Birnam Wood a Gripping Explosive Thriller
“It’s taken Eleanor Catton 10 years to follow up on her Booker Prize winning novel of 2013, The Luminaries. Fortunately, her latest offering, Birnam Wood, begins with a bang, quite literally. A series of…
Tag Archives: Financial Times
Chef Margot Henderson Sets Up in Somerset
With The Three Horseshoes in Somerset, the chef-patron of Rochelle Canteen, New Zealand-born Margot Henderson, and former gallerist and investor Briton Max Wigram are launching the most hotly anticipated new boozer of the year,…
Chris Hipkins New Zealand’s Next Prime Minister
Chris Hipkins will become New Zealand’s next prime minister after MPs of the ruling Labour party made the 44-year-old their unanimous choice to replace outgoing leader Jacinda Ardern, Nic Fildes and Peter Wells report…
Inside New Zealand’s Clean Green Beauty Scene
Kaeā, founded by conservationist Suzan Craig, is one of a handful of sustainable skincare brands to come out of New Zealand in recent years. Financial Times contribution editor Jessica Beresford interviews the entrepreneurs. Craig’s mission…
Ruined Christchurch Houses Released with Light
“For centuries, crosses and circles have been used to mark houses either visited by disease or targeted for burglary. This act of externalising the interior life of a home is something that artist Ian…
Paint Maker Cassandra Ellis Tells Stories in Tones
There’s a very particular harmony in the South London home of Cassandra Ellis. Inside, the atmosphere is of preternatural calm. For anyone familiar with Atelier Ellis, the independent paint company (originally called Ellis Paints)…
Emilia Wickstead’s World Growing and Growing
Emilia Wickstead is growing up. Since launching her fashion brand in 2008, the New Zealand-born designer has fostered and found success with an aesthetic that fuses traditional prim-and-proper styles with a certain juvenilia: fit-and-flare…
Darryl Moore Debuts at Chelsea with Pocket Park
The Financial Times looks at how the century-old institution of the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show is “cultivating diversity, widening access and embracing contemporary themes”. The RHS’s focus is now on environmentalism…
Silver Lake to Invest in New Zealand Rugby
Silver Lake has agreed to invest NZ$200 million in the organisation behind New Zealand’s legendary All Blacks rugby team, as the US private equity firms continue to buy into sport amid the coronavirus pandemic,…
UK Reaches Agreement on New Zealand Trade Deal
The UK has brokered a trade agreement with New Zealand that will cut tariffs on clothing, buses and wine, and, it hopes, lay a foundation for joining a trans-Pacific economic bloc of 11 countries,…
Margot Henderson’s Fantasy Dinner Fit for Queens
In a column about her fantasy dinner for the Financial Times “pioneering New Zealand chef [Margot Henderson invites ‘four beauties’ to dine at her favourite Paris restaurant. Dress code: no corsets.” “I’m inviting Sarah Lucas,…
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…
Chef Analiese Gregory Revels in Tasmanian Wild
New Zealand-born chef Analiese Gregory, 36, tells the Financial Times “why she turned her back on the world’s chicest restaurants to set up home – and a kitchen – at the edge of the…
New Zealand Inc Reaps Benefit of Lockdown Response
When Covid-19 struck New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern’s government quickly closed the nation’s borders and imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in a bid to eliminate the spread of the virus. Jamie Smyth, a…
Xero’s Steve Vamos Leads Staff Through Pandemic
Head of Wellington-based accountancy software group Xero, Steve Vamos, 62, strives to create an environment where staff do ‘great work’. The tech veteran recently spoke to Financial Times correspondent Jonathan Moules over a video call about…
Billion-Dollar Start-Up Allbirds Launches Apparel
Allbirds, the San Francisco brand whose wildly popular £95 wool trainers and low-carbon ethos earned it a valuation of $1.7bn from investors earlier this month, is about to find out. The five-year-old company, co-founded…
Global Media Outlets React to Jacinda Ardern’s Win
Jacinda Ardern will serve a second term as New Zealand prime minister following Labour’s landslide victory in an election on 17 October, which delivered a major shift towards progressive parties, Jamie Smith reports for…
Allbirds Bets on Physical Stores Despite Pandemic
Allbirds, the wool shoe brand that closed a $100m fundraising round this week, is backing bricks-and-mortar stores in spite of the pandemic, according to Financial Times journalist Jonathan Moules. Moules writes that the new…
Jessica McCormack and Emilia Wickstead Join Forces
“Reality is bleak,” Jessica McCormack tells Financial Times fashion features editor Jessica Beresford, “so we all need some escapism, right?” The jewellery designer is huddled over a table laden with precious objects – elaborate earrings…
How New Zealand Genetics Make Milk in Brazil
New Zealander Craig Bell, co-founder of premium Brazil-based milk company Leitíssimo, likens his product to a time machine. “We have a lot of consumers who told us that ‘this stuff actually tastes nice, this…
Virgin Group CEO Josh Bayliss Is No Procrastinator
Five expert users, including Virgin Group’s chief executive New Zealander Josh Bayliss, tell the Financial Times about the best tools to beat procrastination in a recent ‘Future of the workplace’ special. What can corporate…
Fiac Art Fair’s Jennifer Flay on Challenges Ahead
New Zealand-born Jennifer Flay, the director of Fiac (Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain), insists that France’s most important modern and contemporary art fair can weather future storms, Gareth Harris reports for the Financial Times. The…
Kathmandu Buys Legendary Surf Brand Rip Curl
The iconic Australian surfing equipment and apparel company Rip Curl has agreed to a $368m takeover offer from New Zealand-based retailer Kathmandu, Peter Wells reports for the Financial Times. The deal marks the first major…
National Australia Bank Hires RBS Head Ross McEwan
National Australia Bank (NAB) has appointed the New Zealander who oversaw Royal Bank of Scotland’s lengthy restructuring as its new chief executive, Daniel Shane and Jamie Smyth report for the Financial Times. Melbourne-based NAB,…
Paul Clews in Legal Team Dealing to Risky Bonds
A legal duo made up of New Zealander Paul Clews, 41, and American Sabrina Fox, 42, lead the newly formed European Leveraged Finance Alliance (ELFA), a group trying to raise standards in Europe’s junk…
Virgin’s CE Josh Bayliss Brings Focus to Group
The first tickets went on sale last week for Virgin Voyages, a Miami-based cruise operator aiming to launch the first of the four ships it is building early next year. Followed by a group…
British Photographer Captures Majesty of NZ
Over the past four decades, the Bristol-born photographer Jem Southam has been documenting the English landscape, but for his latest series, The Long White Cloud, the 69-year-old found himself thousands of miles away. The work…
Hopes World Will Follow Our Wellness-Based Policies
In an article featured in the Financial Times, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urges the world’s governments to focus on “living standards and human, social and natural capital when we set targets and track progress”. “There’s…
Chef Jess Murphy on Ireland’s Food Renaissance
Ireland’s national cuisine is being redefined – thanks to a growing number of very ambitious chefs, including New Zealander Jess Murphy, 39, who runs Kai in Galway’s West End. “It’s a really exciting time to…
Len Lye Paved the Way for British Animators
Animation pioneer New Zealand-born Len Lye features in the television documentary, Secrets of British Animation. Made in conjunction with the British Film Institute, the programme “lifts the lid on an eccentric world where infinite pains…
Tim Brown’s Allbirds Now a Global Brand
“Coming from New Zealand, the land of 27 million sheep, the idea of wool in footwear seemed like one of those things that should have been done and never had been,” Allbirds co-founder Tim…
Banker Ross McEwan Cuts to the Chase
When New Zealander Ross McEwan dropped in for a surprise visit to a Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) branch in London last month, he was appalled by how scruffy it looked. “It needs a…
Bunker Buyers and Billionaires Still Seek Shelter
“If the New Zealand government was sending a message when it banned foreigners from buying houses in the country earlier this year, it does not seem to have been heard by the global billionaire…
Mark Wilson Steps Down as Aviva Chief
New Zealander Mark Wilson, the “straight-talking” chief of the FTSE 100 British insurer Aviva, leaves with immediate effect after six years at the helm. Wilson, 52, will remain at Aviva until…
Artist Tom White Collaborates With AI
Tom White, artist and computational design lecturer at Victoria University’s School of Design, is taking part in a group exhibition in Dehli, India, which features works created entirely by artificial intelligence. Gradient Descent is…
Koru’s Rachel Carrell an Employer with Heart
Fewer young people are working part-time in the UK. But Emma Pettit, 21, is animated on the topic of her summer job, looking after a 10-year-old, doing “fun things”. Childcare, and a stint at…
Inside Melanie Brown’s Pop Brixton Wine Cellar
The New Zealand Cellar wine bar and wine shop is no cellar. It is very much above ground in Pop Brixton, a colourful site almost under the local railway line in south London. New…
Bassist Matt Penman’s Collection Balanced and Fluid
Originally from New Zealand, bassist Matt Penman has lived in New York since 1995. His new collection, Good Question is reviewed by Mike Hobart for the Financial Times. According to Hobart, Good Question “features a mix…
Everest for the Time-Pressed Executive
On the fourth week of their historic assault on Everest in 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were still establishing base camp after the long trek from Kathmandu. It would…
Look Ahead to Summer with FT’s Shannon Gibson
You know the woman. She always looks good. Comfortable and yet elegant, she floats around the office with the nonchalance of someone who knows they’ve nailed their look. Most impressively, she’s got summer style…
Titu’s Head Chef Jeff Tyler Impresses Reviewer
New Zealand-born Jeff Tyler, who is head chef at London’s new restaurant Titu, has just proved reviewer Tim Hayward of the Financial Times wrong. “I wasn’t really expecting Titu to be that good,” Hayward…
Luke Willis Thompson in Running for Turner Prize
Fijian-New Zealand artist Luke Willis Thompson, 30, is one of four candidates vying for this year’s Turner Prize, a shortlist, according to the Financial Times, focusing on conflict, crime and state-sponsored violence.
In the Two Paddocks Man Cave with Sam Neill
Peaky Blinders star Sam Neill speaks to the Financial Times about his New Zealand oasis, Jacinda Ardern and tech titans buying bolt holes against catastrophe. At Two Paddocks, the vineyard and farm which Neill bought…
Beautiful Wellington Not Short on Great Food
“Home is where the heart is, and Wellington has my heart – with its harbour, skies and hills, it’s just so beautiful,” London-based chef Margot Henderson tells the Financial Times in a piece about…
C.K. Stead’s Latest Novel Masterfully Structured
“The Necessary Angel’s literary preoccupations are familiar territory for Stead, a distinguished novelist, poet and critic who was for many years professor of English at the University of Auckland,” Financial Times correspondent Zoë…
Flying Taxis Secretly Tested In New Zealand
Silicon Valley-based flying car start-up “Kitty Hawk, backed by Google founder Larry Page, has been secretly testing an electric autonomous aircraft for several months in New Zealand, the company revealed…
British and US Migrants Flock to New Zealand
The number of American and British residents choosing to live in far-flung New Zealand has risen sharply since the election of Donald Trump and the UK’s Brexit vote, according to new migration figures. The…
More Women Needed in Politics Says Ardern
This has been a year dominated by women speaking out and fighting back. The Financial Times spotlight those who have made waves this year, from prime ministers (including New Zealander Jacinda Ardern) to World…
Benefits of Foreign Owned Property Debated
New Zealand, famous for the mountains that formed the dramatic backdrop to the film The Lord of the Rings, is now known for something else among the super rich: as a possible safe haven…
Lessons from New Zealand on Fiscal Discipline
“New Zealand and the UK are both regarded as pioneers in the use of a more modern system of accounting – accrual accounting, a method that records revenues and expenses when they are incurred…
Q and A With Opera Singer Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, who was presented with the 2017 Gramophone Awards Lifetime Achievement Award last week in London, and who has just announced her retirement from public performance, sat down with the Financial…
Amber Sainsbury Teams With Danny Boyle
New Zealand-born Amber Sainsbury is founder and CEO of UK-based creative arts charity Dramatic Need, for which Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle has served as a trustee since 2007. The charity’s South African flagship,…
New Plymouth Firmly on the Cultural Map
“ Lye’s story might well have slipped into obscurity had his 18,000-item archive not ended up in a small seaside city on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island,” Nigel Tisdall writes for…
Beekeepers Fight for Rights to Manuka Honey Name
Surging demand for manuka honey, the sticky substance prized for its anti-bacterial properties, has generated a multimillion-dollar export boom for New Zealand, Jamie Smyth writes for the Financial Times. But success has come with…
Journalist Jamil Anderlini Emancipated in Hong Kong
Asia editor at the Financial Times, New Zealander Jamil Anderlini spent the past 11 years on the Chinese mainland in Beijing. In a feature for the paper, Anderlini talks about his move to Hong…
Wellington Takes Top Spot In Quality-Of-Life Ranking
“Forget London, New York or Tokyo, for a better quality of life you should go to Wellington, Edinburgh or Vienna,” writes Conor Sullivan in an article for The Financial Times….
