women we love

The colourful works of Jen Sievers have collected a loyal and adoring following

Kim Lawrence uses embroidery and rug-tufting to create vibrant and nostalgic works of art

This Dunedin muso, potter and illustrator is happiest when immersed in a creative project

Emily Timoti knows the best kind of blossoms are the ones that last forever

This Christmas, Sue's stationary explores fictional shopfronts in an enchanting village.

This multimedia artist combines community and colour in Hawke’s Bay

Often photographed from the air, her work shows a rarely seen, natural beauty.

Tracey Finch’s love of a long, hot Kiwi summer is present in all her work

From coffee cups to candle holders, meet the Taranaki artisan you will want to have on your homewares radar

Samantha Peacock is putting a contemporary twist on an age-old art

Enter the bright and blooming beautiful world of Wānaka-based artist Agate Rubene Latvian-born Agate Rubene was destined to be an artist. Her mother is an art school teacher and, from the age of three, she went to various art schools, including the Riga School of Design and Art in Latvia, where she majored in fashion […]

Opera costume and set designer Tracy Grant Lord is setting the scene for her best show yet Tracy Grant Lord was only 23 when she designed the costumes and set for her first opera, an experience she recalls as terrifying. “When you are young, with such opportunities, each step of the way is a completely […]

Two Kiwis are changing the nursery game with their made with aroha baby products Dayna Tavendale and Amy Barratt first met more than eight years ago, introduced to one another by their husbands over a get-together to watch the UFC. At the time, their husbands had no idea their wives would soon become great friends, […]

Childhood road trips inspire an award-winning design for artist Alice Berry.

Get swept away by the dreamy, sun-kissed creative works of Alex and SonySony Nuth and her husband Alex Hall (below) are big fans of travelling and have amassed a huge archive of photographs from their many trips overseas and around Aotearoa Every picture tells a story, and Auckland-based Alex Hall and Sony Nuth’s fine art […]

Poppy and Sage founder Anieszka Banks creates her beeswax candles and other treasures with joyous colour and shapes Aniezka Banks at her home in Karekare Being creative allows Anieszka Banks to feel most like herself. Whether that’s painstakingly adding tiny wax flowers to candles or carving tiny wooden mushrooms, she says, “It feels like mine […]

Lauded for her exquisite French treats, Bridget O’Sullivan is now delivering a sweet taste of Italy Bridget started small by selling her macarons at a farmers’ market stall and quickly became known for her perfectly formed baked goods. Cantabrian Bridget O’Sullivan’s macaron empire started small at the Christchurch Farmers’ Markets in 2008. After selling out […]

Phoebe Gander has loved painting for as long as she can remember. On canvas Phoebe Gander crafts celebratory, joyous works of art that are full of juicy cherries and zesty cocktails. However, there was a time when she put down the brush altogether. “I never really thought that painting was something I could make a […]

Denise Porter-Howland, aka Eleventeen Ceramics, pays homage to the abandoned and revered through her clay designs. Denise Porter-Howland’s world is wicked and wonderful, the underbelly of any good fairytale. From her home studio in Grey Lynn, Auckland she crafts surreal apple cores, ears and ashtrays. Highbrow fashion pieces, such as a ceramic Prada shoe that […]

With a passion for experimenting at home, Annelies is always changing and moving pieces of decor around Annelies Leitch of Home Lab Store When Annelies Leitch went on buying trips for the fashion industry pre-motherhood, she always gravitated to homewares stores in New York, London and Paris. As a serial furniture mover and cushion changer, […]

Flow Studio’s Staci Coble shapes her clay using the gentle currents of the ocean as her museThe ocean is a big source of inspiration for Staci, who uses shells and sand to help craft her ceramic masterpieces. “I love texture and translating it from nature can be quite fun”, she says.  Out on the shimmering […]

Hyperrealist artist Bella McGoldrick is all about the small details, in life and art Every month, Bella McGoldrick packs up her life and moves to a new country. From what started off as circumstance while the Kiwi-born artist and her husband waited to get visas for the US and Australia, now the nomadic lifestyle informs […]

Textile artist Frankie Meaden is not only blooming in real life, but on canvas too Frankie Meaden has taken the time to develop her artistic voice. Her life has always been about creating, from having her work displayed in one of London’s prestigious Tate galleries when she was 18 years old, to making and selling […]

Aucklander Hollie Ryan’s pretty creations will bloom forever After graduating from law school, it didn’t take long for Hollie Ryan to feel the pull of creative pursuits. I should’ve figured that out before incurring five years of student debt,” she jokes. In an old Grey Lynn villa in Auckland, which she shares with her flatmates […]

Lissy Robinson-Cole is crafting a world of colour and joy with a little bit of magic and a whole lot of mahi There’s not many people you could describe as a human ray of sunshine, but Lissy Robinson-Cole is one of them. The crochet queen is as radiant as her colourful mahi, which hang in […]

Through her vibrant, feel-good textile designs, Imogen Switalla brings colour and joy into her various corners of the world Textile designer Imogen Switalla’s life-affirming designs often involve flowers and the colour pink. After initially enrolling in a fine arts course, she switched to textile design when she realised that most of her artwork “was coincidentally […]

Caroline Yelavic is getting her hands dirty with an ancient form of gardening Originally from sunny Sao Paulo in Brazil, Caroline Yelavic was exposed to Japanese culture from a young age, despite being thousand of miles away from the land of the rising sun. “My godmother was a Buddhist and enjoyed the practice of ikebana […]

A Christchurch mum has turned a favourite holiday tradition into a business that spices up the lives of Kiwi families at Christmas As the holiday season draws closer, Hilary Bothwell turns on her oven, ready to get into the swing of things. The Christchurch confectioner is the founder of The Gingerbread Company, serving up gorgeous […]

Rewa Walters and Sophie Morrison are combining art with mindfulness to create a powerhouse of puzzles Rewa Walters and Sophie Morrison had always wanted to start a business together, but the only question was what. “We wanted to do something that had social impact, something that made a difference or something that supported other Kiwis,” […]

After searching endlessly for the perfect nursery cushion, Jen Calorme decided to make her own, kick-starting a business in the process If you’ve been on Instagram lately, you’ve probably seen one of Jen Calorme’s creations peeking through a cradle or nestled in a rocking chair. She’s the founder of online home decor store Lune & […]

Alice Toomer has found her artistic groove by capturing some of New Zealand’s favourite lollies and desserts on canvas   Working from her sunny studio nestled in Wellington’s coastal suburb of Island Bay, Alice Toomer brings confectionery to life on canvas. Her work is painstakingly intricate, the results nothing short of sugar-coated, photorealistic illusions. The […]

Wellington artist Tallulah Farrar is serving up joyful tiled nostalgia, piece by piece In a screen-driven world, Tallulah Farrar loves working with her hands. As if by magic, creations unfurl from miniature tiles and a mosaic masterpiece blossoms. The 23-year-old artist, who is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, says she finds the creative process meditative. “There’s […]

Artist Emma Crawley brings a playful touch to the rug renaissance Emma Crawley is the fabulous mind behind Tuftee, a custom rug venture. Having only tried her hand at tufting a mere five months ago, she’s already a natural at the traditional craft – and is just getting started. Rug tufting has recently exploded into […]

From painterly strokes to graphic lines,  Emma Hayes’ work is inspired by nature Living in the city, Auckland-based designer Emma Hayes is in her element. Her commute to work is a few steps downstairs to her studio, where she designs painterly collections of wall coverings and textiles that are sold around the world. Inspiration for […]

After two decades away, an art school graduate returned to a lost love, creating beautiful abstract paintings from her studio in Titirangi A backpacking trip with a friend to Kenya and Uganda when she was 22 tapped into Helen Dean’s adventurous spirit. It was an enormous cultural contrast to life in the English coal-mining village […]

Florists Lydia Reusser and Isabel Johnston discovered doubling up made for singular success Auckland florists Isabel Johnston and Lydia Reusser began working together at the end of 2020, after the first Covid-19 lockdown. “Lydia approached me with the idea of partnering up after we had spent many hours freelancing together and discussing our dreams of […]

Having made a big impression with Kiwi fans of cool French linen bedding, the Foxtrot Home sisters have a cosy yarn to share Sisters Kate Cullwick and Prue Watson live in different parts of the country but that hasn’t stopped them from creating a business together. Their vision from the start was to be able […]

Artist and illustrator Bonnie Brown of Studio Bon delights in colour and a playful approach to design Bonnie Brown, the illustrator and founder of Studio Bon, needs no introduction. You might have seen her colourful designs on the last limited edition Roses chocolate boxes, L’affare coffee packaging, or perhaps on a Blunt umbrella. Or, you […]

Delicate, playful, textured and full of colour – Kate Mitchell’s glass work delivers it all Kate Mitchell has honed her glass art practice by watching masters at work. She’s observed the workings of studios in Venice, Prague, Shanghai, Seattle and Canberra, and she spends her weeks working for some of New Zealand’s best glass artists, […]

Textile artist Leah Creaven has a yarn to us about her beautiful hand-tufted rugs and her love of wool By day, Irish-born Leah Creaven is managing the marketing, admin and photography for Drummond Farm – a Martinborough vineyard owned and run by her partner Alex Drummond. By night, or more accurately, in the in-between times, […]

Pottery meets 3D printing. The top floor of a converted 1960s office block overlooking Lyttelton port is not an expected location for a pottery studio. But then Zoë Lovell-Smith, 23, who forgoes the traditional potter’s wheel for computers and a hand-built 3D ceramic printer, is not your typical potter. She’s just won a gold at […]

Two student midwives and best friends share a passion for celebrating the body beautiful. They tell us all about their art Textile designer Alanna Josie and ceramicist Georgia Casey of Artemis Ceramics have a tale of female empowerment and friendship so intertwined with their creative magic it would have been remiss not to feature them […]

Felicity Donaldson, aka Wundaire, has built a thriving ceramics brand through the power of persistence and creative collaboration What were you doing before you started making ceramics? At uni I studied science down in Dunedin, with some papers in design, but the jobs when I graduated were mainly in the research field, which didn’t particularly […]