News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Martin Gane Converts Victorian Pigsty

Martin Gane Converts Victorian Pigsty

For a builder to have a penchant for Grandma’s 1950s dainty, flowery teacups is somewhat peculiar, but for New Zealander Martin Gane, an artisan builder, and his English wife, the interior designer Elle Kemp,…

Insect Tracking Drones Boost Rare Bug Conservation

Insect Tracking Drones Boost Rare Bug Conservation

A “swarm” of bug-tracking drones and tiny radars are being developed at the University of Canterbury to help conservation of rare insects in New Zealand, Phil Mercer reports for Voice of America. Researchers hope it…

Artist David Boyce Exhibits in Hong Kong

Artist David Boyce Exhibits in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s Karin Weber Gallery has announced a joint exhibition by New Zealander David Boyce and China’s Hiu Tung Lau, two artists in dialogue who between them cover a multitude of artistic expressions and…

Economist Adulation Has Auckland Residents Puzzled

Economist Adulation Has Auckland Residents Puzzled

It boasts beautiful beaches, a temperate climate and a multicultural population that has fostered an eclectic mix of food, music and arts. But is Auckland, a remote outpost in the South Pacific, really the world’s…

Photographer Robin Hammond Hands Camera to Refugees

Photographer Robin Hammond Hands Camera to Refugees

New Zealander Robin Hammond has spent two decades crisscrossing the developing world and telling other people’s stories, Guardian correspondent Lizzy Davies writes. For his latest project the award-winning photographer has embarked on a paradigm…

Starstruck Another Triumph for New Zealand Comedy

Starstruck Another Triumph for New Zealand Comedy

“Australians have known for decades that New Zealanders are the funniest people in the world: we’ve been claiming hilarious Kiwis as our own since John Clarke crossed the ditch in the ’70s,” Ben Pobjie…

New Zealanders Flock Home to the Edge

New Zealanders Flock Home to the Edge

More than 50,000 New Zealanders who have returned home during the pandemic, offering the country a rare opportunity to win back some of its best and brightest, Charlotte Graham-McClay writes in a feature published…

Apple’s Zane Lowe the Great Communicator

Apple’s Zane Lowe the Great Communicator

When Apple launched its music streaming service in 2015, it hired New Zealander Zane Lowe to be, effectively, its face and voice. Apple Music may not do Spotify numbers but, in Lowe, they have…

Chalmers Brothers Promote Band With Car Wash

Chalmers Brothers Promote Band With Car Wash

Originally from Hawkes Bay, the Los-Angeles-based Chalmers brothers, who perform as indie rock band Emperors Night, are promoting themselves by washing cars for free in exchange for a follow in their Instagram page, Richard…

Brilliant New Zealand Show England the Way

Brilliant New Zealand Show England the Way

“England’s dismal second-Test defeat was confirmed inside an hour on the fourth morning at Edgbaston, giving New Zealand a 1-0 series win,” Stephan Shemilt reports for the BBC. “It is England’s first home series defeat…

Study Suggests Māori First to Encounter Antarctica

Study Suggests Māori First to Encounter Antarctica

Māori explorers could have been the first humans to set eyes on Antarctica as far back as the 7th century, a new study suggests, even though for the past 200 years, tales of discovering…

Ballroom Culture Transforms QTPOC Community

Ballroom Culture Transforms QTPOC Community

Safe spaces for QTPOC communities in a country seen by the rest of the world as progressive are rare, but trans women are finding space and solace in Auckland’s balls, Beatrice Hazlehurst reports for…

New Zealand Signs Space Agreement with NASA

New Zealand Signs Space Agreement with NASA

New Zealand has announced it is the latest country to sign a space agreement with NASA, just as the country’s nascent space industry begins to take off, Associated Press correspondent Nick Perry reports. New Zealand became…

No Master Plan for Makeup Maestra Lisa Eldridge

No Master Plan for Makeup Maestra Lisa Eldridge

While two million-plus subscribers certainly earns her the label, ‘YouTuber’ doesn’t quite cover the laundry list of Auckland-born Lisa Eldridge’s professional accomplishments, Lela London writes for Forbes. As a makeup artist, Eldridge, 46, has spent…

Packaging Queen Rebecca Percasky Charms Cartier

Packaging Queen Rebecca Percasky Charms Cartier

New Zealand-based entrepreneur Rebecca Percasky launched sustainable packaging company The Better Packaging Co. after years spent working in e-commerce left her feeling disillusioned by the amount of plastic waste her industry was creating, Yeong…

Lorde’s Sunny New Single a Lesson in Patience

Lorde’s Sunny New Single a Lesson in Patience

“Lorde has said she was ‘waiting for the right moment’ to release her comeback single, Solar Power, and opted for 11 June to coincide with the year’s only solar eclipse,” Laura Snapes writes for…

Meg Mason’s First UK-Published Book Well Received

Meg Mason’s First UK-Published Book Well Received

New Zealand author Meg Mason’s “moving novel”, Sorrow and Bliss, “about mental illness and sisterly love finds hilarity and wisdom in anguish, without ever diminishing pain”, Clare Clark writes in a review for The…

Crowded House Is Back and Loving It

Crowded House Is Back and Loving It

With this month’s release of Crowded House’s latest album, Dreamers Are Waiting, journalist Russell Brown interviews the “reconstituted” band for The Sydney Morning Herald at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios in Auckland. They’re fresh from a…

Ladyhawke Bites Back with Guilty Love

Ladyhawke Bites Back with Guilty Love

Ladyhawke, aka Pip Brown, 41, has been through some tough times, but she’s come out on the other side, Robin Murray writes for music and fashion magazine, Clash. The New Zealand alt-pop force took…

Tom Wright Peddling Juice to NYC Fashionistas

Tom Wright Peddling Juice to NYC Fashionistas

Described as “the underground GOAT” by Supreme store manager and community organiser Aaron Wiggs, New York-based Tom’s Juice is the small-batch, cold-pressed fruit (juice) of 31-year-old New Zealander Tom Wright’s labour, Maggie McGlinchy reports…

Dive into Your Superconscious with Chris Duncan

Dive into Your Superconscious with Chris Duncan

If you’ve felt like you’re at a psychological plateau lately, relief may be only a page turn away, Forbes contributor Serenity Gibbons writes. Gibbons has put together a list of books, including You’re Not…

Zealandia a Nature Reserve with a 500-Year Plan

Zealandia a Nature Reserve with a 500-Year Plan

“In the past 30 years, a wilderness has grown up in the heart of New Zealand’s capital – so successfully its neighbours now complain about the raucous racket of rare birds. But this is…

He Poroporoaki mo Carl Meredith Bradley. BA. MA Ph.D

He Poroporoaki mo Carl Meredith Bradley. BA. MA Ph.D

Carl Bradley died suddenly last week. Just 52 years of age. He was a friend and colleague. Carl was an Aikido 4th Dan black belt and on an upward trajectory in his sport. He…

Jenny McGee Resigns from NHS Citing Disrespect

Jenny McGee Resigns from NHS Citing Disrespect

Invercargill-born nurse Jenny McGee, who cared for Boris Johnson when he was gravely ill with Covid-19, says she has handed in her resignation, such is her disillusionment with the “lack of respect” shown by…

UK Traveller Draws NZ During Lockdown

UK Traveller Draws NZ During Lockdown

After completing the 3000km Tour Aotearoa bike tour in late February 2020, England-born artist and graphic designer Tom Napper decided to wait out what he thought would be a quick closure in New…

In WWII on Crete Ned Nathan Fell in Love

In WWII on Crete Ned Nathan Fell in Love

Eighty years ago, soldiers from New Zealand and Australia were in Greece fighting the Nazis during the Battle of Crete. It would lead to New Zealander Evan Nathan’s parents meeting and starting a relationship…

Al Jazeera’s Elizabeth Puranam Reports from India

Al Jazeera’s Elizabeth Puranam Reports from India

In the beginning it was a shock, people dying around her while desperate families begged hospital officials for help. Auckland-raised Al Jazeera anchor and journalist Elizabeth Puranam, 37, wouldn’t say she’s used to it,…

Emilia Wickstead Resurrects Power Dressing

Emilia Wickstead Resurrects Power Dressing

A year after New Zealand-born Emilia Wickstead’s study of motherhood, which saw her orchestrate portraits of her friends wearing pre-fall 2020 looks while holding their babies, the London-based designer returned to the families to…

Allbirds and Adidas Make Planet-First Running Shoe

Allbirds and Adidas Make Planet-First Running Shoe

“Competition between running shoe brands is never-ending. Successful products don’t just boost profit margins, they help win medals, too,” tech reviewer Kieran Alger reports for Wired. “This new, shared – and frankly formidable –…

Ten of the Best from The Chills Back Catalogue

Ten of the Best from The Chills Back Catalogue

Dunedin-formed band The Chills is releasing a new album, Scatterbrain. To celebrate, The Guardian counts down 10 of their top songs. “A singular band, The Chills are difficult to stylistically define because their diverse…

Rethinking Tourism Industry’s Climate Impact

Rethinking Tourism Industry’s Climate Impact

New Zealand is hopeful that a recently opened travel bubble with Australia will rekindle its pandemic-battered tourism industry. However, many are also seeing an opportunity to rethink how to make the sector more climate…

Actor Kerry Fox Looks Back at Life in Lower Hutt

Actor Kerry Fox Looks Back at Life in Lower Hutt

New Zealander Kerry Fox, the star of Shallow Grave and Intimacy looks back at her Lower Hutt childhood, driving at 15, her parents disco dancing and an Abba fan club in her shed. “The highlight…

How to Become a Tennis No 1 by Anthony Wilding

How to Become a Tennis No 1 by Anthony Wilding

In the 14 May 1912 edition of The Guardian newspaper, champion New Zealand tennis player Anthony Wilding’s book, On the Court and Off, was reviewed. That article is republished 109 years on, as part…

Wool From NZ Makes Sheep Inc.’s Carbon Neg Hoodie

Wool From NZ Makes Sheep Inc.’s Carbon Neg Hoodie

The production of UK-based start-up Sheep Inc.’s 100 per cent carbon negative hoodie starts on three farms in New Zealand, where the business sources its wool, Adele Peters reports for Fast Company. By using regenerative…

PM Tops Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders List

PM Tops Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders List

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, 40, takes the number one spot on Fortune magazine’s annual world’s greatest leaders list. The magazine’s editors write: “Jacinda Ardern had already sealed her position as a great leader early in her…

Northern Summer Lovers Need a Seabreacher

Northern Summer Lovers Need a Seabreacher

“Nothing says summer like a good, socially distanced splash. Whether you’re looking for an easy-to-manoeuvre three-cabin sailboat for your family, a two-seater Sea-Doo on steroids, or a double-decker party barge with a waterslide,” Mark…

Family First for All Black Great Dan Carter

Family First for All Black Great Dan Carter

Former All Black fly-half Dan Carter “recalls his torturous relationship with the World Cup and reflects on a family-filled retirement” in an interview with Guardian rugby union writer, Michael Aylwin. Do Carter’s three boys have…

Sweet Flower’s Tim Dodd Leads LA Cannabis Movement

Sweet Flower’s Tim Dodd Leads LA Cannabis Movement

New Zealander Tim Dodd left behind executive roles at Technicolor, Warner Bros. and Time Warner, and acquired Los Angeles cannabis boutique Sweet Flower with a long-time colleague. Together, they reorganised, rebranded and then opened…

Boxing Now Sonny Bill-Williams’ Main Focus

Boxing Now Sonny Bill-Williams’ Main Focus

Attending a dinner in Sydney, breaking his fast at the mid-point of the month of Ramadan, Auckland-born Sonny Bill Williams is much in demand – from the hosts of the event and Sydney’s Pacific…

Stuntwoman Vanessa Cater Kicking up an LA Storm

Stuntwoman Vanessa Cater Kicking up an LA Storm

New Zealand-born stuntwoman Vanessa Cater has just finished putting her body on the line in Marvel’s new TV show The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Before that, the action woman has worked in The…

Light and Inner Peace on Aotea/Great Barrier Island

Light and Inner Peace on Aotea/Great Barrier Island

“When I landed on Aotea/Great Barrier Island, an off-the-grid, mostly solar-powered island in the Hauraki Gulf, off the coast of New Zealand’s North Island, it was a proper coup de foudre,” Canadian author London-based…

Why Billionaires Are Snapping up Second Homes in NZ

Why Billionaires Are Snapping up Second Homes in NZ

While the rest of us may have to wait until 2022 to be allowed in to New Zealand, when the majority of the country has been vaccinated and its success rate has had a…

Local Furniture Designers Endorsed by Wallpaper

Local Furniture Designers Endorsed by Wallpaper

“New Zealand furniture and Australian design pieces are made with a contemporary creative mindset, honest materials and a perfect balance of traditional craft and modern technologies,” Rosa Bertoli writes for design magazine, Wallpaper, including…

Biden Backs NZ’s Stance Against Online Extremism

Biden Backs NZ’s Stance Against Online Extremism

The United States “will join the Christchurch Call to Action” to stamp out violent extremism online, the White House has said, two years after the Trump administration declined to do so. The Biden administration spokeswoman…

Violinist Benjamin Baker Teams Up on New Album

Violinist Benjamin Baker Teams Up on New Album

“In July this year, New Zealand-born violinist Benjamin Baker will be part of the online line-up for the East Neuk Festival,” Ken Walkton writes in a review page for The Scotsman. “Meanwhile, here he…

Advice for Budding Female Comics from Rose Matafeo

Advice for Budding Female Comics from Rose Matafeo

New Zealander Rose Matafeo, 29, is a staple on the UK stand-up circuit; you probably know her face from regular appearances on panel shows, or from her critically-acclaimed comedy special Horndog. But now, she’s…

Champion Sailor Peter Burling on Racing Off Grid

Champion Sailor Peter Burling on Racing Off Grid

When Emirates Team New Zealand’s high-speed foiling yacht, Te Rehutai, successfully defended the America’s Cup on home waters against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in March, the victory was a sweet repeat for helmsman Peter…

Maggie Marilyn Founder Striving for Sustainability

Maggie Marilyn Founder Striving for Sustainability

What unites a number of new fashion labels, including New Zealand’s own Maggie Marilyn, is that they have a broader vocabulary when it comes to sustainability – in short: they know what they’re doing,…

Christchurch Teen Flynn Cranston Flies Up Charts

Christchurch Teen Flynn Cranston Flies Up Charts

Fifteen-year-old Flynn Cranston has become the youngest New Zealander to enter the Billboard music charts, after co-writing and co-producing hit single Richer with US rappers Rod Wave and Polo G, David Skipwith reports for…

Invert Robotics Relocates HQ to Dublin

Invert Robotics Relocates HQ to Dublin

Christchurch-founded Invert Robotics, a company that develops inspection robots, is relocating its headquarters to Dublin after recently raising €3.5 million from backers that include State-backed Finistere Ventures, Charlie Taylor reports for The Irish Times.

Ottawa Could Use a Leader like Jacinda Ardern

Ottawa Could Use a Leader like Jacinda Ardern

“Jacinda Ardern just keeps getting it right. Since being elected as New Zealand’s prime minister almost four years ago, the young politician has been leading a progressive policy with an impressive combination of determination,…

Attica Countryside Pop-Up a Dreamy Distraction

Attica Countryside Pop-Up a Dreamy Distraction

“I’ve been eating at Attica Summer Camp, a four-month pop-up at a winery in the Yarra Valley of Victoria,” New York Times critic Besha Rodell writes. “It’s one of many projects dreamed up by…

Great Scotts Take First and Second in Texas

Great Scotts Take First and Second in Texas

Two New Zealanders have claimed top spots in the same race on the IndyCar circuit over the weekend, with Scott Dixon winning his fifth Texas Motor Speedway outing and Team Penske rookie Scott McLaughlin, on…

Burgers and High Gastronomy to Write Home About

Burgers and High Gastronomy to Write Home About

“Far from same-same, Aotearoa is unique and surprising – banging burgers are just the beginning,” according to Australian Kendall Hill writing for The Queensland Times. “Pavlovas and lamingtons aside, there’s a sense of innovation…

Margot Henderson’s Shoreditch Sanctuary Shines

Margot Henderson’s Shoreditch Sanctuary Shines

New Zealand-born Margot Henderson’s Shoreditch establishment, Rochelle Canteen, which she co-founded with Briton Melanie Arnold 17 years ago, is reviewed by the Evening Standard’s chief restaurant critic, Jimi Famurewa. “Here, beyond the hidden buzzer entrance,…

Talented New Zealanders Make Forbes Under 30 List

Talented New Zealanders Make Forbes Under 30 List

New Zealander Stella Bennett, aka Benee, and Joshua Nanani, who goes by the name of Jawsh 685, are among the musical talent in the Entertainment & Sports category of this year’s Forbes 30 Under…