News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Designer Creates Handbags From Unusual Material

Designer Creates Handbags From Unusual Material

New Zealand designer Lilja Viggosdottir “has created a collection of chic and ‘sustainable’ handbags that use an unusual material to help create their unique look,” writes Katherine Davison in an article for

Photographer Gavin O’Neill Shoots for the Stars

Photographer Gavin O’Neill Shoots for the Stars

Earlier this year, 46-year-old Gavin O’Neill, who left New Zealand in 1996 to pursue fashion photography, received an email from the personal assistant of Kim Kardashian West. She had found his work on Instagram, the…

Karen Walker on the Shades She’s Wearing for Spring

Karen Walker on the Shades She’s Wearing for Spring

In celebration of the Vogue American Express Fashion’s Night Out (VAEFNO) event on 7 September, New Zealander Karen Walker, 47, will be making appearances in both Melbourne and Sydney where customers will have the…

New Zealand’s Best Ales Available in UK

New Zealand’s Best Ales Available in UK

“Antipodean ales are on the up, with more and more becoming available this side of the equator. These are the breweries you need to know about,” brewer and author Nick Moyle writes…

Neil Finn’s New Solo LP Contemplative and Tender

Neil Finn’s New Solo LP Contemplative and Tender

Neil Finn, the multi-talented Crowded House frontman, can make the most sophisticated pop music sound like the easiest thing in the world, according to freelance journalist Andrew Stafford, who reviews Finn’s fourth solo album,…

Pioneering Composer Annea Lockwood’s Common Ground

Pioneering Composer Annea Lockwood’s Common Ground

“New Zealand-born Annea Lockwood and the Brazilian Jocy de Oliveira are two composers separated by a distance that is geographical only,” Louise Gray writes for British music magazine The Wire. Their reissues, Lockwood’s Tiger…

Stefania LaVie Owen Cast in Dick Cheney Biopic Casts

Stefania LaVie Owen Cast in Dick Cheney Biopic Casts

Kiwi actress “Stefania LaVie Owen has joined Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Amy Adams, and Bill Pullman in Annapura’s Dick Cheney biopic, titled Backseat, written and directed by Adam McKay,” as reported on

Jamie McClennan Performs in Edinburgh

Jamie McClennan Performs in Edinburgh

New Zealand-born Jamie McClennan and Scottish folksinger Emily Smith celebrate 15 years of making music together in 2017. The pair will be appearing at the Edinburgh Folk Club, Pleasance Cabaret Bar on 20 September. “Their…

New Zealand Ranked Third Most Beautiful Country

New Zealand Ranked Third Most Beautiful Country

New Zealand has been voted the third most beautiful country in the world in a Rough Guides ranking. Scotland was voted the most stunning place in the world, followed by…

How Rugby Helped Jared James In Japan

How Rugby Helped Jared James In Japan

For a Japanese national, the question of why a person from the West would come to Japan is a fascinating one, so much so that there’s even a TV show about it: You wa…

Richard Wilkins Shares Wildest Backstage Memories

Richard Wilkins Shares Wildest Backstage Memories

“As an entertainment reporter for more than 30 years, you’d have a lot to talk about,” writes Benjamin Potter in an article in the Daily Mail. He’s referring to Richard…

Attica Redefining Australia’s Culinary Landscape

Attica Redefining Australia’s Culinary Landscape

New Zealand-born Ben Shewry’s Attica restaurant in Melbourne is ranked one of the best restaurants in the world for good reason, Jessica Wynne Lockhart reports in a feature about the rise, and rise, of…

New York Times Has Designs on Maggie Marilyn

New York Times Has Designs on Maggie Marilyn

Bristling on the back of an oversize coat, circling the sleeves of knits, bursting from the shoulders of a sweatshirt: Ruffles show up where you least expect them in New Zealander Maggie Marilyn Hewitt’s…

Colorado Audience Crazy for Opiuo

Colorado Audience Crazy for Opiuo

New Zealander Oscar Davey-Wraight, aka Opiuo, and his band recently played at Colorado’s Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre. According to Denver-based online lifestyle site 303 Magazine, the group’s formation “was a bit more dramatic than…

Winning Like The All Blacks

Winning Like The All Blacks

New Zealand “is small in size and population, but vast in talent and its position on the global scale,” writes Rajeev Gupta in an article published on

Paul Cowan Sorts London Transport’s Lost Property

Paul Cowan Sorts London Transport’s Lost Property

As many as 1200 items arrive at Transport for London’s lost property office on Baker Street each day, revealing what the city’s inhabitants value enough to recover – and what they’re happy to let…

Kharl WiRepa a Vogue Designer of the Future

Kharl WiRepa a Vogue Designer of the Future

Fashion designer Kharl WiRepa is set to have his designs featured in British Vogue’s September issue, his clothing line selected among the magazine’s top 22 ‘Designers of the Future’. WiRepa is the first designer of…

Tracy Clark Aims to Complete Oceans Seven

Tracy Clark Aims to Complete Oceans Seven

A swimmer and coach from Norwich has set herself the task of crossing the North Channel as part of a global challenge. New Zealander Tracy Clark, 47, can often be found swimming in one…

‘Giant Of Volcanology’ Bruce Houghton Wins World Honour

‘Giant Of Volcanology’ Bruce Houghton Wins World Honour

“Professor Bruce Houghton – described by one colleague as “a giant of volcanology” – has received the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior’s Thorarinsson Medal”, which is ‘volcanology’s highest honour,’…

Internet Ads Taking Over NZ’s Real Life Wild Spots

Internet Ads Taking Over NZ’s Real Life Wild Spots

A New Zealand public art project of physical signs bearing a striking resemblance to their digital cousins, is looking to draw attention to the ubiquity of online recommendations, which double as advertisements, and influence…

Reasons Behind the China Girl in Top of the Lake

Reasons Behind the China Girl in Top of the Lake

There’s certainly a great deal of thematic resonance in the first series of Top of the Lake and this one, beginning with women immersed in a body of water, a narrative of pregnancy secretly…

Te Manahou Mackay a New Force for Fashion Industry

Te Manahou Mackay a New Force for Fashion Industry

Te Manahou Mackay, 18, from Auckland, is the first transgender model to walk at New Zealand Fashion Week, “in a watershed for the industry,” the Daily Mail reports. Having quit school because she didn’t enjoy…

Sabryna’s the One in Los Angeles

Sabryna’s the One in Los Angeles

New Zealand-born pop singer Sabrina Salmon, aka Sabryna, is giving fans the perfect summer sendoff with her song Be The One, which has just been released in the United States. Entertainment news site Hollywood Life…

Photographer Amos Chapple’s Last Time Over Georgia

Photographer Amos Chapple’s Last Time Over Georgia

New Zealand-born photographer Amos Chapple’s aerial photographs showcase the unique beauty of Georgia in a mesmerising new collection called, One Last Time Over Georgia, just taken before the country imposes tight restrictions on drones…

New Zealand Wine Tourism Figures Soar

New Zealand Wine Tourism Figures Soar

Wine tourism in New Zealand has grown strongly and one in four visitors now go to a vineyard or winery during their visit, according to new figures published by trade body NZ Winegrowers. The organisation…

Where to Wine, Dine and Caffeinate in Wellington

Where to Wine, Dine and Caffeinate in Wellington

“When I first moved to New Zealand , I accidentally landed in Wellington and stayed for almost a year,” American travel blogger Liz Carlson, aka the Young Adventuress, writes. “Chill vibes, a cool creative…

Australia’s Unlikely Cosmetics Mogul Anna Ross

Australia’s Unlikely Cosmetics Mogul Anna Ross

She doesn’t have a multimillion-dollar laboratory or a celebrity endorsement deal. But New Zealand-born Melbourne-based Anna Ross is a bona fide cosmetics queen, with her Kester Black nail polish selling around the world –…

Stephanie Hinton Cooking Up a Vegan Storm

Stephanie Hinton Cooking Up a Vegan Storm

Vegan chef, Stephanie Hinton, 33, specialises in making aged artisan tofu cheeses – cheeze, to give them their proper name, and it’s one of the many ingenious creations the New Zealander is whipping up…

Nadia Reid Keeps Right on to End Of The Road

Nadia Reid Keeps Right on to End Of The Road

New Zealand singer-songwriter Nadia Reid, 25, is jetting in to Europe for her big summer tour stopping off at End Of The Road Festival in Wiltshire, UK where she joins such luminaries of the…

Ruth Park’s Words Endeared Her to Australia

Ruth Park’s Words Endeared Her to Australia

In the 1940s, many people resented the fact that a New Zealander was telling Australians about slums that many denied even existed. But author Ruth Park had been living in a run-down part of…

You Never Saw a Dolphin That Looked so Cute

You Never Saw a Dolphin That Looked so Cute

During the summer of 1955-56, the Northland township of Opononi attracted thousands of visitors from across the country. They came because they wanted to catch a glimpse of a visitor who’d appeared on the…

Danielle Cormack to Headline for Queensland Theatre

Danielle Cormack to Headline for Queensland Theatre

They killed her off in Australian prison drama Wentworth in 2016, but Auckland-born Danielle Cormack will live again on stage for Queensland Theatre next year. Cormack, 46, played Bea Smith in the television series…

Artist Paul McNeil Muses on Goofy As Surfing

Artist Paul McNeil Muses on Goofy As Surfing

The lackadaisical, drooping C-shape wave mural reflects the irreverence with which New Zealand-born, Byron Bay-based artist Paul McNeil approaches most topics, from surfing and surf culture to music and politics to philosophical ruminations, Matthew…

Morgan Haakma Wins Amateur Wakeboarding Title

Morgan Haakma Wins Amateur Wakeboarding Title

Waikato University Hillary Scholar Morgan Haakma has won her first world title at the 2017 Nautique WWA Wakeboard World Championships. Competing in the Amateur Women’s division, Haakma won “with a stand-up run filled with multiple…

Crawford Falconer UK’s Top Trade Negotiator

Crawford Falconer UK’s Top Trade Negotiator

The New Zealander in charge of negotiating the UK’s trade deals once Brexit is finalised, has begun his tenure. Crawford Falconer has taken up the post of chief trade negotiation adviser at the Department…

Must Do Travel Destinations in New Zealand

Must Do Travel Destinations in New Zealand

“This summer I took an epic vacation in New Zealand,” award-winning blogger and traveller Lia Miller (pictured centre) writes in a three-part series for the Huffington Post. “To say that New Zealand is gorgeous…

Five New Zealand Designers You Want to Know

Five New Zealand Designers You Want to Know

“For a small country far from the fashion capitals of Paris, New York and Milan, New Zealand fashion designers punch above their weight. Just look at Karen Walker’s empire spanning clothing, accessories, and homeware…

Premiere’s Burnley Sign Chris Wood for Record Fee

Premiere’s Burnley Sign Chris Wood for Record Fee

New Zealand footballer Chris Wood, 25, who was most recently a striker for Leeds, has just signed with English Premier League team Burnley for the club-record fee of £15 million. Auckland-born Wood, who is the…

New Zealanders Win Top Ironman Prizes in Bintan

New Zealanders Win Top Ironman Prizes in Bintan

New Zealanders Amelia Watkinson, 25, and Mike Phillips, 26, have been crowned as winners at the Ironman 70.3 competition, which was held on Bintan Island in Indonesia’s Riau Archipelago. Phillips was the fastest athlete in…

Insane View of Milky Way from Edge of NZ

Insane View of Milky Way from Edge of NZ

The South Island spans 50,437sqkm of breathtaking, verdant terrain. But nothing on the ground surpasses what’s in the sky. The region is home to the largest dark sky observatory in the world, glittering with…

Silver Scrolls Music Industry First

Silver Scrolls Music Industry First

For the first time in its 52-year history, New Zealand’s Silver Scroll Awards feature an exclusively all-female shortlist, made up of Lorde, Bic Runga, Aldous Harding, Chelsea Jade and Nadia Reid, the Guardian reports. The…

Colin Meads, Revered New Zealand Rugby Star

Colin Meads, Revered New Zealand Rugby Star

“Colin Meads, one of New Zealand’s greatest and most revered rugby players, died on Sunday in Te Kuiti, New Zealand, his hometown. He was 81,” writes Huw Richards in an obituary published in the…

All Blacks Ruthless in Epic Bledisloe Victory

All Blacks Ruthless in Epic Bledisloe Victory

The finishing thrust that All Blacks coach Steve Hansen had been seeking all season finally returned during the weekend as Beauden Barrett scored a last-gasp try to give them a 35-29 victory over Australia in…

Black Ferns Blitz Red Roses to Take World Cup Crown

Black Ferns Blitz Red Roses to Take World Cup Crown

“New Zealand are world champions again. ruthlessly snatched the cup from this immensely talented yet ageing English side (seven of them are 30-plus) in a style that must have made the…

Queen of Diamonds Jessica McCormack’s New Lines

Queen of Diamonds Jessica McCormack’s New Lines

New Zealand-born jeweller Jessica McCormack recently launched not one but two new ranges from her art-filled Mayfair townhouse in London. The new collections have very disparate inspirations but, as is McCormack’s ingenious way, are united…

Bird-Brain Comic Rhys Darby All in a Flap

Bird-Brain Comic Rhys Darby All in a Flap

New Zealander Rhys Darby believes he was a bird in a former life and it’s this premise that forms the basis for his new live show, Mystic Time Bird, which is on at Perth’s…

Kieran Keane Happy with Connacht Chemistry

Kieran Keane Happy with Connacht Chemistry

Kieran Keane has just arrived in Galway, Ireland to take up his new post as Connacht coach, replacing fellow New Zealander Pat Lam who has moved on to a role with Bristol. Known as a…

Blue Maestro’s Pacif-i Takes the Heat off Parents

Blue Maestro’s Pacif-i Takes the Heat off Parents

Co-founder of UK-based Blue Maestro, New Zealander Kirstin Hancock knew from experience that attempting to take the temperature of a poorly child is no mean feat – whether you’re using an in-the-ear thermometer or…

US Sailor Amazed Onboard NZ Navy Frigate

US Sailor Amazed Onboard NZ Navy Frigate

American mass communication specialist Cole Schroeder of the supercarrier USS Nimitz was recently granted the opportunity “to view life on the ocean from a New Zealander’s perspective,” boarding the Royal New Zealand Anzac-class frigate…

Comedian Trygve Wakenshaw Puts His Baby to Work

Comedian Trygve Wakenshaw Puts His Baby to Work

This year, Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s “best-loved mime act” New Zealander Trygve Wakenshaw has teamed up with his one-year-old son on stage in Trygve vs a Baby. “The publicity asks: who’s more entertaining? And the answer,…

Café Owner Gwithyen Thomas Shares the Aroha in US

Café Owner Gwithyen Thomas Shares the Aroha in US

Originally from Auckland, Gwithyen Thomas, 28, and his American wife are co-owners of Aroha Restaurant in Westlake Village, California. Aroha, which opened in September 2014, specialises in dishes that feature local ingredients…

Take a Sonic Journey in LA With Mark de Clive-Lowe

Take a Sonic Journey in LA With Mark de Clive-Lowe

Auckland-born Mark de Clive-Lowe, who now calls Los Angeles home, juggles piano, synths and live sampling with effortless fluidity. De Clive-Lowe will perform Mirai No Rekishi (未来の歴史) / History of the Future, “a sonic…

Chef Margot Henderson Loves Artichokes

Chef Margot Henderson Loves Artichokes

London’s “restaurant royalty”, including New Zealand-born chef Margot Henderson of the Rochelle Canteen, “show their love for their favourite food” in a photographic essay for the award-winning British food and culture journal. “The glory of…

Tom Pritchard, New Zealand’s Oldest Cricketer

Tom Pritchard, New Zealand’s Oldest Cricketer

“Tom Pritchard, New Zealand’s oldest cricketer, has died aged 100 at his home in New Zealand,” as reported in an article on Cricbuzz. “Pritchard, who played a total of 200 first-class matches and…

Peter King’s is the Lathe Cutter’s Way

Peter King’s is the Lathe Cutter’s Way

Mount Somers is famous for two things: its natural beauty, and being the home of Peter King Lathe Cut Records, Noel Meek writes in a feature for UK music magazine The Wire. King’s parents were…

How Air NZ Makes Airline Safety Videos Exciting

How Air NZ Makes Airline Safety Videos Exciting

Air New Zealand has taken a dull chore and turned it into a viral video phenomenon, complete with jaw-dropping shots from its home country and A-list Hollywood actors, Matt Meltzer reports for men’s digital…