An international project with its roots very much planted back here in New Zealand – Activist Manuka is a new Manuka honey brand founded by LA-based New Zealand couple Luke Harwood and Gabrielle Mirkin.
Returning to America, the couple settled in beachside California, and began work on starting their own honey company.
The name – Activist – not only derives from the active natural antibacterial properties of the Manuka, but is also nod to New Zealand’s proud history of activism, paying respect to those who dedicate their lives standing for something they believe in.
(Doing good by doing good – you guys know that’s one of my fave things).
They enlisted the branding prowess of their friend and fellow Cali-based New Zealand, Art Director Fred L’Ami. The brand also features beautiful New Zealand imagery from another friend, fine art and documentary photographer Derek Henderson.
My US readers (I see you there on Google Analytics!) – contact Luke and Gabrielle at Activist to find the closest stockist in your area. New Zealanders, Activist is available here exclusively from Simon James Design at this stage.
Chris Lim has had a passion for fragrance for as long as he can remember. As a young child, he was captivated by his mother and aunty’s perfume collections, and at 17, he started working for high end fragrance brands. They say it takes 10,000 hours / 10 years to achieve mastery in a field – at just 35, Chris Lim is a master of fragrance design.
His New Zealand-based brand, Maraca, sits in the home fragrance category but takes it up a notch – all Maraca’s fragrances are developed in a Parisian perfumery, uses only premium natural oils. When you smell the jasmine in Maraca’s Velvet Noir candle, you’re smelling oil from a jasmine flower grown in Egypt, not a synthetic copycat.
Maraca fragrances are also incredibly technical and compositionally complex, which means you get to discover and experience different layers throughout the burn. Chris will tell you, he doesn’t just want something to smell nice – he wants to tell you a story. The Sevillian Neroli, for example, was inspired by a trip to the historic Jardines del Generalife in Alhambra, Spain, and Chris aims to transport you there with him – recreating the famous gardens’ ambiance during the warmth of summer. The citrus bouquet has eleven different notes, to take you on a sensory journey. There’s a sister scent from that same trip, this one green, leafy and earthy in contrast, to evoke the heady scent the garden has in autumn and winter. Yeah, so no ‘Coconut & Lime’ here guys. Each fragrance takes many, many months to realise – the Sevillian Neroli took a full year of iterations and development.
All Maraca products are made and packaged here in New Zealand, and sold internationally.
I got a lovely surprise this week when one of the beautiful Sans [ceuticals] Alchemy of Giving kits arrived at my house… but I would’ve shared them with you even if I hadn’t, because I love everything about this local-gone-global brand: its incredible soft-minimalist packaging; its realistic, woman-celebrating, self-nourishing representation of beauty; its founder (inspiring New Zealand beauty industry pioneer and businesswoman Lucy Marr); and most importantly its results-focused formulations, each one developed in collaboration with NZ’s best scientists to be superbly effective and multi-functional, while still being sans (it’s French for without) harmful, non-sustainable ingredients.
Lucy has created five special Alchemy of Giving kits (in the most delicious colour palette – russet and blush pink) with the concept that you can offer more than presents, but presence with a loved one. Each one is accompanied by a step by step ritual that invites you to give them (or yourself!) the gift of your time and touch – a head massage, reflexology or hair treatment.
I also wanted to mention Sans’ new 48-hr Reset Kit too… because the best gift you can give all year is a little time-out for yourself to reset and restore. This kit gives you all the tools for two days of gentle, joyous self-care and rejuvenation, including a range of Sans products, a guide to specific daily rituals and pamper rituals, beautiful recipes to make during your 48 hour reset, and a list of inspirational documentaries, podcasts, books, films, and Sans music playlists.
You can buy someone you love (that includes you, you’re amazing) a Sans Kit here.