Sid & Chand Sahrawat have high hopes for their new restaurant, Anise
Post-pandemic, mid-cost of living crisis – who opens a new restaurant at times like these? Culinary power couple Chand and Sid Sahrawat spoke to Viva’s Rebecca Barry Hill about rollercoaster rides, knitting as therapy and learning to lose control. (Also features curried pavlova).
Tim Minchin changed my life: An unfunny interview with a comedic genius
Who is the real comedic genius? Greg Bruce makes friends with a very famous performer and turns the celebrity interview on its head. Tim Minchin as you’ve definitely never read him before.
Wellington’s fashion darlings Kowtow on finding their dream team, going plastic-free and their blueprint for the future
“Their goal is eye-wateringly ambitious: to infiltrate a million people’s wardrobes with just one item, replacing something plastic with Kowtow’s Fairtrade organic cotton.” If you’ve ever been guilty of thinking fashion is frivolous, you haven’t read Julia Gesler’s deep dive into the Wellington label that’s changing the world, one zip-free, nut-buttoned garment at a time.
Black Ferns Chelsea and Alana Bremner on New Zealand rugby’s biggest moment
Eden Park and the opening game of the women’s Rugby World Cup: “For those at the ground, or even those watching on television, it was clear that something big was happening,” writes Greg Bruce in this interview with Black Ferns siblings Chelsea and Alana Bremner. “The feeling around the ground was love, pure and simple … To feel that love from the grandstand was deeply moving. To have felt it as part of the team must have been something else again. To have been able to share that feeling with your sister? Only two people in the country have any idea what that was like.”
What is bouldering? Inside NZ’s cool, cultish climbing sport with actor Celine Dam
As Celine Dam casually hoists herself upwards, writer Madeleine Crutchley imagines gravity defeatedly shrugging its shoulders. In March, Viva launched a new series “How I Move” exploring sports in a league of their own and hobbies that do more than keep us moving – beginning with bouldering.
Celine Dam, Auckland-based actor and boulderer, who was interviewed for Viva’s How I Move series.
William Fitzgerald’s circular design is ‘shoddy’. The Mindful Fashion award-winner on why that’s a good thing
“In Ōnehunga, there is a factory where fashion goes to die.” So begins Madeleine Crutchley’s profile on design student (and former Royal New Zealand Ballet dancer) William Keane Jung-Ying Fitzgerald, winner of the Viva editorial prize at last year’s Mindful Fashion Circular Design Awards. His textile of choice? Removal company blankets, made from cotton and wool – also known as wool shod or “shoddy”.
The Beauty Chef’s Carla Oates wants you to unlearn everything you know about wellness
Not every chef is serving burrata and raw fish. Viva’s beauty editor Ashleigh Cometti meets Carla Oates, the refreshingly frank founder of The Beauty Chef. Sample quote: “There’s a lot of pressure for people to tick all the boxes. You have to eat this way. You have to do yoga, Pilates, infrared saunas, the list goes on. Wellness means different things to different people, and it would be good if it was a little bit more individualised. For me, I love doing crosswords. People ask me: ‘How does that have anything to do with wellness?’ Because it takes me away from my work and any daily stresses. It’s my kind of meditation.”
How to end power struggles at the family dinner table, according to a parenting coach
Weight gain, weight loss and body confidence. It’s the trickiest of topics to navigate with adults, let alone children. But what if there was an expert with 10 top tips for raising competent eaters? Joanna Wane meets an Arrowtown parenting coach and takes a look at how our obsession with “healthy food” can cause more problems than it solves.
Bubbah: Tina From Turners and Taskmaster tattoos are just the beginning
Greg Bruce sets out to interview an icon of car sales, a chilled-out comedian and a walking Taskmaster television show billboard – and discovers a true crime podcast. Or does he?
Comedian and actor Sieni Leo’o Olo, known as Bubbah, and Tina from Turners. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
My Style: Toni Street’s journey through fashion, from Canterbury jerseys to frothy frocks
She grew up wearing home-sewn tracksuits. Today, her favourite piece of clothing is the bright pink dress she wore to MC the New Zealander of the Year awards. Viva’s Dan Ahwa takes a look in Toni Street’s wardrobe and asks what she’s learned about herself through fashion. (Hint: Not everyone can wear mustard).
Architects on the New Zealand houses that changed their lives
Is there a house that changed you? That got under your skin and into your heart? Viva’s Johanna Thornton asked eight local architects and received responses that went well beyond the front door of some of the country’s most thoughtful and beautifully designed homes. “How a house can capture the sun, circulate the air, frame the view and encourage people to gather; these seemingly simple propositions require skill to execute, and the houses in this story, and the architects who chose them, do all those things and so much more,” writes Thornton.
After James Wallace’s sex convictions: What next for Pah Homestead and $50m art collection?
Anita Tótha is the recently appointed director of The Arts House Trust, the new owners of a 10,000-piece art collection started by convicted sex offender James Wallace. In her first interview, she talked to Kim Knight about moving forward from a tainted past.
Will the real Karen Walker please stand up? What’s next for the leading fashion doyenne
The Karen Walker empire started with a floral shirt and an illustration of the world-famous fashion designer as a kind of alternate Colonel Sanders. Jessica Beresford takes afternoon tea with Walker and delivers a considered and highly visual look at the evolution of her business — from attention-grabbing campaigns and New York Fashion Week shows to today.
Skincare founder Katey Mandy takes on the NZ Government
“Skin cancer doesn’t discriminate, and neither should access to protection,” skincare founder Katey Mandy told Viva beauty editor Ashleigh Cometti in this interview that heralded the launch of a nationwide petition to bring New Zealand into line with Australian practice – and potentially save lives in the process.
3000 oysters and 4800 eggs: Behind the scenes at an epic Auckland hotel buffet
In which Kim Knight spend 24-hours at a luxury hotel buffet and discovers the secret to feeding 700 diners a day (may or may not contain gluten; definitely contains eggs).
NZ surgeon Ineke Meredith’s memoir On Call reveals her bold and bizarre operations
“Elbow-deep in her abdomen.” “She performs her first amputation, with a consultant explaining the procedure to her over the phone.” “A man in his 30s is admitted after swallowing 35 fish hooks.” It’s hard to pick the best sentence from Joanna Wane’s profile on Samoan-born and Paris-based surgeon Ineke Meredith but perhaps save this one for after breakfast.
Fashion designer Kate Sylvester announces the closure of her business after 31 years
When Kate Sylvester announced she was shutting shop after more than three decades, it was Viva’s Dan Ahwa she shared the news with first. The pair talk about the hard work, famous frocks – and why it’s someone else’s time to shine.
Actor Sophie Hambleton returns as Dame Jacinda Ardern in new Covid play
“Ardern is cancer.” The ferocity of the Dame Jacinda Ardern backlash is explored in this interview with actor Sophie Hambleton, who channeled the Prime Minister in a verbatim stage script two years into the Covid-19 pandemic – and again, in this year’s follow-up. “This time, it’s going to get ugly,” writes Joanna Wane.
Tom Hardy on his love letter to London, his dog Blue and the cologne he’s always asked about
An interview with an actor about a movie about a perfume inspired by his father and a love of London. Viva beauty editor Ashleigh Cometti covers plenty of territory in this Q&A with Tom Hardy (Inception, Peaky Blinders, etcetera), a companion piece to an earlier interview with fragrance queen Jo Malone. Could you list your own personal palette of memories evoked by smell? Hardy’s includes a dusty pillow, a dry barn in the sunshine – and the forearms of his mother and father.
Matt Heath on self-help, self-awareness and self-abuse
Recently, Matt Heath asked Prime Minister Christopher Luxon if he sleeps in the nude. He also asked him if he had pre-ordered a copy of his book – a 13-step self-help guide to loving the life you’ve got. Greg Bruce was there, recording a day in the life of the man who went on to advise the PM that “if you feel like you’re stressed, go and make some people some coffee … ”
US writer Ann Patchett’s long-awaited Auckland Writers Festival debut
This year’s Auckland Writers Festival was one for the record books. An 85,000-plus attendance, across 167 events, showcasing 240 participants – including author, Ann Patchett. Joanna Wane zoomed her for a conversation on luminosity and love, noting: “At the core of Ann Patchett’s novel Tom Lake is the difference between the wild, heady love you experience in your 20s and the deeply satisfying love you can have, if you’re lucky, in your 50s.”
Can New Zealanders walk in six-inch stilettos? Christian Louboutin, the most famous shoe designer in the world, thinks so
In a never-ending parade of activations, openings and parties, how does a designer stay true to themselves? Christian Louboutin shares the surprising insight he learned from his woodworking father with Viva’s Dan Ahwa. (Plus shoes. Really great shoes).
Dai Henwood’s cancer battle: New book The Life of Dai on living (and loving) with a stage-four diagnosis
“I was so scared of cancer,” Dai Henwood tells the crowd. “Then I had to do this crash course … cancer has been an amazing teacher. I feel I am a better man, better husband, father, comedian and member of society because I’ve had to deal with cancer.” The comedian, television personality and ice bath owner talks candidly to Kim Knight about the worst possible news.
NZ musician Hollie Smith on infertility, her new tour and art exhibition
Last year, Hollie Smith made an estimated $180 in global music streaming sales. And if that’s not shocking enough, wait until you see her newest project. Kim Knight sat down with the musician who bared all (literally) ahead of a new music tour and an unexpected art exhibition.
Singer and painter Hollie Smith with her artwork, which she exhibited in June at a Grey Lynn gallery. Photo / Jason Oxenham
NZ actor Jodie Rimmer talks ageing and new solo play Nicola Cheeseman is Back
Is it time women started acting their age? Joanna Wane put the question to actor Jodie Rimmer (aged 50) as she prepared for a new solo stage show that skewers the idea that women tumbling towards menopause are obsolete.
