Brand Allbirds Charting Climate-Positive Roadmap
The last four years have been a whirlwind for New Zealander Tim Brown and American Joey Zwillinger, the founders of Allbirds. The company has recently announced that it has filed a Series D round…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
What’s for – Decolonial – Dinner?
Online art platform Contemporary HUM’s last publication of 2019 sees Indigenous Canadian artist and curator Tania Willard explore the work of New Zealand artists BC Collective and Louisa Afoa, currently on display in the…
Chief Censor David Shanks Tackles the C-Word
When David Shanks presents himself at international conferences, his peers recoil slightly, Charlotte Graham-McLay reports for The Guardian. “I’d introduce myself as, ‘Hi, I’m David from New Zealand. New Zealand’s chief censor,’” Shanks says. “And…
On The Road With Tama Muru, BBC Hardtalk Producer
For a lifelong news and sports nut who loves to travel, a job that requires meeting the world’s top newsmakers and athletes is a dream for BBC TV producer, New Zealander Tama Muru who grew…
Sabine Marcelis Wallpaper Designer of the Year
Between fountains for Fendi, donut-shaped rugs, and a takeover of Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion, New Zealand-raised designer Sabine Marcelis has widened the spectrum of what light, glass and resin can do, according…
Filmmaker Sasha Rainbow Inspired in India
New Zealand-born filmmaker and director Sasha Rainbow explains what a six-year-old Indian skateboarder taught her about life in a story for HuffPost UK. “Kamali’s defiance of gender boundaries showed me we all have the power…
Lorde’s Smash Hit Royals Defines a Decade
American magazine Billboard celebrated the 2010s with essays on the 100 songs that they felt most defined the decade that was, including Lorde’s hit single, “Royals”. “When ‘Royals’ arrived in June 2013, not many listeners…
Dubliner Gavin Lang Loves NZ’s Mountains
Each week, The Irish Times column “Abroad” interviews an Irish person working in an interesting job overseas. Last week the newspaper met Gavin Lang, who is originally from Glasnevin, Dublin, but now lives in…
UK Ambassador Laura Clarke’s Aim in Office
In an opinion piece for The Guardian, Laura Clarke, the British high commissioner to New Zealand, writes about why the UK wants to strengthen its relationship with Māori. “The connections between the UK and New…
Make Give Love Benefits From the Archie Effect
Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor might only be seven months old, but he already has plenty of sway when it comes to fashion, Amy de Klerk writes for Harper’s Bazaar UK. The young royal was pictured…
Spinning Yarns With Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe
New Zealander Zane Lowe, 46, has a healthy Cali glow, as you’d expect from a man who swapped the rainy gruel of London for the kale-flavoured, free-range chakras of LA four-and-a-half years ago, when…
Farmer Matt Smith Furthers Deer Enterprise
Cornish farmers New Zealand-born world shearing champ Matt Smith and his wife Pip are hoping to capitalise on soaring demand for British venison having recently launched their own branded meat company, Westcountry Premium Venison,…
Emerald McGlashan’s Photos Showing in Kansas
The story of how New Zealander Emerald McGlashan’s artwork ended up in an art gallery in Lindsborg, United States is also the story of how she found a small college – Bethany – in…
Bret McKenzie Speaks on the Oddness of Fame
The Flight of the Conchords star Bret McKenzie, 43, who is guest curating this year’s New Zealand Festival, speaks to The Guardian’s Charlotte Graham-McLay about his career thus far and the cost of compromise. Although…
Sky Shepherds a Vital Farming Tool
Corey Lambeth, a New Zealand farmer, originally purchased a drone for photography, but he quickly realised the device had more practical applications. “I thought ‘I’ll just give it a nudge on the sheep and…
Can Technology Save the Kākāpō?
Large, plump and nocturnal, the kākāpō is the only parrot in the world that lives on the ground and cannot fly. There are only 211 in existence, confined to four small islands off the…
Alien Weaponry Earns Finnish Accolades
Te Reo Māori heavy metal band Alien Weaponry’s debut LP has been named album of the decade by readers of online Finnish music publication, Tuonela Magazine. “In Tū, Alien Weaponry wield their crunchy thrash sound…
Manawatāwhi’s Lonely Kaikōmako Gets Some Neighbours
After seven decades of cuttings, failures, plant enzymes, a little coaxing, and a Māori blessing, one of the world’s rarest trees – which lives on a tiny island 64km off the northern edge of…
Next Stop Halifax for Conductor Holly Mathieson
After an extensive search, Dunedin-born Holly Mathieson, 38, will head to Halifax, Canada in January 2020 to begin working with the 37-piece Symphony Nova Scotia, Victoria Walton reports for HalifaxToday. “Music’s been a part of…
Experience True Silence in Doubtful Sound
“With towering snow-capped mountains, surreal waterfalls, crystal clear lakes and lush rain forests Doubtful Sound in New Zealand is a destination frozen in time… just like when it was discovered 15,000 years ago,” Nivedita…
Banker Ross McEwan Receives OBE
Former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) New Zealander Ross McEwan, whose job at the UK lender was labelled one of the toughest in banking, has been named in the Queen’s…
Chef Monica Galetti’s Festive Food Tips
As this year’s MasterChef: The Professionals drew to a nail-biting finale i spoke with one of the show’s judges, New Zealander Monica Galetti, to find out what she made of this year’s contestants, her…
How Uni Dropout Nick Mowbray Built a Toy Empire
The BBC’s weekly ‘The Boss’ series profiles different business leaders from around the world. Last week, the broadcaster’s Virginia Harrison spoke to New Zealander Nick Mowbray, 34, co-founder and co-chief executive of toymaker Zuru. A…
In Dublin Caroline Gardner is Making Good
The brainchild of New Zealander Caroline Gardner and Irish woman Joan Ellison, Dublin’s We Make Good teams designers with people who face social difficulties and challenges, to create lovely things that everyone can feel…
On the West Coast Beauty Doesn’t Stop
Though now only partially open to the public owing to a slip, the 55.7km Paparoa Track on the West Coast is the first addition to the Great Walks in 25 years. Sebastian Modak, The…
LA-Based Eden Iris Shares New Soulful Single
Every six weeks, New Zealander Eden Iris will release a new single. Timed perfectly, when these tracks run dry it will be just in time for the release of the singer and songwriter’s debut…
Rocket Lab’s Virginia Launch Pad Opens
Rocket Lab recently celebrated the opening of a launch complex on the Virginia coast in the United States, half a world away from its first launch pad in New Zealand, award-winning science writer and…
Families and Investors Love Koru Kids
Koru Kids is a London startup, founded by New Zealander Rachel Carrell, trying to help busy parents. They help parents find a local after-school nanny who will do the school pickup, help with homework…
What California Can Learn from Christchurch
“I went to New Zealand on a long-planned vacation to see the setting for The Lord of the Rings movies and the mountain scenery. But as the earthquake reporter for the Los Angeles Times,…
NXT Star Dakota Kai Reinvents Herself Post-Injury
Professional wrestler Auckland-born Dakota Kai, 31, is quickly becoming an indispensable piece of popular television programme, WWE NXT’s success, Jason Barrosso reports for Sports Illustrated magazine. Kai, real name Cheree Crowley, played the underdog babyface…
Sir Peter Snell Sports Champion of the Centuries
Sir Peter Snell, three-time Olympic champion on the track and arguably the greatest runner in the history of New Zealand athletics has died, aged 80, at his home in Dallas, Texas, where he lived…
NZSOF Mission After Disaster on Whaakari
The team that recovered bodies from Whaakari/White Island went “to the depths of their endurance and past it,” said the colonel who oversaw the mission. The bodies were almost half a kilometre from shore, some…
New Zealand Theatre Showcase Presented By NYC’s SoHo Playhouse for 2020
A season of New Zealand theatre is set to hit New York stages next year. Showing at SoHo Playhouse, Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, Modern Māori Quartet: Two Worlds and The Contours of…
Remote Lindis Lodge Wins World Architecture Award
Spectacular Lindis Lodge in the Southern Alps, designed by Wellington-based Architecture Workshop, has taken out the top hotel award at the World Architecture Festival, Colleen Hawkes reports for Stuff. The lodge won the Hotel and…
Jojo Rabbit Star Thomasin McKenzie in Demand
After her stunning breakthrough in Leave No Trace, Wellington actor Thomasin McKenzie, 19, landed roles in four major films including awards contender Jojo Rabbit, directed by Taika Waititi. Screen talks to the fast-rising star. There…
Niki Caro’s Mulan a Timeless Re-Creation
Disney has been busy of late reviving our favourite childhood animation films into live-action remakes. Following in the footsteps of Dumbo, Aladdin and The Lion King (which were all released in 2019), New Zealander…
Jacinda Ardern Makes Annual Bloomberg 50 List
“New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern banned military-style semiautomatic and assault rifles six days after 51 people died in the worst mass shooting in the country’s modern history … and rallied the leaders of…
Labour Elects Hungarian-Kiwi Claire Szabó
“A truly surprising story from New Zealand. The ruling Labour Party has elected Claire Szabó as its new president. New Zealand-born Szabó is also a Hungarian citizen, her father served as Hungary’s Honorary Consul…
Guilt-Free Coffee With Air New Zealand
“You might think that all airplane food tastes like plastic packaging, but good news: In a twist of fate, you can now eat airline packaging that actually tastes like food. Because it is food…
In the Shadow of the Mt Erebus Disaster
It remains New Zealand’s worst peacetime disaster. On 28 November 1979, a sightseeing aircraft carrying 257 people crashed head-on into the side of a volcano in Antarctica. The tragedy of flight TE901 was a…
Tackling Hot-Button Liberal Issues in One Swoop
Next year, our country will hold public referendums to decide whether to legalise assisted suicide and recreational marijuana, and separately, lawmakers will consider a bill that would decriminalise abortion. Conflict-averse New Zealanders may be…
Housing Crisis Bites in Northland
A 30 per cent rise in people waiting for state housing in Northland is fuelling New Zealand’s “desperate” shortage in affordable homes, resulting in some families living in the woods, and in huts built…
Gatland’s Gate Honours Former Wales Coach
New Zealander Warren Gatland says he is “humbled” to have been honoured by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) after having a gate at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium named after him, ITV News reports. The main vehicle…
Jane Campion’s The Piano No 1 on BBC Poll
New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion’s stunning 1993 classic, The Piano has topped BBC Culture’s poll of 368 critics in 84 countries. The broadcaster’s Hannah Woodhead reveals why it’s a worthy winner. “In 1993, Campion made history…
First Ans Westra Exhibition In The USA Urban Drift: Aotearoa / New Zealand
The first U.S. exhibition by pioneering New Zealand documentary photographer Ans Westra opens at New York’s Anastasia Photo on the Lower East Side on December 5 ‘Urban Drift: Aotearoa / New Zealand’ centres around…
Dyslexia Entrepreneur Matt Strawbridge Heads to US
When Matt Strawbridge was a boy growing up in New Zealand, school became difficult. He couldn’t read given his dyslexia, and his grades suffered. Looking back, the experience isn’t filled with joy, he told…
Four-day Work Week At A Tipping Point, Says Andrew Barnes
“I think we’re now at a tipping point,” says Andrew Barnes, author of the book The 4 Day Week to be published in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand in early 2020….
Major Len Lye Exhibition Motion Composer Opens In Europe
The most comprehensive exhibition of Len Lye’s art to be seen in Europe has opened at the Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland. Featuring his kinetic sculptures, paintings, photograms, drawings, models and films, the exhibition occupies…
New Zealand Launches First HIV Positive Sperm Bank
The world’s first HIV positive sperm bank has been launched in New Zealand in an effort to reduce the stigma experienced by those living with the virus, the Press Association reports in an article…
Michelin Guide’s Top Rating For Josh Emett’s Book The Recipe
The Recipe by New Zealand chef Josh Emett is the sole book inclusion in The Michelin Guide’s “Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for the Foodie.” The portfolio contains 19 “gourmand-level gifts that are sure…
Air New Zealand Does It Again
Our flagship carrier has knocked Singapore Airlines off its throne to reclaim the title of world’s best airline for the sixth time, the Jakarta Post reports. AirlineRatings.com released the latest edition of its annual…
Anne Young Improving the Welfare of Horses
It’s 6pm on a freezing winter’s night, the wind is howling and the rain beating down. In the darkness, New Zealander Anne Young, the president and founder of Victoria’s Horse Shepherd Equine Sanctuary,…
Teen Harry Sills Performs on West End Stage
New Zealand-born teenager Harry Sills is starring at the Royal Opera House in Benjamin Britten’s, Death in Venice on London’s West End through 6 December. The 14-year-old, who can act and dance, said: “The opportunity…
Aldous Harding Holding Our Focus
New Zealand musician Aldous Harding is popular: she’s sold out shows for her tour and headlines London’s Roundhouse next month. Young women who present themselves as she does, daring you to turn away, are…
Pioneer Croatian Settlers in New Zealand
Historian and author Kaye Dragicevich has been extensively researching the Far North of New Zealand, the area where a large number of pioneering families came from Croatia in search of a better life over…
Sam Neill Earns AACTA’s Highest Screen Accolade
When Sam Neill first stepped in front of a camera on a movie set he had no idea he was launching a career that would span five decades and take him around the world,…
