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…
Tag Archives: Financial Times
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….
Wine Producers Balancing the Old with the New
New wave wine producing has been “unusually slow” to catch on in New Zealand, according to British wine critic Jancis Robinson, “even though the country’s wine business is enjoying an unprecedented level of self-confidence.” “The…
Monica Galetti’s New Venture Mere About to Open
Monica and David Galetti have left their chef and sommelier roles at Le Gavroche to start anew in Fitzrovia. They talk work-life balance, Brexit and the joy of champagne with the Financial Times. The couple…
New Zealand the Place to Be in 2017
From the Himalayas to the Highlands and south to New Zealand, a panel of travel industry leaders have picked the hottest destinations for the coming year in a feature for the Financial Times. While some…
Cox London Carving a Life Force
“In an industrial site in north London, behind an anonymous brick façade, lies an awe-inspiring emporium, with bronze foundry and workshop attached. This is the headquarters of Cox London, a husband-and-wife-led team of designer-makers…
Emilia Wickstead Shares Her Favourite Things
London-based, New Zealand-born fashion designer Emilia Wickstead shares a few of her favourite things for the Telegraph’s “My Luxuries” column. Wickstead, who according to the Financial Times showed a “whimsical and poetic”…
Len Lye Centre Offers a Place of Reflection
“‘Art,’ wrote the -born artist Len Lye, ‘is the most valuable and least useful of all things ever made.’ Bearing that in mind, how might you make a museum dedicated to the artist?” Financial Times’…
Martin Jetpack Turns Science Fiction Into Reality
Australia-listed Martin Jetpack will begin manufacturing its P-14 aircraft next month, as reported in an article in The Financial Times. “We are at the start of the journey,” said Peter Coker, Martin Jetpack’s chief…
Emilia Wickstead Dazzled by WWI Ships
The Great War’s liberating effect on womenswear is often overlooked. Aimee Farrell, writing for the Financial Times meets the designers – including New Zealand-born Emilia Wickstead – now redressing its sartorial legacy championed in…
GoPro Poaches Apple’s Design Man Danny Coster
California-based action camera manufacturing company GoPro has poached a member of Sir Jonathan Ive’s design team at Apple, New Zealander Danny Coster, who will become vice-president of design, reporting to Nick Woodman, chief executive. Coster…
Aviva Boss Mark Wilson Preys for Growth
“Kiwis are meek creatures, prodding in the leaf litter for worms. But Mark Wilson, the New Zealander who runs Aviva, is a bird of more raptorial kind. Seizing the chief executive’s job three years…
Luxury Lodge-Hopping in New Zealand
“Once seen by many as a destination for backpackers to hike, bike and bungee jump, New Zealand’s profile is changing,” Mark Jones writes in a Financial Times feature. “In 2014 the national tourist board…
Virgin’s Tom Mockridge Talks New Challenges
New Zealander Tom Mockridge, chief executive of British cable group Virgin Media, talks with the Financial Times about broadband, News Corp and why UK football television rights need a big shake-up. Mockridge is so habitually…
Darren Pene Pati Wins at Operalia 2015
New Zealander Darren Pene Pati, “the one with the special tenor voice”, took second prize and the audience prize for male singer at this year’s Operalia, The World’s Opera Competition, held in London. According to…
Diplomatic Businessman Sir John Buchanan
Sir John Buchanan, who has died aged 72, was an Auckland-born scientist who rose to be finance director at BP before taking on prominent non-executive board roles in sectors ranging from mining, most recently…
Artist Kristina Webb Prospering in Insta-Economy
Kristina Webb, a 19-year old New Zealander, has built a full-time job on Instagram with colourful, Disney-like pictures, which are appealing to a huge teenage base of viewers. “It is sort of my perfect job…
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…
All Blacks Thrashing of USA Eagles a Big Money-Spinner
The first rugby match in the United States for the All Blacks in over three decades helped TLA Worldwide, an American athlete representation and sports marketing business, report a 26 per cent rise in…
Hannah O’Neill Dances in Paris Opera’s Swan Lake
A New Zealander is one of the Paris Opera Ballet’s “emerging young dancers” who has brought “style and elegance” to Nureyev’s production of Swan Lake. This was the “sprightly” Hannah O’Neill’s first time dancing…
Director Andrew Niccol Shines a Light on Drone Warfare
Nobody wanted to back a film on the subject of drone warfare, according to New Zealand-born director Andrew Niccol, whose drama Good Kill, about that very subject, is on now in UK cinemas. “We had…
Ross McEwan Gets down to Business at Royal Bank of Scotland
Very few chief executives of big banks know how to brand a cow, what to do when calving season starts, or how to tell Angus from Shorthorn cattle. Except, that is, Ross McEwan, Financial…
Film Tourism in New Zealand Massive Earner
As cinemagoers rush to see the third Hobbit film, “Tolkien-mania” is again sweeping New Zealand, where record tourist arrivals are boosting the economy and helping to offset a slump in the price of its…
That Little Emilia Wickstead Point of Difference
Over the past half decade, New Zealand-born Emilia Wickstead has emerged as London’s go-to designer for occasion dressing. Her ability to find inspiration in 1950s and 1960s couture salons and the candy-coloured society ladies…
Playwright Arthur Meek’s Upside Down Perspective on Colonialism
Can western theatre ever tackle the subject of colonialism without replicating its inequalities, Financial Times’ reporter Matt Trueman asks. New Zealand playwright Arthur Meek, feels that it would be presumptuous to write a story…
Dale Murray’s Secret-Sauce Idea for New-Thinking
New Zealand-born entrepreneur Dale Murray found inspiration for her UK mobile phone top-up company, Omega Logic over drinks one night discussing the shortcomings of the IT industry with one of her co-founders. Murray quit a senior…
Cardboard Cathedral Architect Wins Pritzker Prize
The designer of Christchurch’s Cardboard Cathedral, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, has been named the winner of this year’s Pritzker Architecture Prize, largely because of his work designing shelters after natural disasters in…
