News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Trade Me – the Kiwi Auction Site’s Funky, Cool Office

Trade Me – the Kiwi Auction Site’s Funky, Cool Office

New Zealand auction house Trade Me’s office space has been featured in the Business Insider Australia as a “funky, cool office… full of surprises”. The company’s new headquarters are located right…

Farmer Uses Drone to Herd Flock of Sheep

Farmer Uses Drone to Herd Flock of Sheep

South Island farmer Brett Sanders uses a drone to herd his sheep across his 29,000 acre farm near Alexandra, New Zealand. Instead of using a sheep dog to herd the flock, the farmer attached a…

Ma’a Nonu Called Best Player in Super Rugby

Ma’a Nonu Called Best Player in Super Rugby

Hurricanes player “Ma’a Nonu has been described as a player without peer in Super Rugby this year”, writes the Daily Mail. “I haven’t seen, in my analysis, somebody who’s played consistently…

Black Caps Are a Team to Be Reckoned with

Black Caps Are a Team to Be Reckoned with

“New Zealand did more than enough against England to prove they are worth much more than a two-test series shoe-horned into the schedule as a tasty appetiser before the Ashes,” which begins in July,…

At Home in Brooklyn with Photographer Henry Hargreaves

At Home in Brooklyn with Photographer Henry Hargreaves

New Zealand-born photographer Henry Hargreaves lives in New York in a 1930s brick building that, like many others in its vicinity, was once a factory. His apartment, three stories up, contains a hallmark or…

Simon Denny Sees the Dark Side of Technology

Simon Denny Sees the Dark Side of Technology

Berlin-based New Zealand artist Simon Denny’s “hyperactive multimedia extravaganza” “The Innovator’s Dilemma” on now at New York’s MoMA PS1, takes down “irrational exuberance about technology and does it with sardonic verve,” New York Times…

Sarah Mary Chadwick Sits down at the Organ

Sarah Mary Chadwick Sits down at the Organ

It’s been over ten years since Sarah Mary Chadwick, 32, left New Zealand to pursue her music career, initially as the lead-singer of swamp-doom outfit, Batrider, and more recently with her own solo work….

New Zealand Opens Doors for More Support in Baghdad

New Zealand Opens Doors for More Support in Baghdad

New Zealand will open an embassy in Iraq’s capital city of Baghdad, to be located within the embassy of Australia. New Zealand’s ambassador to Iraq, James Munro, is an Arabic speaker and former military officer…

New Zealand Chardonnay Trounces Burgundy in Blind Test

New Zealand Chardonnay Trounces Burgundy in Blind Test

“Auckland, on the same latitude as southern Spain, may seem an unlikely location for vineyards capable of making precise ripostes to white burgundy,” British wine critic Jancis Robinson writes for the Financial Times. “But…

Rowing Ireland Chief Hamish Adams Looks Ahead

Rowing Ireland Chief Hamish Adams Looks Ahead

New Zealander Hamish Adams has been living in Ireland for the past 15 years. Formerly player services manager with Irish Rugby Union Players’ Association (IRUPA), Adams is now the chief executive of Rowing Ireland. Ahead…

Joan Murphy of Frame Fitness collaborates with Whistles

Joan Murphy of Frame Fitness collaborates with Whistles

New Zealander Joan Murphy and her Frame fitness studio co-founder Pip Black know what women are looking for in sportswear, and are now collaborating with smart high street brand Whistles. “The whole collection is…

Dean Brettschneider Takes New World Baking to Singapore

Dean Brettschneider Takes New World Baking to Singapore

New Zealander Dean Brettschneider, 46, chief executive and head baker at Baker & Cook, has opened five outlets in Singapore since the artisan bakery was founded in 2012. Brettschneider draws a comparison between his homeland…

UMO’s Third Effort Has Added Whoa Factor

UMO’s Third Effort Has Added Whoa Factor

“Oregon-based New Zealander Ruban Nielson is already known for being an offbeat operator, providing psychedelic takes on 70s soul and deeply fried 60s pop on two previous albums,” Guardian reviewer Kitty Empire writes. “For UMO’s…

University of Otago Study Discovers Way to Boost Generation Reliability from New Zealand Wind Farms

University of Otago Study Discovers Way to Boost Generation Reliability from New Zealand Wind Farms

A recent study conducted by the Department of Geography, University of Otago, has proposed a way to boost generation reliability from New Zealand wind farms. After analysing New Zealand’s wind circulation patterns speed data from…

New Zealanders Have High Sense of Meaning in Their Lives

New Zealanders Have High Sense of Meaning in Their Lives

83 percent of New Zealanders are highly satisfied with their lives while 87 percent feel a high sense of purpose or meaning in their lives, according to a recent survey conducted by…

First Britain Tour All Blacks Shirt Sells for £22K

First Britain Tour All Blacks Shirt Sells for £22K

One of the shirts that earned the All Blacks their legendary name has been sold for £22,000 at Sotheby’s in Britain by rugby club Mumbles RFC. The shirt, which was slightly…

Rescue Drones Aid New Zealand Search Operations

Rescue Drones Aid New Zealand Search Operations

A New Zealand Volunteer Coastguard uses new purpose-built unmanned drones in search and rescue operations. Sending out drones fitted with cameras and other technology is much faster than traditional means such as planes…

Book Shop in Andhra Pradesh Eric Baigent’s Literary Gift

Book Shop in Andhra Pradesh Eric Baigent’s Literary Gift

The man who played a vital role in making Prabodha Book Centre a part of Vijayawada’s urban culture was a friendly New Zealander named Eric Baigent, who came to the city in the Indian…

Simon Denny Seduces Us with Too Much Information

Simon Denny Seduces Us with Too Much Information

Chief curator at City Gallery Wellington Robert Leonard looks at the work of New Zealand’s Venice Biennale representative in an essay called, “Simon Denny: Too Much Information”. “In 1964, Marshall McLuhan came up with a…

Air NZ Completes Sydney Lounge Refurbishment

Air NZ Completes Sydney Lounge Refurbishment

Air New Zealand has completed the refurbishment of its Sydney Airport lounge with Auckland, Brisbane and Queenstown to follow as part of a $40 million lounge refurbishment program. “The key thing for us though is…

NZ Government Pledges Millions to save the Kiwi

NZ Government Pledges Millions to save the Kiwi

Following warnings that New Zealand’s national bird could become extinct, the government has set aside NZ$11.2m ($8.3m; £5.3m) to stop the constant decline of kiwi numbers. “The aim of the investment is to turn the…

Gary Brain’s Change of Fortune Made Him World-Class Conductor

Gary Brain’s Change of Fortune Made Him World-Class Conductor

Internationally renowned conductor and percussionist, Palmerston North-born Gary Brain has died in Paris. He was 72. In 1989 Brain was the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s highly regarded principal percussionist and timpanist. He had already been…

Esquires Coffee Franchises Popping up All over China

Esquires Coffee Franchises Popping up All over China

Ellen Zhang, managing director of New Zealand coffee shop franchise Esquires in Beijing, has signed a new agreement with the Chinese retail conglomerate Bu Bu Gao – known as “Better Life” – which operates…

New Plymouth’s FIFA U-20 Football Madness

New Plymouth’s FIFA U-20 Football Madness

Just before the kick-off of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, New Plymouth hosted a range of football related events. At the annual New Plymouth Womad Festival, football fanatic Patrick Hay wowed crowds…

Forbes Rich List Includes Billionaires Richard Chandler, Graeme Hart

Forbes Rich List Includes Billionaires Richard Chandler, Graeme Hart

In the Forbes Rich List of 2015, New Zealand’s representation includes two billionaires – Graeme Hart and Singapore-based investor Richard Chandler. The 55-year-old Waikato-raised philanthropist was ranked at No 603 in Forbes’ latest list…

Rugby in Luxembourg Owes Big Debt to Marty Davis

Rugby in Luxembourg Owes Big Debt to Marty Davis

Rugby in Luxembourg owes a great deal to departing development officer and national coach New Zealander Marty Davis who moved to the country 12 years ago. What Davis initially expected to be a two-year role…

Helen Clark Ranked 23rd Most Powerful Woman

Helen Clark Ranked 23rd Most Powerful Woman

Helen Clark has been ranked #23 in Forbes annual audit – The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.    “As the most powerful woman in the United Nations (and first UNDP female head), Helen…

Have Faith in Lorde She Knows What’s She’s Doing

Have Faith in Lorde She Knows What’s She’s Doing

Lorde’s “gender and her age – coupled with her self-assuredness – are both reasons” the 18-year-old singer “attracts perhaps more than her fair share of scrutiny, including from ‘truthers’ who maintain she’s at least…

More Australians Moving to NZ than Vice Versa

More Australians Moving to NZ than Vice Versa

In April, for the first time in more than two decades, more Australians relocated to New Zealand to live than vice versa. The number of New Zealanders crossing the Tasman has dropped by more…

John Henwood’s NY Fitness Studio Not Run of the Mill

John Henwood’s NY Fitness Studio Not Run of the Mill

New Zealander John Henwood, a former Olympic runner and prominent name in the New York running community, has created the SoulCycle of running with TheRUN, a boutique treadmill studio in the Big Apple’s Flatiron…

Game Designer Pippin Barr Loots the Museum

Game Designer Pippin Barr Loots the Museum

New Zealand–born, Malta-based video game designer and writer Pippin Barr has created an ongoing series of lo-fi, quirky, web-based games, which comment on the art world’s intriguing, often absurd insularity. With his latest piece, The…

Winemaker Ray Walsh Appreciating Oregon Flavours

Winemaker Ray Walsh Appreciating Oregon Flavours

Winemaker Ray Walsh of Capitello Wines is bringing out the best of terroir in Oregon and his native New Zealand, the Register-Guard’s Vanessa Salvia reports. New Zealand has become known as a cinematographer’s…

Architect Greg Shand Mixes History and Modernity in Singapore

Architect Greg Shand Mixes History and Modernity in Singapore

New Zealand-born Greg Shand’s design for the newly opened Indian Heritage Centre has finally given Singapore’s ethnic Indian community a worthy home in which to showcase its cultural riches. The choice of the Japan-trained, Singapore-based…

Jarred Christmas Hits the Comic Spot

Jarred Christmas Hits the Comic Spot

The “generously bearded” comedian, New Zealander Jarred Christmas’ stand-up show at London’s Soho Theatre spread “joy in microseconds”, according to Chortle reviewer Steve Bennett. “He banters, teasingly but non-aggressively, with the front row. ‘I’m just…

Dean Barker to Lead Japan’s America’s Cup Team

Dean Barker to Lead Japan’s America’s Cup Team

New Zealander Dean Barker has been appointed as skipper and CEO of Japan’s challenge for the 2017 America’s Cup. “This is an incredible opportunity to build a new team from the ground up,” Barker said…

Nielson Family Reunion Perfect Subtext for New UMO Album

Nielson Family Reunion Perfect Subtext for New UMO Album

“Visionary” New Zealander Ruban Nielson, frontman of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, has tightened up his songwriting, “with the added bonus of synths” on the band’s latest album Multi-Love. “Nielson’s favourite new toy is apparent from the…

FIFA U-20 Final Squads Announced

FIFA U-20 Final Squads Announced

The final squads have been announced for the FIFA U-20 in New Zealand, which will kick off on May 30, 2015. 504 players have been selected in total by the 24 teams “to follow in…

New Zealand Singer Wins Major International Scholarship

New Zealand Singer Wins Major International Scholarship

New Zealand Bass-Baritone James Ioelu has won the Victoria League Scholarship in Singing sponsored by the Victoria League in Auckland in association with the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation. “We are absolutely delighted to…

Strongest New Home Figures for Almost a Decade

Strongest New Home Figures for Almost a Decade

The latest official figures show that the house building rate in New Zealand has increased to the strongest in the last nine years with around 25,000 new building consents a year. Auckland and Christchurch are…

Touchpoint Group Aiming to Develop World’s Angriest Artificial Intelligence Machine

Touchpoint Group Aiming to Develop World’s Angriest Artificial Intelligence Machine

New Zealand Touchpoint Group is developing an artificial intelligence machine, which will simulate angry customer interactions in order to help companies to understand how their customers’ angry outbursts are triggered. “The end goal…

Fear The Walking Dead Teaser Released

Fear The Walking Dead Teaser Released

AMC has released a pair of sneak peek videos to celebrate the start of production on Walking Dead spinoff Fear The Walking Dead. A behind-the-scenes look at the show, which is set…

Maori Water Rights up for Debate

Maori Water Rights up for Debate

“Unlike many countries,” The Economist reports, “New Zealand is blessed with abundant fresh water. Its temperate climate, regular rainfall over much of the country, and thousands of lakes and rivers ensure a…

New Zealand Tourism Continues Growing

New Zealand Tourism Continues Growing

New Zealand tourism forecasts released at the annual tourism industry conference TRENZ in Rotorua predict continuous growth for New Zealand tourism. Numbers of visitors are expected to increase from 2.9 million in 2014 to 3.8m…

Queenstown Airport Approach Voted the Most Stunning

Queenstown Airport Approach Voted the Most Stunning

The airport approach into Queenstown, New Zealand has been voted the most stunning out of 147 global nominations in the 2015 Airport Poll by private charter flight company PrivateFly, which…

Australia’s Top Chef Ben Shewry Saved by a Fisherman

Australia’s Top Chef Ben Shewry Saved by a Fisherman

New Zealand-born Ben Shewry’s Melbourne restaurant Attica is admired all over the world over – but success did not make him happy, and he nearly walked away from the kitchen. Until he was saved…

Thomston Challenging Pop Conventions

Thomston Challenging Pop Conventions

Aucklander Thomas Stoneman, aka Thomston, who recently made his British debut at the Great Escape festival in Brighton, “is most certainly a talent to watch out for,” according to Clash magazine. The 19-year-old singer’s debut…

Mad Max Stunt Star Dayna Grant Tweets Action Shots

Mad Max Stunt Star Dayna Grant Tweets Action Shots

New Zealand stuntwoman Dayna Grant, 39, who doubled for Charlize Theron’s cunning warrior Furiosa in George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, posted some behind-the-scenes snapshots on her Twitter page. Esquire shared them with its…

Sean MacPherson’s Marlton One of NY’s Hippest Hotels

Sean MacPherson’s Marlton One of NY’s Hippest Hotels

In 2013, New Zealand-born hotelier Sean MacPherson “decided to turn his attentions to a Greenwich Village flophouse that used to host the likes of Jack Kerouac back in the literary heyday of New York.”…

Slow West Set in Dauntingly Beautiful Landscape

Slow West Set in Dauntingly Beautiful Landscape

John Maclean’s “compelling” directorial debut Slow West set in Colorado in 1870 was shot in New Zealand and stars Michael Fassbender. South African-born New Zealander Caren Pistorius plays crofter’s daughter, Rose Ross “who even…

Michaela Anchan’s Woolf Works for Women

Michaela Anchan’s Woolf Works for Women

When New Zealander Michaela Anchan, 34, decided to launch a career as a freelance writer in Singapore, she discovered few offices in the city-state that were suitable and that fitted her budget. So last…

Jeweller Jessica McCormack Adopts Consignment Policies

Jeweller Jessica McCormack Adopts Consignment Policies

In recent years the jewellery industry has experienced a surge of growth, with an explosion of new designers, as well as outlets offering their creations. Some designers have chosen to differentiate themselves by forgoing…

Lorde Immortalised in Wax at Madame Tussauds

Lorde Immortalised in Wax at Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds in Hollywood has unveiled a wax figure of 18-year-old New Zealand singer Lorde. Human Lorde was quite excited when the wax museum’s Hollywood location revealed her figure. She tweeted out a photo of…

Emirates Returns as Team New Zealand’s Top Sponsor

Emirates Returns as Team New Zealand’s Top Sponsor

America’s Cup syndicate Emirates Team New Zealand have received some good news, with the airline announcing it will return as the team’s major sponsor, which could help it reach the starting line of the…

Hurricanes Taking Super Rugby by Storm

Hurricanes Taking Super Rugby by Storm

The Hurricanes have scored some breathtaking, length-of-the field tries this year, but what they have also done is find a way to win matches when opponents have not allowed them to play the style…

Aucklander Lila Kuka Reclaims Old School Hip

Aucklander Lila Kuka Reclaims Old School Hip

In a bid to be hip, flask manufacturers are turning to their feminine side creating items with pink, glitter and jewels. New Zealander Lila Kuka is a big fan. Kuka began collecting vintage hip flasks…

Fifteen Quirky Contenders for a New NZ Flag

Fifteen Quirky Contenders for a New NZ Flag

New Zealand is appealing to the public to design and vote on a new flag. The Guardian features 15 examples that are are “as weird and wonderful as you’d expect.” “There’s an internet joke, perpetuated…