Our People

A woman's shell collection started more than 50 years ago at Lyall Bay
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 Lady Butcher revives old-school charcuterie with free-range, local meats
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 harnesses the healing power of beauty
Artist Emma Bass finds life-affirming beauty in many places, sometimes even in disorder and decay.

Behemoth's rise to making politically infused craft brews
Andrew Child’s first award-winning beer was named after a Wellington mayor. Then came Dump The Trump IPA.

How this couple turned their block into a small-scale market garden
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.

A feijoa lovin' journalist blazes the feijoa trail in South America
Obsessed with a fruit many New Zealanders think of as their own, an award-winning journalist traveled the world to search for its roots.

From shearing and coal-mining, to mussels and then wine
The owners of Rapaura Springs Wines keep such a low profile that when a local newspaper wrote about their sponsorship of Garden Marlborough, people said: ‘We didn’t know you owned that business, we thought you just worked there.

A couple turns their berry-pickin' hobby into a 6-ha blueberry orchard
What was once a silly dream has been whipped into a business churning out refreshing blues.

These Mākara locals braved the cold to clean up their waterways
An environmental society establishes roots — and a community spirit — along a windswept Wellington estuary.

A philanthropic couple's Lake Taupō bach
A modern holiday home in Taupō’s Three Mile Bay is a retreat for this couple, who spend much of their time giving back to others.

This mum studied the Spanish shoe industry before launching her kids shoe brand
When Natalie Meldrum found herself living on the other side of the world, isolated from friends and family, she channeled her energy and creativity into a bold new venture.

A self-taught costume designer trades city life for the Dunedin food scene
It’s never too late to change careers. This self-taught costume designer is now trying her hand at cooking after decades in the dance industry.

Interview with a vampire: Deacon from What We Do In The Shadows is back
Reprising his role as a sexy, 188-year-old blood-feeding, actor Jonny Brugh is about to brave the stage in Bread & Circus: The World Buskers Festival in Christchurch.

What is a Repair Café? Te Puke joins a global movement to reduce waste
A Bay of Plenty town joins a global movement, repairing, fixing and mending to reduce waste and forge connections.

Off-grid in Nydia Bay: Meet the family behind a remote lodge and mussel farm
An adventurous farming family learns to cultivate tourists and mussels in a secluded Marlborough Sounds property.

How Crete beans made their way to NZ in the name of love
Every seed has a story, and some are sown with love.

Citroën 2CV van gets an electric makeover
Dinky, red and full of green cred, a wheezing Citroën 2CV van gets a zippy new electric life.

Michael Van de Elzen returns to his rural roots with a lifestyle block in Muriwai
Chef Michael Van de Elzen is creating a block where everything is grown and cooked from scratch.

A Greytown couple's sweet life making juice and cider
Mela has been keeping New Zealanders sweet since 2004. Now a second generation of makers is forecasting great things for the Wairarapa brand’s cider and single-variety apple juices.

This social enterprise re-purposes used prosthetics for the Pacific
Medical equipment that would have ended up in the rubbish dump is getting a new life in the Pacific Islands thanks to an innovative social enterprise.

An outdoorsy couple goes the distance between Auckland and Fiji
He lives in Fiji running yacht charters. She lives in Auckland with the kids. It’s a long-distance lifestyle that takes a boatload of love, trust, and passion for the Pacific.

Why Tom Johanson is casting his two-piece fishing rod into uncharted territory
Decades after his parents began producing carbon-fibre fishing rods, Tom Johanson has designed an all-in-one rod kit to set the family business apart in an age of mass-production.

How an Auckland couple is bringing native butterflies back to the city
Robert Jones and Angela Moon-Jones are bringing native butterflies back — one garden at a time.

Inside a 1960s pinked-out retro caravan
Happy days are forecast when the owner of a rosy-hued vintage caravan takes to the road.

Inside a hut overlooking the Whanganui River
An architecture graduate put the theories learned in the classroom into practice and built her own tiny hut in the woods.

Growing asparagus and strawberries on a fourth generation farm
This farming family grows asparagus and strawberries — the food manifestations of spring and summer. But Horowhenua’s Lewis Farms is a year-round operation.

Kiwiana décor, homewares and art in a 1960s Fibrolite bach
It’s more than a storehouse of treasured family memories, more than a good example of 1960s bach architecture. It’s a museum of its era and now it has inspired a book.

Kiwis return to their camping roots in Raglan, in style
An ancient pack-up-and-go structure is reincarnated as a camping-with-comfort option, proving that what goes around comes around.

Meet the caretakers of a historic DOC farm in remote Northland
A family which counts itself lucky to be the keepers of a DOC farm in an unspoiled coastal wilderness shares it every summer with holiday campers.

This Māori leader led negotiations with the Crown for seven years
Meet Amokura Panoho, the first subject of our new series focusing on Māori leadership. Amokura, the author of previous features for NZ Life & Leisure, will write the series from the next issue.

This couple's outdoor businesses are just as spontaneous as they are
Owning a collection of outdoorsy businesses means this Matakana couple are adept at adapting to the wind. But they are also proving pretty flexible when life’s personal challenges blow in.

Q&A: Michael Barker on making elderberry wine at age 11
The man behind Barker's of Geraldine reflects on five decades of being in the sticky business of syrups, preserves and savoury spreads.

On holiday in Venice with actress Alison Quigan
She may only be edging towards her 70s, but Alison Quigan can empathize with Gen, the character she will play in the Auckland Theatre Company’s new comedy.

A couple's horse and mountain-biking trail oasis in Rotorua
He’s into his bikes; she’s into her horses. This Rotorua couple makes a living out of their hobbies.