Our People

Despite retiring long ago, this Dunedin nonagenarian has no intention of stopping work as a hospice volunteer.

An Auckland family is producing a vegetable box that looks and tastes better than homegrown — and is this year's Spirit of New Zealand winner at the the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards of 2020.

A stay at these all-glass cabins on the outskirts of Kaikoura is to step into a magical realm where the world is reframed and time works in mysterious ways.

Kay Baxter and her family faced the biggest challenge of their lives in their quest to save New Zealand’s heritage seeds and fruit trees.

Creating a Garden of National Significance in the remote foothills of inland Otago with its extreme climate and heavy clay soil takes a body of strong bones, a will of iron and a soul of magic.

A young contortionist knew her working life wouldn’t be spent cooped up behind a desk in a nine-to-five job.

Another winning seed and nut mix from a small Wellington nuttery, which has big ideas on how to take great flavours to the world.

A Wanaka couple’s enthusiasm for natural-fibre products weaves essential purpose into their business, warmth into their home, and ties them to a very personal pioneering past.

A mild-mannered couple are producing red hot, award-winning chilli products and running a sustainable business on their Horowhenua block.

Clevedon’s queen of fermentation has brewed a natural, low-sugar beverage that packs a probiotic punch — and won the Drink category at the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards of 2020.

A Wānaka freezery lives up to its name with handcrafted ice cream with pure, homegrown flavour that won the Dairy category at the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards of 2020.

A desire to see the world encouraged an Auckland couple to reimagine their living requirements and move into their reworked garage.

Haare Williams has spent a lifetime bridging  the distance between Te Ao Māori and Te Ao Pākehā using words, images, and conversation.

A new way of treating a former by-product catch is tickling taste buds — and winning at the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards of 2020.

The lockdown time has meant hardly any adjustment for New Zealand's most self-sufficient family.

A family-run business producing premium poultry is the Supreme Champion in the 2020 Outstanding New Zealand Food Producer Awards.

A creative woman on a beautiful farm branched out beyond her flower-free, well-hedged garden to plant herself a business. It’s growing divinely.

She was once a super-sporty, outdoors girl but Rachel Guisolan broke her back in a horse-riding accident. Her new life, she says, has a silver lining.

Shannon Wright has turned a passion for nutrient-rich food into a growing business of goodness.

The real magic happens at snail’s pace in this devoted foodie’s kitchen and garden.

Artist Shane Hansen emerged from a period of mental illness, finding peace — and a new career — with creativity.

Tāme Iti has always used creativity to frame his social and political rhetoric. Now in his 60s, paint propels his inimitable style of agitation.

When a Martinborough artist and winemaker couldn’t find quirky New Zealand-produced wallpaper for their new home, they decided to take DIY to the next level.

Annie and Shaun Wilson stress the importance of having multiple income streams.

Tourists and trampers help a hardworking Banks Peninsula family in their four-decade struggle to rescue penguins, save the native forest and secure their livelihood.

Meet a couple who love bacon so much, they left Christchurch to go pig farming.

Several Ashburton cows were all that stood between professor Haxby Abbott and his dream of a (pre-1967) Kombi.

A Bay of Plenty family is turning pests into profitable products.

A hobby that grew from a childhood love of seashells has spiraled into something far greater than a pocketful of limpets, pipis and cockles.

A charcutier returns to the forgotten days of butchery – plucking free-range livestock from the paddock and using every last jowl, shoulder and trotter.

Artist Emma Bass finds life-affirming beauty in many places, sometimes even in disorder and decay.

Andrew Child’s first award-winning beer was named after a Wellington mayor. Then came Dump The Trump IPA.

When red-hot chilli fans Steve and Anne Corkran got burned by big business marketplaces, they decided to go direct to their customers and turned their block into a thriving market garden.

Obsessed with a fruit many New Zealanders think of as their own, an award-winning journalist traveled the world to search for its roots.