Sid and Chand Sarawat have high hopes for their new restaurant, Anise
A moderate, post-pandemic cost-of-living crisis – who opens a new restaurant at a time like this? Culinary power couple Chand and Sid Sarawat talk to Viva’s Rebecca Barry-Hill about riding rollercoasters, knitting as therapy, and learning to lose control. (They also share their curried pavlova.)
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Tim Minchin changed my life: A not-so-funny interview with a comedy genius
Who is the real comedic genius? Greg Bruce befriends hugely famous performers and flips his celebrity interviews on their heads. Tim Minchin is someone you’ve never read before.
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Tim Minchin plays the piano.
Wellington fashion icon Koutou on putting together his dream team, going plastic-free, and his blueprint for the future
“Their goal is eye-poppingly ambitious: to enter a million wardrobes with just one item, replacing plastic with Koutou’s fair-trade organic cotton.” If you ever thought fashion was frivolous, you haven’t read Julia Gessler’s in-depth article about the Wellington label that’s changing the world, one zipper-free, nut-button garment at a time.
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February
Black Ferns’ Chelsea and Alana Bremner talk New Zealand rugby’s biggest moments
Eden Park and the Women’s Rugby World Cup opening match: “It was clear to anyone at the ground, or watching on TV, that something big was happening,” writes Greg Bruce in an interview with Black Ferns sisters Chelsea and Alana Bremner. “What was in the air around the ground was love, pure and simple… Feeling that love from the stands was incredibly moving. To feel it as part of the team must have been something else too. To share that feeling with your sister? Only two people in the country know what it felt like.”
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What is bouldering? Actor Celine Damm explains New Zealand’s cool, cult climbing sport
As Celine Damme heaves nonchalantly upward, I imagine writer Madeline Crutchley shrugging as if gravity has given in. In March, Viva launched “How I Move,” a new series that explores sports in a league of their own, and hobbies that are more than just physical.
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Auckland-based actor and bouldering enthusiast Celine Damm was interviewed for Viva’s How I Move series.
William Fitzgerald’s circular designs are ‘crude’: Mindful Fashion Award winner explains why that’s a good thing
“Onehunga is home to the factories where fashion goes to die,” begins Madeleine Crutchley’s profile of design student (and former Royal New Zealand Ballet dancer) William Keane Johnine Fitzgerald, who won the Viva Editing Award at last year’s Mindful Fashion Circular Design Awards. His fabric of choice? A cotton and wool movers’ blanket, also known as a wool shod or “shoddy”.
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Beauty chef Carla Oates wants you to forget everything you know about health
Not every chef is serving burrata or raw fish. Viva Beauty Editor Ashley Cometti caught up with Carla Oates, the refreshingly candid founder of The Beauty Chef. Sample quote: “There’s so much pressure to tick all the boxes. You have to eat this way. Yoga, Pilates, infrared saunas, the list goes on and on. Wellness means different things to different people, so I think it would be nice to personalize it a little more. I love crosswords. People always ask me, ‘What does that have to do with wellness?’ Because solving crosswords helps me unwind from work and the stresses of everyday life. For me it’s like meditation.”
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Beauty Chef, aka Karla Oates. Photo / Courtesy
A parenting coach shares how to end power struggles at the family dinner table
Weight gain, weight loss and body confidence. They’re tricky topics for adults, much less children. But what if there was an expert with 10 tips for raising kids who eat well? Joanna Wayne meets Arrowtown parenting coach to find out how our obsession with “healthy eating” could be causing more problems than it solves.
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march
Bubba: Tina from Turner’s and Taskmaster’s tattoos are just the beginning
Greg Bruce sets out to interview a car sales icon, a suave comedian and a walking Taskmaster TV show billboard, and discovers a true crime documentary podcast. Or maybe not?
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Comedian and actor Sieni Le’o Oro (aka Baba) and Tina from Turners. Photo / Sylvie Winley
My Style: Toni Street’s fashion journey from Canterbury tracksuits to fluffy dresses
She grew up wearing tracksuits that she sewed at home, and now her favourite outfit is the bright pink dress she wore when she hosted the New Zealander of the Year awards. Viva’s Dan Awa looks at Toni Street’s wardrobe and asks her what she’s learned about herself through fashion. (Hint: not everyone can wear mustard.)
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Architects talk about the New Zealand homes that changed their lives
Is there a home that changed you? Is there a home that touched your heart? Viva’s Joanna Thornton asked eight local architects and got answers that go far beyond the front doors of some of the country’s most thoughtfully and beautifully designed homes. “How a home captures the sun, circulates air, frames views, brings people together — these deceptively simple suggestions take skill to execute, but the homes in this story, and the architects who chose them, achieve all of these things and more,” Thornton writes.
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After James Wallace’s sexual crimes conviction: What’s next for Pa Homestead and his $50 million art collection?
Anita Tosa was recently appointed director of the Arts House Trust, the new owner of the 10,000-piece art collection started by convicted sex offender James Wallace, and in her first interview she speaks to Kim Knight about moving on from her sordid past.
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Will the real Karen Walker please step up? What’s the fashion mogul’s next move?
The Karen Walker empire began with floral shirts and an illustration depicting the world-famous fashion designer as a Colonel Sanders alter-ego. Over afternoon tea with Walker, Jessica Beresford offers a considered, visual look at the evolution of her business, from high-profile campaigns and New York Fashion Week shows to today.
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Fashion designer Karen Walker photographed at her home. Photo/Bavish Martens
Skincare founder Katie Mundy takes on New Zealand government
“Skin cancer can affect anyone, so access to prevention shouldn’t discriminate,” Skincare founder Katie Mundy told Viva Beauty editor Ashley Cometti in an interview to mark the launch of a national petition to bring New Zealand in line with Australian practices – and potentially save lives in the process.
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3,000 oysters and 4,800 eggs: behind the scenes of Auckland hotel’s epic buffet
Kim Knight spends 24 hours in a luxury hotel buffet and discovers the secrets to feeding 700 guests a day (which may or may not contain gluten, but surely contains eggs).
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New Zealand surgeon Ineke Meredith’s memoir, “On Call,” reveals her daring and bizarre surgeries
“Elbow-deep in the abdomen.” “She performs her first amputation, with a consultant explaining the procedure over the phone.” “A man in his 30s is hospitalised after swallowing 35 fishing hooks.” It’s hard to pick the best sentence from Joanna Wayne’s profile of the Samoan-born, Paris-based surgeon Ineke Meredith, but this one might be best saved for after breakfast.
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April
Fashion designer Kate Sylvester announces closure of business after 31 years
When Kate Sylvester announced she was closing her shop after more than 30 years, Viva’s Dan Awa was the first to break the news, and the pair talk hard work, famous dresses, and why now is the time for others to shine.
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Kate Sylvester. Photo by Babish Martens
May
Actress Sophie Hambleton returns to role as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in COVID-19 play
“Ardern is a cancer.” The backlash against Jacinda Ardern is explored in an interview with actor Sophie Hambleton, who played the prime minister in the play’s scripted sequel two years into the Covid-19 pandemic. Hambleton will be reprising the role in this year’s sequel. “It’s going to be ugly this time,” writes Joanna Wayne.
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Tom Hardy talks about his love letter to London, his dog Blue, and the cologne people always ask about
In an interview with the actor, he talks about the perfume inspired by his father and the film’s love for London. Viva Beauty Editor Ashley Cometti covers a wide range of topics in this Q&A with Tom Hardy (Inception, Peaky Blinders(and others) is a follow-up to an earlier interview with fragrance queen Jo Malone: Name a palette of memories evoked by your own smells? For Hardy, he lists dusty pillows, dry barns in the sun, and his parents’ forearms.
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Matt Heath on self-improvement, self-awareness, and self-abuse
Matt Heath recently asked Prime Minister Christopher Luxon if he sleeps naked and if he’d pre-ordered his book, a 13-step self-help guide to loving your life. Greg Bruce was also there, documenting Luxon’s day in the life and advising the prime minister, “If you’re stressed, make someone a coffee.”
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American author Ann Patchett makes highly anticipated debut appearance at Auckland Writers Festival
This year’s Auckland Authors Festival was a record-breaking success, with more than 85,000 people attending 167 events, including 240 guests including author Ann Patchett. Joanna Wayne spoke to her over Zoom about brilliance and love. “At the heart of Ann Patchett’s novels is Tom Lake It’s the difference between the intense, passionate love you experience in your twenties and the deeply satisfying love you can experience, if you’re lucky, in your fifties.”
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Can New Zealanders walk in six-inch stiletto heels? Christian Louboutin, the world’s most famous shoe designer, thinks so.
With a constant stream of activations, openings and parties, how does a designer stay true to himself? Christian Louboutin shares with Viva’s Dan Awa the surprising insights he learned from his woodworker father. (And shoes. Really great shoes.)
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June
Dai Henwood’s Battle with Cancer: New Book ‘The Life of Dai’ About Living (and Loving) with a Stage 4 Diagnosis
“I was so scared of cancer,” Dai Henwood told the crowd, “and then I had to get this crash course… Cancer was an amazing teacher. I feel like I’m a better person, a better husband, a better father, a better comedian and a better member of society because I had to fight cancer.” Henwood, the comedian, TV personality and ice bath owner, spoke candidly to Kim Knight about his terrible news.
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New Zealand musician Holly Smith talks infertility, new tour, and art exhibition
Last year, Holly Smith made an estimated $180 million in music streaming sales worldwide. If that’s still not shocking, wait until you see her latest project. Kim Knight spoke with the musician who’s literally bared all ahead of a new music tour and an unexpected art exhibit.
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Singer and painter Holly Smith with her work, which she exhibited at a gallery in Grey Lynn in June. Photo by Jason Oxenham
New Zealand actor Jodie Rimmer talks ageing and her new solo play Nicola Cheeseman is back
Is it time for women to act their age? Joanna Wayne poses this question to actress Jodie Rimmer, 50, as she prepares a new solo stage show which criticises the idea that women approaching menopause are outdated.
