enough to make…

Jane Carter Makes University of Illinois History

Jane Carter Makes University of Illinois History

Aucklander Jane Carter is the Great Lakes Valley Conference Women’s Tennis Freshman of the Year, which is, according to the State Journal-Register, “perhaps the greatest individual accomplishment in the seven-year National Collegiate Athletic Association…

Marlon Williams Brings Honey Back to the Bees

Marlon Williams Brings Honey Back to the Bees

“If there’s anyone who proves that singer-songwriters don’t need a Nashville or Memphis address to make authentic, arresting country music, it’s 25-year-old crooner Marlon Williams,” Village Voice music editor Lindsey Rhoades says. “Growing…

David Farrier’s Doco Tickled a Hit with Critics

David Farrier’s Doco Tickled a Hit with Critics

New investigative documentary, the “engrossing” Tickled, co-directed by New Zealanders David Farrier and Dylan Reeve, has received rave reviews from critics and punters after its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s…

Decorated WWII Fighter Pilot Keith Thiele

Decorated WWII Fighter Pilot Keith Thiele

Squadron Leader Keith Thiele, who has died in Sydney aged 94, was decorated four times as a bomber and a fighter pilot and was one of only four New Zealand-born airmen to earn three…

First Things First in Planet’s Adventure Mecca

First Things First in Planet’s Adventure Mecca

Braving the 16-hour flight from Los Angeles to New Zealand is easy, according to Outside Magazine, but the hard part is sorting through the overwhelming number of possibilities crammed into the two islands. Outside…

Ukulele Orchestra Strums up Fans in US

Ukulele Orchestra Strums up Fans in US

Andy Morley-Hall is a member of the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, an eight-piece band that combines high-energy ukulele covers of classic pop and rock songs by the likes of Blondie, Cyndi Lauper and Salt-N-Pepa…

Thor director Taika Waititi an Indie Powerhouse

Thor director Taika Waititi an Indie Powerhouse

“As a director, got an impeccable ability to balance painful earnestness with biting humour,” Angela Watercutter writes for WIRED. “And as a comedy writer and actor, he produces jokes that land…

New Zealanders Take over Australian Banks

New Zealanders Take over Australian Banks

“Congratulations to ANZ Banking Group’s tough new CEO, for both (partially) pulling the plug on the bank’s misguided Asian expansion strategy, which I have criticised since 2009, and for…

Photographer Robin Hammond Speaks on Conflict

Photographer Robin Hammond Speaks on Conflict

New Zealand-born Robin Hammond is one of six photographers featured in a series called Conflict, which explores the testimonies of professional conflict photographers and looks at how they engage with and seek to understand…

Queen of Eyewear Karen Walker Spearheads New Range

Queen of Eyewear Karen Walker Spearheads New Range

“The reigning queen of cult eyewear, Karen Walker, is back with another sunglasses collection, and yes – the lookbook is just as adorable and the styles are just as lustworthy as we’ve come to…

Matt Jenke Google Maps the Great Walks

Matt Jenke Google Maps the Great Walks

Aucklander Matt Jenke has helped put some of the country’s top tramping tracks on the Google map, completing seven of the nine Great Walks wearing a Google Street View Trekker, a wearable backpack outfitted…

Hunt for the Wilderpeople is Perfectly Balanced

Hunt for the Wilderpeople is Perfectly Balanced

Taika Waititi’s film adaptation of Barry Crump’s Wild Pork and Watercress, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, is a “deliciously good time at the movies,” according to…

All Trygve Wakenshaw Wants Is to Be Mr Bean

All Trygve Wakenshaw Wants Is to Be Mr Bean

Mime superstar, New Zealand-born Trygve Wakenshaw, who has been garnering rave reviews for his recent solo show, Nautilus talks with the Guardian about his theatre background, his future and what he really wants –…

Chef Anna Hansen on Juggling Work and Family

Chef Anna Hansen on Juggling Work and Family

New Zealand-raised chef Anna Hansen, owner of London’s Modern Pantry, talks with the Guardian about juggling the demands of business and family. Time management is one thing Hansen says she is not particularly good at. “I…

Owls Do Cry Reissued with Margaret Drabble Intro

Owls Do Cry Reissued with Margaret Drabble Intro

Janet Frame’s 1957 debut novel Owls Do Cry has now been reissued with a nuanced and appreciative introduction by Margaret Drabble, who calls the novel “an exhilarating and dazzling prelude to long and…

Snowboarder Nev Lapwood Wins Big Dragon’s Den Deal

Snowboarder Nev Lapwood Wins Big Dragon’s Den Deal

New Zealand-born Nev Lapwood’s Snowboard Addiction training website has inked a US$100,000 investment deal with Canadian e-commerce maven Michele Romanow after wowing the panel on reality television show Dragon’s Den. Snowboard Addiction was…

Black Hole Expert Roy Kerr Honoured in Nice

Black Hole Expert Roy Kerr Honoured in Nice

One of the world’s most brilliant mathematicians, New Zealander Roy Kerr, 81, has been awarded the Crafoord Prize for his work on black holes. With an award of US$700,000 the prize is one of…

All Blacks Add Spice to European Champions Cup

All Blacks Add Spice to European Champions Cup

New Zealand’s All Black stars are the big prizes in rugby’s global talent pool, particularly only a few months after winning a second consecutive World Cup, the New York Times reports. Like Ma’a Nonu,…

Stacey Gorman’s Frosty Meringues the New Cool

Stacey Gorman’s Frosty Meringues the New Cool

From elaborate pavlovas to plush, punk-pink rainbow cakes, chefs and food stylists Auckland-born Stacey O’Gorman (left) and British business partner Alex Hoffler – aka the Meringue Girls – both still in their…

Tramping New Zealand’s Magical Great Walks

Tramping New Zealand’s Magical Great Walks

“New Zealand’s Fiordland National Park – bigger than Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks combined – offers a wealth of magical hikes,” Associated Press journalist Carey Williams writes. “The Great Walks are routes featured by the…

Marlon Williams takes on North America

Marlon Williams takes on North America

In July 2015, Marlon Williams made his Vancouver Folk Music Festival debut stunning the crowd. The 25-year-old New Zealander is a revelation, according to the Vancouver Sun. Williams’ voice is riveting, a cross between…

Sundance Welcomes Taika Waititi’s Latest

Sundance Welcomes Taika Waititi’s Latest

Taika Waititi’s new film Hunt for the Wilderpeople, a dramatisation of Barry Crump’s 1986 novel, Wild Pork and Watercress, has premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Boy director Waititi returns with the road comedy…

Ben Sanders’ Crime Novel Takes on the Big Guns

Ben Sanders’ Crime Novel Takes on the Big Guns

Ben Sanders’ American Blood is a “world-class thriller,” according to Karen Hardy writing for the Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s perhaps a little too soon to put Sanders in the same league as Lee Child,”…

Thomas Monckton’s The Pianist a Brilliant Hour

Thomas Monckton’s The Pianist a Brilliant Hour

New Zealander Thomas Monckton is one of a new generation of mimes, a “luminary”, beginning to “carry the torch in a tradition that brought us Charlie Chaplin and Mr Bean,” according to the Sydney…

Wairau River a Fly-Fishing Paradise

Wairau River a Fly-Fishing Paradise

Owen River Lodge is about 100km from Nelson and its owner, Felix Borenstein, says Wairau River is fly-fishing’s Everest. One minute they are there and the next they aren’t – three of the biggest brown…

Mime’s New Star Is Trygve Wakenshaw

Mime’s New Star Is Trygve Wakenshaw

“Rubber-limbed” New Zealander Trygve Wakenshaw is “one of the most talented acts of the new mime movement,” Tristram Fane Saunders writes for the Telegraph. Trained at École Philippe Gaulier (“essentially RADA for…

Moa’s Range of Ecological Roles Irreplaceable

Moa’s Range of Ecological Roles Irreplaceable

Filling the ecological gap left by the extinction of the moa with imported Australian emus and cassowaries would not work, according to insights into the giant flightless birds’ feeding behaviours. The findings, reported in the…

Under-15 Cricket Team Breaks with Tradition

Under-15 Cricket Team Breaks with Tradition

Wakatipu High School Uunder-15 cricket team impressed locals at January’s Western New South Wales Cricket Carnival, wowing locals in the small rural township of Molong with their haka. Molong’s picturesque pitch, with its white picket…

Okinawa Islands Traditions Inspire English Teacher

Okinawa Islands Traditions Inspire English Teacher

New Zealander Jesse Whitehead, 25, has published a photography book depicting the people, nature, and culture of Okinawa, Japan as he experienced them during his three-year stay in Tomigusuku City. Whitehead came to Okinawa in…

Freeskier Alec Savery Has the Best of Both Slopes

Freeskier Alec Savery Has the Best of Both Slopes

Queenstown freeskier Alec Savery, 20, spends most of his time in Cardrona, where just about anyone who’s anyone in the New Zealand freeski scene spends their winters. So, when it comes time to compete…

Heath Cozens Breaks Stereotypes with Doglegs

Heath Cozens Breaks Stereotypes with Doglegs

Disabled athletes fight the non-disabled in New Zealand director Heath Cozens’ award-winning documentary Doglegs which provides an outlet for five determined wrestlers to escape the prejudice they face in everyday life, the Guardian reports. It…

Pack up Your Troubles and Paddle

Pack up Your Troubles and Paddle

New Zealand’s only packraft operator Expedition X takes Guardian journalist Ellie Ross into a “secret corner” of the Rees Valley, an hour’s drive north of Queenstown, for a trek into the wilderness with a…

New Zealanders Helping Racing 92 to the Top

New Zealanders Helping Racing 92 to the Top

The experience of former All Blacks is helping Paris club Racing 92 with long-term ambitions, both nationally and internationally, said club president Jacky Lorenzetti. French clubs often give priority to their own national…

Luxury Lodge-Hopping in New Zealand

Luxury Lodge-Hopping in New Zealand

“Once seen by many as a destination for backpackers to hike, bike and bungee jump, New Zealand’s profile is changing,” Mark Jones writes in a Financial Times feature. “In 2014 the national tourist board…

Designer Tracy Grant Lord Dresses Scottish Ballet

Designer Tracy Grant Lord Dresses Scottish Ballet

Aucklander Tracy Grant Lord is the brains behind the costumes and set of Scottish Ballet’s Cinderalla, a production originally created for the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2007, which Grant Lord also worked on….

Best Italian Wines New Zealand Made

Best Italian Wines New Zealand Made

You don’t have to go to the source to drink world-class Sangiovese or Montepulciano. According to Condé Nast Traveler, some of the finest Italian wine is made right here in New Zealand. When it comes…

David Bowie Changed Geeling Ching’s Life

David Bowie Changed Geeling Ching’s Life

In 1983, Aucklander Geeling Ching was 23 years old and waiting tables at a Sydney café when she was chosen to play the lead role in David Bowie’s “China Girl,” Associated Press…

Paul Donald’s Solo Endymion Project Opens in LA

Paul Donald’s Solo Endymion Project Opens in LA

Auckland-born artist Paul Donald’s solo show “Endymion Project” has opened in Los Angeles at CB1 Gallery, one of a number of “stand out” exhibitions opening this month in the city. Donald, who was trained in…

Fitness Tips from Equinox’s Sarah Robb O’Hagan

Fitness Tips from Equinox’s Sarah Robb O’Hagan

Top fitness executive New Zealand-born Sarah Robb O’Hagan, president of New York-based Equinox Fitness, tells Fortune how to set realistic goals and get fit in 2016. Robb O’Hagan personally became a daily fitness fan as…