Ancient Fibre, New Hope – The rebirth of the hemp industry

  In ages past hemp was the material from which superior rope and canvas were produced, strong and durable. In recent years we learned hemp fibre makes excellent clothing and furnishing fabrics, and more recently still, that it’s a source of quality foods. All this makes hemp useful, but Dave and Anne Jordan who run […]

Review by Philippa Jamieson – Editor Organic NZ

Yvonne Rust: Maverick Spirit by Theresa Sjoquist (David Ling, 2011)

  I’d never heard of Yvonne Rust before reading this, so it’s just as well Theresa Sjoquist has written a biography of this remarkable potter, painter and art teacher (1922-2002), so we can all read about this determined, talented, inspiring, eccentric and indomitable woman. Rust has been hugely influential on a generation of artists and […]

EcoHouse – Dancing Ground of the Sun

    Dancing Ground of the Sun, built by John Brown for his wife, Colleen, and himself, is a fantasy eco-home. The couple owned a beautiful conventional home in Te Atatu when Colleen began to get asthma so badly she couldn’t even make the bed. Her naturopath ordered carpet shampoos every month, but the carpet […]

Slab to Songbird – Sophie Lankovsky, New Zealand Potter

New Zealand potter, Sophie Lankovsky, is based in Hawke’s Bay. Her studio is sited in a natural environment where the songs of native birds thrill her ears as she creates clay sculptures of them as like to life that they might hop out of your grasp. Born in the year of the Dragon, in Stuttgart, […]