Our People

In an extract from Spirit: Conversations with Creative Women, we look at four women, four artistic genres and four inspiring stories of how they turned their creativity into a full-time job.

Roots and wings brought this family back together on a slice of coastal land in Northland where they’re flourishing — pandemic be damned.

Lynda Hallinan is celebrating the joy she finds on her block, even when she’s weeding.

This photographer believes a picture does much more than paint 1000 words.

First there was craft beer, then gin. But is mead the next big artisan drink craze?

One couple, one hectare, and a thousand more years in which to write a vision upon the land.

The skills Karen Vercoe learnt representing New Zealand in rugby and touch rugby are invaluable in her tribal leadership roles.

This Matakana local has gone from being classed as a hippie to an environment hero.

Ōamaru is welcoming this troupe of creative nomadic hipsters with arms wide open.

In her new book, The Joy of Gardening, Lynda Hallinan recalls how it nearly didn’t happen to her — the joy of gardening, that is.

An artist draws strength and comfort from the beauty in art and nature.

Geologists have a saying — rocks remember. If Nelson’s Boulder Bank could talk, it would lay bare the goings-on that take place in the ramshackle baches on its stony shores.

When wild winds rage across the top of the Hauraki Gulf, it’s time for these farmers to harvest a special crop.

Phil Tataurangi first picked up a golf club when he was a child. Forty-something years later, 20 of those spent as a tour pro, the sport continues to enthral him.

Beth Willis is reviving a colourful 1970s craft — one crocheted daisy earring at a time.

Grit and determination are part of an elite athlete’s makeup. They were also qualities this orienteer needed to help steer her through the scariest moment of her life.

These three young men are cultivating a future in which more New Zealanders embrace the plant-based protein in hemp.

Rachael Utumapu QSM left school at 15 for hairdressing. Since then, her life has been dedicated to the community.

Meet a couple spinning golden-hued chair legs from flax and glass-perfect transparent seats from plant-based resin for chairs designed to last generations.

Over the years, John Bristed has owned many cars, but his siren call was the fearless little lady on a Rolls-Royce bonnet.

A passion for print and printing presses is filling an Auckland man’s life as well as his three sheds and double garage.

A family vegetable business on a South Auckland block has created an award-winning way of selling their produce.

George Reedy, chief executive of Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Porou, aims to ensure the road to wellbeing, wisdom, and wealth for his whānaunga is clearly marked for the next 100 years or more.

This couple hit the water, rain or shine, in a new venture bringing fresh kaimoana to plates while respecting the ocean’s resources.

This Blenheim lawyer-turned-master of wine has always been lured by the grape, from hand-labeling bottles as a child to organizing wine tastings in her first student flat.

Sarah Hopkinson’s personal and professional passions come together in a sandy section she’s transformed into a productive garden.

Lynda indulges her fever for ferns with a tabletop collection of covetable species.

One man’s penchant for potatoes has led to a thriving multigenerational family-run paddock-to-packet potato-chip business.

First chemistry, then food, followed by painting and now sculpted and wearable art — for several decades, this artistic soul has been fully occupied creating what inspires her.

A group of (mostly) women are regenerating Gisborne’s flora — one eco-sourced seed at a time.

Successful organizations rely on clear cultural values, vision, authenticity, and creative thinking, says this professional director.

A backcountry hut along the Forgotten World Highway is a befitting backdrop for this city-eschewing couple.

Fresh apples and creativity are at the core of this reinvention of a spicy classic.

A Queenstown couple take on the task of nurturing Aotearoa’s most valuable and important resource.