December 2004
Overview
New Zealand has a growing number of small niche exporters producing top quality arts, giftware, homewares, and wooden toys and games for international markets.
Unique New Zealand arts and crafts, ranging from exquisite handblown glass and designer jewellery to ceramics and wood products, are finding international favour, as are the contemporary and traditional works of Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand.
A strong inbound tourism industry has strengthened domestic demand for New Zealand products, thus providing a stronger base for exports.
Cosmetics and soaps using natural ingredients emphasise New Zealand’s clean green environment, and wooden toys, such as the innovative kitset castle and pirate ship manufactured by Eager Beaver Toys, are enormously popular overseas.
Major markets
Giftware products from New Zealand are exported to Australia, the USA, the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany. Australia is the major destination, followed by the USA, the UK and Japan.
Significant products
Products exported include ceramic arts and crafts, jade jewellery, decorative handblown glass, abalone jewellery, homewares such as bed linen and placemats with a distinctive Pacific/Maori design theme, wooden toys and games made from native timbers, and natural cosmetics.
Innovation
Companies operating in this sector tend to produce small run products of unique design which incorporate strong and unique New Zealand themes. Many products are manufactured from natural products, including flax, New Zealand greenstone (jade) and the attractive paua (abalone) shell.
Industry structure
The sector is comprised of many small companies, often operating as cottage industries specialising in niche products.
Success stories
Hoglund Art Glass’s highly distinctive hand blown glass has been well-known in Australasia for several years and is becoming increasingly well recognised internationally. Husband-and-wife team Ola Höglund and Marie Simberg-Höglund’s work is in public and private collections worldwide and has featured in art exhibitions and trade fairs in New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Japan.
Originally from Sweden, and New Zealanders by choice, Ola and Marie trained with Orrefors and Kosta Boda, and their Nelson studio, opened in 1982, is a popular tourist destination for those wishing to observe the craft of glass blowing, participate in glassblowing and glass beadmaking classes, and purchase some of the distinctive products.
Hoglund Art Glass was the official Glass of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and also for Team New Zealand for the 2003 America’s Cup.
Eager Beaver Toys design fun, educational and hard wearing toys that encourage the use of imagination and shared play. Philippa Ivory wanted affordable toys for her daughters that they would still want to play with once the Christmas novelty factor had worn off. Her husband Mark designed the kits4kids toys, making them of hardwearing 9mm MDF, a wood composite that can be left plain or painted. The first toy, the kitset fort, was so successful that he went on to make a castle and a pirate ship.
Smaller toys include giant-sized alphabet letters in brilliant colours and hand painted jigsaw puzzles.
Eager Beaver toys are sold in hundreds of outlets in Europe, Australia and the US as well as all over New Zealand and on their website.
Contact NZTE for more information about this sector.
