Bouncing Success
Christchurch engineer Dr Keith Alexander’s Springfree Trampoline has won the “Children’s Product of the Year” in the largest United States consumer product survey, the Product of the Year Awards. Voted top children’s product by…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Gusty But Gourmet
“With more than 300 bars, restaurants and cafes in the city alone, Wellington is certainly not short of options,” recommends Winsor Dobbin for The Sydney Morning Herald. Dobbin explores the best dining…
Peter Andre’s flat white
“No one knows exactly where the flat white came from,” ponders Guardian columnist Zoe Williams. “Some people say New Zealand, while others believe it’s an Australian invention.” “Has anybody ever seriously had that conversation?…
Lonely’s lingerie
Auckland-based label Lonely Hearts has recently released a new lingerie line, Lonely, inspired by vintage corsetry and designed by Aimee McFarlane, Helene Morris and Steve Ferguson. With all bras featuring a Seventies-look soft-cup design,…
Understanding Terroir
Auckland University scientists are working with winemakers attempting to solve the puzzle of terroir by researching yeast varieties indigenous to West Auckland vineyard Kumeu River Estate. The study has uncovered close to 100 new…
Palpable Landscapes
Winemaker and international landscape photographer Kevin Judd’s book The Landscape of New Zealand Wine is one of seven of the “best wine reading on offer this year” according to Jeni Port of Melbourne newspaper,…
Quality Not Quantity
New Zealand’s wineries are “fighting to preserve their reputation as premium wine producers, even as bumper harvests and thrifty drinkers pull them in the opposite direction,” writes Alexandra Harney for The New York Times….
Gimblett Amongst the Best
“New Zealand has been one of the great success stories of the Noughties,” writes the Telegraph’s Jonathan Ray in a wine trend review of the decade. “It’s a country that I simply adore and…
Eastern Tastes Approve
Many newcomers drawn to New Zealand’s quality of life are of Asian descent observes Ming Wong writing for the Chinese publication Global Times. “This explains why cities such as Auckland and Christchurch now offer…
Chain Reaction
New Zealand-invented coffee the flat white will now be offered to British Starbucks customers from December 7, the first new type of coffee the company has offered to British consumers since it opened up…
Pinot pleases
New Zealand pinot noir Craggy Range is surpassing its American equivalents in blind tastings for critics. This autumn, at New York restaurant Eleven Madison, six top pinot noirs from California, Oregon and Burgundy (the…
Pricey Contest
A New Zealand sauvignon blanc was the biggest selling wine in Australia last year, with three out of the five top selling wines coming from this country. New Zealand Winegrowers data shows the country’s…
Dispelling The Dark
An exhibition featuring New Zealand designers Nom*D, Doris De Pont, World and Zambesi is on now at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. The exhibition, entitled, Together Alone: Australian and New Zealand Fashion,…
Marlborough in Seoul
Head winemaker at Jackson Estate Mike Paterson was recently in Seoul promoting the winery and hosting a wine-tasting event at the hotel W Seoul, which was interested in matching their food with Jackson wines….
Instant Appeal
“Pinot noir from New Zealand is gaining a foothold in America because of well-made wines like the 2007 Stoneleigh Marlborough Pinot Noir,” writes John Foy for New Jersey’s largest local newspaper The Star-Ledger. “Stoneleigh’s…
Cold-Blooded Chic
New Zealand clothing manufacturer Rodd & Gunn have designed the country’s priciest piece of luggage ever made, from the skins of ten crocodiles. With the price for the large bag set at AU$30,250 and…
Dressed In Art
World of Wearable Arts founder Suzie Moncrieff, 60, was a single mother on the DPB and a struggling sculptor when she decided she wanted to “take the art down off the walls” of her…
Secret Chic
Air New Zealand Fashion Week held in late September in Auckland, is reviewed by The New York Times’ blog ‘The Moment’, which deemed designer Kate Sylvester “the country’s best-kept fashion secret”. “Especially noteworthy were…
Black Is The New Black
Fashion directory FTape celebrates the work of 23 independent style publications, including New Zealand’s Black Magazine, inviting each “style bible” to “showcase a selection of their most iconic fashion editorials to date”. Black Magazine…
Making to Last Locally
New Zealand-based furniture designer David Trubridge is profiled in Australian art and design magazine Dumbo Feather, pass it on sharing “his story and ground-breaking ideas that could revolutionise the way we buy and consume…
Down and Dirty
A group of New Zealanders are making a film about the US journalist Eric Arnold who spent a year in Marlborough learning how to make wine at the Allan Scott vineyard. Based on Arnold’s…
Model Mayhem
Air New Zealand Fashion Week saw former Baywatch bombshell Pamela Anderson, 42, strut the catwalk in a transparent scarf leaving little to the imagination promoting her eco-friendly label A*Muse, developed with designer Richie Rich, who…
Wairarapa Cheer
The annual Toast Martinborough wine, food and music festival, now in its 18th year, is “a chance to taste new season drops from the area’s renowned boutique producers,” writes Sarah Maguire for the WA…
Artistic Revolution
For the first time in its 21-year history, the Montana World of WearableArt (WOW) competition, held in Wellington from September 24 to October 4, saw an international artist take the supreme award. Alaskan carpenter…
Designing winner’s wares
London-based New Zealand jewellery designer Jessica McCormack, was recently invited to design the 2009 winner’s trophy for Fashion Fringe at Covent Garden. The trophy (pictured above) featured an architectural rose as a symbol…
Looking offshore
New Zealand’s wine industry has further opened up to foreign investment, most recently with the purchase of the New Zealand Wine Fund by California firm Foley Family Wines, pushing the level of foreign ownership…
Shoes and More Shoes
Auckland footwear designer Kathryn Wilson describes her 1919 apartment, formerly home to the priests of nearby St Benedict’s Church, in the latest issue of Australian bi-monthly magazine Frankie. Living alone, Wilson shares her space…
NZ Wine a Popular Drop
New Zealand wine is becoming increasingly popular for Australian drinkers with exports across the Tasman up by 31 per cent to $323 million in the 2008/09 financial year, according to the New Zealand Winegrowers…
Type Heroics
‘Printing Types: New Zealand type design since 1870’ is an exhibition on until September 12 at Auckland’s Objectspace featuring the type faces of local designers including Joe Churchward, Kris Sowersby and Jack Yan. This…
This Charming Man
Cambridge-raised Michael King, chair of Fashion Cares, the AIDS Committee of Toronto fundraiser that sits at the intersection of fashion, culture and the city’s queer community, is described by Canada’s Globe and Mail as…
Pam Does Auckland
Air New Zealand Fashion week, which runs from September 21–26 at Auckland’s Viadiuct Harbour Marine Village, could see Pamela Anderson and Richie Rich’s eco-friendly swimwear line Muse participating in the line-up. It’s an interesting…
Stopped Making Sense
Former Christchurch model Jenna Sauers, 23, has revealed that she was the face behind feminist website Jezebel’s correspondent “Tatiana”, who acted as a mole during the 2008 New York Fashion Week. “She’s smart! She’s…
Sauvignon Surplus
The New Zealand wine industry is primed to suffer from a surfeit of Sauvignon Blanc in the coming years, as wine production expands exponentially and prices drop. Sauvignon Blanc, which makes up 80 percent…
NZ Wines On Top
New Zealand’s reputation as one of the world’s leading producers of high-end wine was reaffirmed at this year’s International Wine Challenge in London where it won international trophies for both Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc….
Miniature Lawn Mowers
Winemaker Peter Yealands hopes to avoid having to use his tractor to mow the grass around his 10,000 hectare vineyard, so he’s looking to the miniature sheep babydoll to do the job, potentially saving…
Rise of the Grape
Brancott Winery’s Ivan Yukich – who planted his first vines in the Waitakere Ranges in 1934 – was a visionary who fought through poor economic times, prohibition and New Zealand’s preference for beer and…
Paddock To Plate
New Zealand chefs and consumers are increasingly embracing diverse homegrown produce, with Queenstown’s Saffron restaurant at the forefront of this “quiet revolution” explains Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service. Sourced from the restaurant’s surrounding environs is…
Pastry Mad In The Bay
Aucklander Alka Patel has taken the New Zealand pie to the streets of San Francisco, selling the pastry goodness at Stonestown farmers’ market. “I sold out of everything both days,” Patel told SFoodie, including…
Hell has no borders
New Zealand fastfood chain Hell Pizza will open 30 franchises throughout Ireland by 2016. The first Hell’s Pizza was launched in Dublin earlier this year, which made Ireland the fifth country to open a…
Currant discovery
A recent study lead by Roger Hurst of the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research (NZIPFR), has discovered that blackcurrant extract improves athletic performance. The findings, which were published in the American…
Take a Seat
Wellington-based office seating and furniture company, Formway Design has featured recently in Fast Company, Time and The Wall Street Journal for its work on the Generation by Knoll office chair — a…
From Lush Pasturelands
“Make it New Zealand lamb every time!” encourages British celebrity chef Delia Smith from her official website. “When treating friends and family to luscious barbecue lamb recipes or feeding the family during the week,…
Under the Influence
Michael Brajkovich, 49, winemaker at Kumeu River was the first New Zealander to claim the title of Master of Wine; he has worked with Bordeaux’s Christian Moueix and is one of the world’s leading…
Harvest Hoppers
Blenheim’s Montana Brancott Winery hosts Canadian Lindsay Forsey to work “the vintage” between March and May, one of 120 seasonal employees hired from around the world. “I scored the lab position with a bit…
Waste Not Want Not
New Zealander Richard Gow has built a house in Canada made entirely from recycled and salvaged materials, including a deck built from wood out of a dumpster. Gow, a home renovator with a degree…
Perfect Pinot
Martinborough is home to Kusuda Wines, a vineyard owned by Japanese former diplomat Hiroyuki Kusuda and opened in 2001. Kusuda came to New Zealand to work as an assistant to his friend Kai Schubert,…
Sauvignon’s Secret Scent
New Zealand’s world-renowned sauvignon blanc is made up of a combination of aromas including sweet, sweaty passionfruit, asparagus, and cat’s pee according to a six-year study conducted by wine scientists. The tests were carried…
Bloody Snappy Shades
In Karen Walker’s 29 eyewear range lookbook “celebrate the sun”, models bare vampire-fangs and pose with sunglasses named “Helter Skelter,” “Voodoo” and “Jonestown”. Shot by American photographer Derek Kettela, known for his clean and…
Pinot Popular in US
New Zealand pinot noirs from all over the country featured at the recent World of Pinot Noir seminar in California, with winemaker Clive Jones of Nautilus Estate representing the Marlborough region. New Zealand has…
Snapping Up Sauvignon
New Zealand wines are in high demand in the UK and at low prices are preferable to their EU equivalents. The greater value for money of New Zealand wines has created a stir in…
Spanish Coup For Kim
New Zealand fashion designer Jaeha-Alex Kim, 23, was one of 10 finalists at the second El Boton-MANGO Fashion Awards held in Barcelona and though not the winner, Kim’s collection has been selected to be…
Be Seen In Wickstead
Twenty-five-year-old Auckland-born fashion designer Emilia Wickstead’s “elegantly demure collection of refined, pretty silk separates is already being seen at some of London’s most fashionable locales,” writes Julia Neel for British Vogue “as the well-heeled…
Learning With Light
Hawkes Bay-based designer David Trubridge’s The Three Baskets of Knowledge features in a Los Angeles Times photo gallery with an image of “pendulous lighting fixtures that look like giant water droplets suspended in baskets…
Urban Trampers
Kate Sylvester’s great-outdoors inspired Take a Hike collection took to the runway at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week with models parading shorts, gaiters and anorak-style dresses. Sylvester told Grazia about the inspiration behind the collection:…
Embassy Glamour
New Zealand High Commissioner Rupert Holborow hosted a World of Wearable Art show for this year’s Indian contestants at his residence at Chanakyapuri. Blurring the boundaries between art and fashion, of the 10 sculptural…
Bringing Back Bold
Artistic director of Lancôme Auckland-born Aaron de Mey, 35, “is one of the new breed of male creative directors shaking up the beauty” who “longs to halt the relentless tide of beige, to put…
