Allbirds’ Co-Founder Tim Brown Speaks Simplicity
New Zealander and former pro soccer player Tim Brown hung up his cleats in 2010 after going to the World Cup. His next move surprised everyone: He set out to make simple shoes that…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Maggie Hewitt’s Overnight Success
“Within a year of her graduation, Maggie Hewitt’s fashion brand had gone global.” Patty Huntington spoke to the New Zealand designer about her fashion journey “from novice to Net-a-Porter”. She reports for the
Japan-First for Lawyer Catherine O’Connell
After 15 years in Japan, New Zealander Catherine O’Connell decided to found and launch her New Law business model in Japan. It was a challenging prospect for any foreign lawyer, let alone a woman…
Perpetual Guardian’s Four-Day Week a Hit
Auckland company Perpetual Guardian has declared their landmark trial of a four-day working week an “unmitigated success”, with 78 per cent of employees feeling they were able to successfully manage their work-life balance, an increase…
Even Bigger Steven Adams Wows in San Diego
For four days during the annual Comic-Con, the San Diego Convention Center is a treasure trove of everything pop culture fans love: comics, super heroes, super villains, video games, movies, TV shows, books and…
Teacher Jimmy Orange Mentors Kids Through Rugby
Fountain Gate Secondary College in Melbourne, Australia never thought it would be putting up rugby posts, at least not until New Zealand-born teacher Jimmy Orange came along. Orange went through a school system where rugby…
Graduate Aïcha Wijland Wins London Design Award
University of Otago advertising graduate Aïcha Wijland says rebellious student culture was behind her edgy, award-winning redesign of classic cartoon character Beryl the Peril – the female equivalent of Dennis the Menace. Wijland has…
PM Makes Fortune’s 40 Under 40 List
The influential Fortune magazine 40 Under 40 list includes Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at No 12. Co-founder and CEO of Instagram, Kevin Systrom took top place in this year’s ranking. “It’s only appropriate that Ardern,…
Wax Chattels Pursue Post-Punk with Manic Fervour
“There are few record labels out there that have come to define an entire country’s quality independent music output. Flying Nun Records did that for New Zealand,” Adam McKinney writes for Washington-based entertainment newspaper…
Ruth Park’s the Harp in the South Now A Stage Play
“My first publishing negotiation for Ruth Park was conducted in 1971, in Angus and Robertson’s rabbit warren of offices in Lower George Street. Ruth was already a distinguished writer,” Park’s longtime literary agent Tim…
Double World Champions: Men Match Women’s Achievement
For only the second time in world rugby sevens history, the New Zealand men’s and women’s teams have won their respective World Cups, with the men sealing the rare accomplishment with a 33-12 win…
Marlon Williams on His Writing Process
The most popular and persistent myth attached to the songwriting process is that artists are driven by an absolute, desperate need to do it. As cliché has it, there’s never much choice involved in…
Author Eleanor Catton on the Books That Changed Her
New Zealand Booker Prize-winning novelist Eleanor Catton recently spoke with The Guardian on the crackpot astrological study she’d like to write, and the book she finds “dishonest, pious and vengeful”, for the newspaper’s regular…
MediCann Joins Forces With Dispensing Company
Shares in Australian company Jayex Healthcare Limited have more than doubled after the medical software and devices company announced a deal with private New Zealand medical cannabis startup, MediCann. The deal gives MediCann the exclusive…
Post-Brexit Architect Crawford Falconer Optimistic
In his first interview since taking up the role of British chief trade negotiation adviser, New Zealander Crawford Falconer talks to John Arlidge from The Sunday Times, about why he emerged from the “comfort…
Leslie Bowman Part of West End Antidote to Trump
Through the story of 18th-century Founding Father of America, Alexander Hamilton, and the American Wars of Independence, blockbuster stage musical Hamilton is fiercely relevant today, and especially last week, when President Donald Trump brought…
Waiheke One of the Best Islands
Waiheke Island has been ranked the fifth best island in the world in this year’s World’s Best Awards survey, which asks Travel + Leisure readers to “weigh in on travel experiences around the globe.”…
Hollyford Track in NZ One of Best Walking Holidays
New Zealand’s Hollyford Track has been featured as one of the best guided walking holidays in the world in an article in the Evening Standard. “The Hollyford…
How Lorde Defied Misogyny and Expectations
It is a just over a year ago since the release of Lorde’s second album, Melodrama. Ordinarily, a retrospective would be premature, but Melodrama already merits one, according to Brian O’Flynn writing for The…
Time May Be Running Out for Tāne Mahuta
New Zealand’s oldest and most sacred tree, Tāne Mahuta (Lord of the Forest), stands 60m from death, as a fungal disease known as kauri dieback spreads unabated across the country. Despite stringent efforts by…
ANZ Introduces Digital Human Assistant
“If you are an ANZ Bank customer, chances are that your queries will be answered by ‘Jamie,’ the latest ‘Customer Services Officer’” and the bank’s new Digital Assistant, writes Venkat Raman in an article…
German Museum Returns Tattooed Māori Skull
The Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum of world cultures in Cologne, Germany has returned a tattooed Māori skull, which had been in its collection for 110 years, to a delegation representing the Museum of New Zealand Te…
National Geographic to Feature Whanganui River
When the Whanganui River was given legal personhood Danish freelance photographer Mathias Svold was so intrigued by the headlines that he went to Washington DC in the United States to pitch a story for…
Finding Keith Murdoch Four Decades On
His closest friends in a remote town in the Australian outback had no idea who he was. Now that former All Black Keith Murdoch is dead at 74, the story of the man who…
Media Boss Sam Chisholm Nine Network’s Starmaker
New Zealand-born media heavyweight Sam Chisholm has died in Sydney. He was 78. During his four-decade career, Chisholm was head of Australia’s Nine Network and chief executive at Britain’s Sky Television. He was appointed chief…
Sign Up to Help Protect Our Iconic Bird
Kiwis for kiwi is a national charity working with community and Māori-led conservation projects to put a stop to the horrific decline of our national icon. With the support of Old Mout Cider, they have…
First 3D Colour X-Ray Of A Human Using CERN Technology
“A New-Zealand company has scanned a human body using a colour medical scanner based on Medipix3 technology developed at CERN. Father and son scientists Professors Phil and Anthony Butler from Canterbury and Otago Universities…
New Zealand Is a Haven of Liberal Politics
“Unlike most other countries, New Zealand’s parliament appears to have realised that no one’s going to get anywhere by pretending to agree with, or make bargains with, Donald Trump,” freelance journalist Matteo di Maio…
Ruban Nielson Talks Music & NZ Artists
Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s “lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Ruban Nielson takes influence from a diverse group of artists ranging from Stevie Wonder to punk act the Buzzcocks to musical iconoclast Frank Zappa,” writes Carlos De Loera in…
Farmer Rick Scoones Supplying Perth’s Eateries
New Zealander Rick Scoones, one suspects, doesn’t have troubles getting a table at many of Perth’s better restaurants. As the public face behind Warren Grange Horticulture – the heirloom vegetable farm he and his…
Sue Paterson, Inspirational Arts Producer
Sue Paterson, the most impactful New Zealand arts producer of this generation, has died in Wellington aged 65 from cancer. Beloved by everyone she worked with, managed and mentored, Sue Paterson was formative in…
Air New Zealand Partners With Jetblue
“Air New Zealand and JetBlue venture capital subsidiary JetBlue Technology Ventures have joined forces to help foster emerging technologies in the travel industry.” The two companies “are launching the International Innovation Partnership to seek…
Why New Zealand “Still Rules the High Seas of Rugby”
“The flag which flutters highest on the masthead of world rugby is still all black in colour. It does not have a skull-and-crossbones on it, but when it hoves into view everyone knows its…
Andrew Niccol’s Truman Show 20 Years On
Jim Carrey, Peter Weir, New Zealand-born screenwriter Andrew Niccol, Laura Linney, and Sherry Lansing thought their paranoid dramedy The Truman Show seemed absurd – until life began to imitate art. In the 1990s, as Canadian…
Anna Paquin: “You Don’t Do It for Fame, Finance or Glory”
“Sitting down with Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge, Paquin discussed the release of her newest independent movie at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic.” Tara Bitran reports for
Ali Smith Marvels at Katherine Mansfield’s Letters
New Zealand novelist Kirsty Gunn was in London recently listening to Scottish author Ali Smith talk about Katherine Mansfield. Gunn’s article about the event appears in The Scotsman. “ talk, hosted by the
Two NZ Comedians Part of Netflix Global Comedy Event Series
Netflix “is launching an international stand-up comedy event series that will feature 47 comedians from 13 regions”. New Zealand comedians Urzila Carlson and Cal Wilson are part of the line-up. Anita Bennett reports for…
Taika Waititi Reveals Details of ‘Jojo Rabbit’
New Zealand “director Taika Waititi has revealed more details of his upcoming projects Jojo Rabbit and Bubbles.” Orlando Parfitt reports for Screen Daily. “Waititi told Screen at the Karlovy Vary Film…
World’s Largest Group Fitness Provider Turns 50
“Marking half a century in the fitness industry this year, the family behind Les Mills, the world’s largest group fitness provider, have shared their remarkable story of struggle, success and striving for a fitter…
Israel Adesanya Might Be the UFC’s next Superhero
Nigeria-born New Zealander Israel Adesanya “is one of the ‘The Last Stylebender’ … It’s a reference to Avatar: The Last…
Cellist Yuuki Bouterey-Ishido Exhilarates
“On the last flaming day of June, a packed Lancaster Town Hall stood at the end to acclaim another Haffner Orchestra’s triumphant summer concert. The star of the show was a new up-and-coming young…
NZ Passport Ranked 7th Most Powerful
New Zealand has been placed on rank #7 – tied with the Czech Republic and Malta – in this year’s Henley Passport Index, which ranks “all the world’s passports according…
Rocket Lab to Open Second Launch Pad
Silicon Valley-funded space launch company Rocket Lab is planning “to open a second launch site in the United States to complement its remote New Zealand pad.” Charlotte Greenfield reports for
Ashleigh Young Turns a Lyrical Eye
“When I uprooted my family from Seattle this year to move to Wellington, I knew little of the foreign, faraway place beyond its reputation for grey days and great coffee,” Maggie Trapp writes for…
Soprano Claire Egan Makes Violetta Her Own
Understudies rarely get the opportunity to have their names in bright lights, but a sequence of mishaps at the UK’s Longborough Festival Opera gave New Zealand-born soprano Claire Egan, 34, a starring role in one…
Meeting Jenny Dobson a Pioneer of the Médoc
Jenny Dobson is a New Zealander considered to have been one of the first female cellar masters in the Médoc and who was subsequently nicknamed the ‘queen of red wine blending’ for her consultant…
Wayne Pivac to Succeed Warren Gatland as Wales Coach
“Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac will succeed Warren Gatland as Wales coach on a four-year deal.” BBC reports. “Gatland is stepping down after the 2019 World Cup in Japan and…
Richard Hadlee’s the Best Bowling of All Time
New Zealand cricket legend Richard Hadlee has claimed top spot in ESPNcricinfo’s ‘Top 25 Bowling Performances of All Time’. ESPNcricinfo blogger Anantha Narayanan provides a table current up to the West Indies-Sri Lanka St Lucia…
Frolicking Right Whale Charms Wellingtonians
A huge southern right whale frolicking in Wellington harbour brought the capital’s waterfront to a standstill last week as locals skipped work to catch a glimpse of the animal. Southern right whales used to be…
Robert Whittaker Named Fighter of the Year
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion, New Zealand-born Robert Whittaker has been named International Fighter of the Year at the World MMA Awards in Las Vegas, United States. The honour follows a 12-month period that…
Trans-Tasman Tussle Over Deportation
The cancellation of Australian visas on the grounds of “character” has soared since December 2014, when the government amended its immigration law. Last year, more than half of those visas belonged to New Zealanders,…
NZ Most Perilous Place for Seabirds
“Seabirds are more at risk of dying due to plastic in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world, new research presented to parliament has shown.” Eleanor Ainge Roy reports for
Thomasin McKenzie a Force of Nature
Might Debra Granik’s latest film launch New Zealand actress Thomasin McKenzie into the same stratosphere as the Oscar-winning Jennifer Lawrence? Vanity Fair investigates. Granik’s work feels like a salve to the kinetic blockbuster that fuels…
Get Summery with Emilia Wickstead and Matches
Auckland-born designer Emilia Wickstead’s summer-ready capsule collection – a collaboration with Matches Fashion – is recommended by Singapore Tatler. “British-based Wickstead, 34, creates her first vacation collection in partnership with e-retailer
Kayaker Paddles from Australia to New Zealand
“Scott Donaldson has arrived in New Plymouth after spending two months at sea, covering 2000km,” as reported in The Guardian. “The 48-year-old has become the first person to kayak the…
Yellow Is Forbidden Auckland Premiere
After premiering to fantastic reviews at Tribeca Film Festival, New York, Pietra Brettkelly’s Yellow Is Forbidden will be shown in Auckland at the upcoming New Zealand International Film Festival. “Kiwi director…
