Dilmah Tea New Zealand

Dilmah Tea hosted a series of high teas around New Zealand, promoting its socially responsible message along with the rising interest in tea mixology.
   Its Wellington stop on Tuesday, hosted by Dilmah founder Merrill J. Fernando and his son, Dilhan C. Fernando, the company’s chief marketing officer, and in the presence of Her Excellency Zodwa Lallie, South African High Commissioner, was a particular treat, with a menu designed by Dilmah Real High Tea Gold Medallist Laurent Loudeac, executive chef of the Museum Art Hotel.
   Held at the hotel’s famed Hippopotamus restaurant, guests were treated to everything from ora king salmon sashimi—which we would label as our favourite of the afternoon—to lap sang souchong yoghurt panna cotta and a lychee-infused jasmine tea and rosewater caviar, complemented by various Dilmah teas.
   The selection included Dilmah’s Ran Watte Single Region Ceylon tea, its green tea with jasmine flowers, and its rose tea with French vanilla.
   The highlight was the address given my Merrill J. Fernando, after a video looking back through the history of Dilmah and how his famed catchphrase, ‘Do try it,’ was created by a New Zealand agency.
   He spoke of how Dilmah goes beyond the requirements of Fair Trade with its ethically made tea, because those who grow the tea share in the equity. The value-added components of Dilmah are not done by international traders, but by Sri Lankans, and the company constantly puts money back into the community, funding education, health care, cultural and even business activities.
   Some rivals force down the prices that tea farmers can sell at, keeping them poor, while profiting from the value-added components in the marketing and production chain.
   Mr Fernando also stressed that Ceylon tea is the finest, and that Dilmah, to preserve that integrity, does not mix its teas with those from other countries.
   Through a Trade Me auction, the Merrill J. Fernando Charitable Foundation is also raising money for a culinary centre in Sri Lanka which will train people living with disabilities or have been disadvantaged, so that they can find employment to support themselves.
   They can be found on Trade Me, with the auctions closing on July 27. Items include Parawa Estate Ingalalla Grand Reserve 2007 wine, valued at over NZ$1,250; an individually numbered caddy of a very rare tea, FBOP 1, from the Dilmah Opapa Estate in Sri Lanka; a night for two at the Langham Hotel in Auckland; and two nights for two at the Museum Art Hotel in Wellington.
   In other New Zealand news, new label Trish Peng is running a Fresh Face modelling competition as part of her New Zealand Fashion Week début next month, with the help of L’Oréal Professionnel and Vanity Walk.
   New Zealand women are invited to enter via the Trish Peng Facebook page. Peng and Vanity Walk, a modelling agency, will judge from the uploaded photo and details.
   Entries close August 2. The winner becomes the face of the next Trish Peng campaign, opens Peng’s fashion week show, receives a modelling contract with Vanity Walk, and wins a year’s supply of L’Oréal Professionnel products.—Jack Yan, Publisher, with Lucire staff

Felicity Anderson/Trio Communications

Dilmah

Top Dilmah founder Merrill J. Fernando with Lucire publisher Jack Yan. Centre Dilmah chief marketing officer Dilhan C. Fernando and South African High Commissioner, HE Zodwa Lallie. Above Museum Art Hotel proprietor Chris Parkin with HE Zodwa Lallie.

Lucire issue 33, on sale today, marks a number of firsts and is one of the best we’ve had.
   We’ve always been very fair on who makes the cover. Sopheak Seng, our fashion and beauty editor, and I choose from all the images we have, and these include ones that he has produced as creative director or stylist. And in the years we’ve worked together, he’s opted not to put his ones ahead of others’. We’ve both gone for what is best for Lucire. Some shoots that have appeared on the cover he has worked on in a supervisory role, but others have come from our brilliant network of creatives worldwide.
   Issue 33 sees his first cover that he has directed, and it’s one we’re both exceptionally proud of. Photographed by Dave Richards, and with the A-team of Michael Beel on hair and Hil Cook on make-up, assisted by Jaye Morgan, Natalie Henderson and Andy Alsop, and modelled by Chloé Graham, it’s the first time in 17 years that we’ve cropped the Lucire logo behind the model’s head.
   We realize this technique is commonplace and it’s probably a surprise to anyone reading the above that that hasn’t happened before. And we’ve had many great images—only the best get selected for the coveted spot. But for some reason, when it came to the crunch, we opted to keep the logo complete, as have always done on the website. This time, the image was so striking that we felt it was time to take the scalpel to the logo, thanks to head designer Tanya Sooksombatisatian.
   It is Dave’s first shoot with us, so to score a cover on your first go is very impressive, though it has happened a few other times—Courtney Dailey with Laura Vandervoort in issue 29, for instance.
   I have a feeling, too, that Chloé is the first Scot to be on our cover. While a New Zealander, she hails from Glasgow, and this is rather timely with the Commonwealth Games about to commence.
   I congratulate my good friend and colleague, Sopheak, and I think this is going to be one of those memorable Lucire covers that will be cited in years to come.
   There’s plenty more inside, and you can get a taste of the articles in our issue 33 preview.
   I’m very proud of one shoot by Jon Moe in there, with our California A-team of Jamie Dorman (now in New York, but who was our pointwoman on the shoot), Lei Phillips and Carina Tafalu, and starring two former Miss Universe New Zealands, Laural Barrett and Samantha Lochhead, each in their second appearances in Lucire. Jon lovingly shot this at Riviera 31 at the Sofitel Los Angeles, and I acknowledge our US west coast editor, Elyse Glickman, for her connections with Pivotal Public Relations in getting us the location.
   It’s not the only cover that we can talk about: some of you will have seen Dorit Thies’s and Olga Fonda’s announcement of their cover for Lucire Arabia. (The story is in issue 33, too, but it was strongly felt that Dorit’s shot was the best to début our title there. When you see the pages, you’ll also notice why this is an incredible shoot with the Vampire Diaries star.) We’ll have more on that officially soon, but, for now, you can get your issue 33 through the Lucire website, in print, for tablets (Ipad and Android), and as a downloadable PDF.—Jack Yan, Publisher

Lisa Tamati, known in ultra-marathon circles, has a side to her that only a handful of fashionistas are aware of: she is a jeweller, trained in Wien, Austria, who has recently relocated from the Taranaki to Wellington, New Zealand.
   Tamati has opened a shop in Dukes’ Arcade on the corner of Willis and Manners Streets, where she retails her hand-crafted jewellery. She specializes in sterling silver, gold, gemstones, paua, jade and pearls. The designs show a finesse and delicacy, combining her Māori heritage and Pākehā education with the skills she acquired studying and working under Michael Eipeldauer in Wien.
   It is not her first endeavour into retail, having opened shops in Austria and in New Plymouth.
   Tamati is also selling her second book, Running to Extremes, at her store. Her first book, Running Hot, talked of her experience in ultra-marathons. She was the first Australasian woman to compete in the Badwater ultra-marathon in Death Valley, despite a crippling back injury sustained when she was 19. She had already faced an unassisted crossing of the Libyan desert as a personal challenge, and run 222 km across the Niger desert despite suffering from dysentery. In the follow-up, she goes further into the ultra-marathon world, including a second Badwater, the Gobi March, a Saharan race, and La Ultra, 222 km in the Himalayas.
   Despite these achievements, Tamati remains extremely humble and it was her guests at her store opening at the end of May, clamouring to get photographed with her, who were the focus of her attention.
   Tamati is not the only woman to launch a business in Wellington recently. Lawyer Clare Needham has embarked on an independent publishing venture, Giant Sparrow Press, releasing the company’s first title, ShameJoy, at an event earlier this week.
   Written by Julie Hill, ShameJoy—the English translation for Schadenfreude—has a unique New Zealand perspective as well as a dark sense of humour. Hill gave a reading of two short stories from the anthology on Tuesday, which delighted the audience at the launch, while the book itself is available online via Giant Sparrow Press’s website (www.giantsparrowpress.com/bookshop.html).—Jack Yan, Publisher

RIT

Massimo Vignelli, who passed away on May 27, was a hero of mine. When receiving the news shortly before it hit the media in a big way, from our mutual friend Stanley Moss, this title’s travel editor and CEO of the Medinge Group, I posted immediately on Facebook: ‘It is a sad duty to note the passing of Massimo Vignelli, one of my heroes in graphic design. When I was starting out in the business, Massimo was one of the greats: a proponent of modernism and simple, sharp typography. His influence is apparent in a lot of the work done by our brand consultancy and in our magazines, even in my 2013 mayoral campaign graphics. A lot of his work from half a century ago has stood the test of time. There was only one degree of separation between us, and I regret that we never connected during his lifetime. The passing of a legend.’
   This Facebook status only scratches the surface of my admiration for Vignelli. There have been more comprehensive obits already (Fast Company Design rightly called him ‘one of the greatest 20th century designers’), detailing his work notably for the New York subway map, and—curiously to me—glossing over the effect he had on corporate design, especially in the US.
   Vignelli, and his wife Lella, a designer in her own right and a qualified architect, set up the Vignelli Office of Design and Architecture in Milano in 1960, which had clients including Pirelli and Olivetti. In 1965, they moved to New York and Vignelli co-founded Unimark International (with Ralph Eckerstrom, James Fogelman, Wally Gutches, Larry Klein, and Bob Noorda), where he was design director. It was the world’s largest design and marketing firm till its closure in 1977.
   The 1960s were a great time for Vignelli and his corporate identities. He worked on American Airlines, Ford, Knoll, and J. C. Penney, and the work was strictly modernist, often employing Helvetica as the typeface family. Vignelli was known to have stuck with six families for most his work—Bodoni was another, a type family based around geometry that, on the surface, tied in to his modernist, logical approach. However, there were underlying reasons, including his belief that Helvetica had an ideal ratio between upper- and lowercase letters, with short ascenders and descenders, lending itself to what he considered classic proportions. The 1989 WTC Our Bodoni, created under Vignelli’s direction by Tom Carnase and commissioned by Bert di Pamphilis, adheres to the same proportions.
   Although my own typeface design background means that I could not adhere to six, there is something to be said for employing a logical approach to design. American corporate design went through a “cleaning up” in the 1960s, with a brighter, bolder sensibility. Detractors might accuse it of being stark, the Helveticization of American design making things too standard. Yet through the 1970s the influence remained, and to my young eyes that decade, this was how professional design should look, contrary to the low-budget work plaguing newspapers and books that I saw as I arrived in the occident.
   When the Vignellis left Unimark to set up Vignelli Associates in 1971 (and later Vignelli Designs in 1978), their stamp remained. The MTA launched Vignelli’s subway map the following year, and like the London Underground map by Harry Beck in 1931, it ignored what was above ground in favour of a logical diagram with the stops. Beck was a technical draftsman and the approach must have found favour with Vignelli, just as it did with those creating maps for the Paris Métropolitain and the Berlin U-bahn.
   New Yorkers didn’t take to the Vignelli map as well as Londoners and Parisians, and it was replaced in 1979 with one that was more geographically accurate to what was above ground.
   In 1973, Vignelli worked on the identity for Bloomingdale’s, and his work endures: the Big Brown Bag is his work, and it continues to be used by the chain today. Cinzano, Lancia and others continue with Vignelli’s designs.
   Ironically, despite a rejection of fashion in favour of timelessness, some of the work is identified with the 1960s and 1970s, notably thanks to the original cut of Helvetica, which has only recently been revived (a more modern cut is commonplace), and which is slightly less popular today. Others, benefiting from more modern layout programs and photography, look current to 2010s eyes, such as Vignelli Associates’ work for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
   The approach taken by Lucire in its print editions has a sense of modernism that has a direct Vignelli influence, including the use of related typeface families since we went to retail print editions in 2004. Our logotype itself, dating from 1997, has the sort of simplicity that I believe Vignelli would have approved of.
   Vignelli was, fortunately, fêted during his lifetime. He received the Compasso d’Oro from ADI twice (1964 and 1998), the AIGA Gold Medal (1983), the Presidential Design Award (1985), the Honorary Royal Designer for Industry Award from the Royal Society of Arts (1996), the National Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cooper–Hewitt National Museum of Design (2003), among many. He holds honorary doctorates from seven institutions, including the Rochester Institute of Technology (2002). Rochester has a Vignelli Center for Design Studies, whose website adheres to his design principles and where educational programmes espouse his modernist approach. It also houses the Vignellis’ professional archive.
   He is survived by his wife, Lella, who continues to work as CEO of Vignelli Associates and president of Vignelli Designs; their son, Luca, their daughter, Valentina Vignelli Zimmer, and three grandchildren.—Jack Yan, Publisher

Stephen A’Court

Top Third year New Zealand School of Dance students, choreographers of The Residents. Above Amanda Mitrevski and Michael Ramsay.

Wellingtonians have a few more days to get to the New Zealand School of Dance at Te Whaea at 11 Hutchison Road, Newtown—the old Show Buildings complex—to check out The Residents, a series of works from the third-year contemporary dance students, supported by second-year contemporary majors.
   The show opens strongly with ‘Fade’, which takes the audience on a surreal journey with radio waves, a mysterious doorway and a feeling of dissonance as we relate to the dancer who finds herself in a new world. The performance, choreographed by Jeremy Beck, set a very high standard. As with ‘Fade’, subsequent acts had dancers move very purposefully and every part of the stage had some dance activity.
   The door was used as a central part of the action in ‘The Game’. Placed centre-stage, the audience was then invited to interact by providing commands to Ally, one of the dancers, to lead her through the door. Once she was through, one audience member could choose one of three outcomes: A, B, and C. It was inventive with a feeling of suspense throughout.
   The romantic ‘Surpreme Arcitecture’ (sic) told the story of a bee and pollination, through a dancer dressed in a suit choosing from others in their costumes; while love was the central theme in ‘Pink!ish’, where ‘Sempre Libera’ from La Traviata suddenly cut in at numerous points (with bright lighting effects to boot) during the main performance about the uncertainty and madness of relationships.
   Roymata Holmes’s ‘Born under a Bad Star’ blended traditional dance with the choreographer’s Cook Island heritage, while in the final segment, ‘Fasnet’, James Wasmer explored his dual German–Tongan heritage with a carnival theme.
   For those who love 1940s music, ‘In the Mood’ begins with the Glenn Miller number and one dancer in the role of the Tramp, as Chaplin’s ‘Smile’ and other numbers are played. ‘Line’ was The Residents at its most inventive in the second half, with ribbons running across the stage like webs, literally tying performers between them.
   The annual Choreographic Season, directed by Victoria Colombus, began on May 16 and runs through May 24. Set and lighting designs are by the students of Toi Whakaari, the New Zealand Drama School, with costumes by Jane Boocock and Donna Jefferis. It is the culmination of the three years’ work by the School of Dance’s students.
   Ticket prices are NZ$23 for adults, NZ$17 for students, seniors and groups of 10 or more, and NZ$12 for children under 13. There is a cash bar with a good selection of wine. For bookings and more information, visit www.nzschoolofdance.ac.nz.—Jack Yan, Publisher

Royal New Zealand Ballet

Evan Li/Royal New Zealand Ballet

Top A publicity photograph from the Royal New Zealand Ballet for Coppélia, with Swanhilda, Franz and Coppélia. Above Kohei Iwamato as Franz and Lucy Green as Swanhilda from the première.

The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Coppélia, which opened in Wellington on Thursday, is a lovingly designed and staged production that will suit family audiences.
   Set in a mountain village in Hungary, the RNZB’s production of Coppélia retains its well known storyline and period setting, with beautiful sets and costumes. The work of the late, award-winning designer Kristian Fredrikson is particularly poignant in the second act, inside Dr Coppelius’s house, where his seven very distinctive automatons, as well as Coppélia, rest. Two incomplete mannequins hung from the top. The third act, with the wedding scene, is another testament to Fredrikson’s design ability, evident through the villagers’ and Franz and Swanhilda’s wedding costumes. Jason Morphett’s lighting lifted the story, making it easy to follow—and it was the second act, too, with its moody atmosphere, where his work shone.
   Martin Vedel, ballet master on Coppélia, stayed true to the core of the story, with classical and folkloric dances playing out the plot. The energetic divertissements in the third act were perfectly performed. Vedel was, according to his notes, aware of the pre-modern, romantic period in which Coppélia was created, and sought to retain its beauty, but tightened up the storyline and more clearly portrayed Dr Coppelius—performed by Sir Jon Trimmer, who first danced it for the RNZB in 1964—as a social outcast.
   The 21st-century touches are, then, in the theatrics of the performance rather than the look and feel, although the limbless, faceless automaton, beautifully performed by Paul Mathews, could feel at home in science fiction to modern audiences.
   One cannot help but smile at the performances—after all, Coppélia is a happy, comedic ballet, and we noticed that the children on opening night enjoyed it as much as the adults. Lucy Green and Kohei Iwamoto were the well cast leads tonight, as Swanhilda and Franz respectively, dancing their roles expertly—and deservedly receiving standing ovations from some of the audience. Unsurprisingly, Sir Jon received similar acclaim, and Joseph Skelton as Zoltan, both in his emphatic solo and his dance with Katherine Grange as Ima, brought immediate reactions as well as loud applause at the end.
   Orchestra Wellington faithfully performed the Léo Delibes score.
   After Wellington, Coppélia tours to to Palmerston North, Invercargill, Dunedin, Napier, Rotorua, Takapuna, and Auckland, with the season ending on May 31 inclusive. Further information on dates and venues, as well as booking, can be found at the RNZB website.—Jack Yan, Publisher

Two former Miss Universe New Zealand titleholders will appear in an upcoming feature in the printed edition of Lucire, with New York-based photographer Jon Moe travelling to Los Angeles to capture the pair for the magazine.
   Laural Barrett (2007) and Samantha Lochhead (née Powell, 2008) both live in the LA area, with Barrett pursuing her musical career and Lochhead recently arriving with her husband, footballer Tony Lochhead.
   In addition to Moe, the crew consisted of Jamie Dorman on make-up, Carina Tafulu stepping in at the eleventh hour for hair, Lei Phillips on styling (assisted by Janice Gonzalez). The venue, Riviera 31, is a cocktail lounge at the Sofitel luxury hotel in West Hollywood, arranged through Pivotal PR.
   Lucire publisher Jack Yan and fashion editor Sopheak Seng guided and coordinated from head office in New Zealand, with the aid of US west coast editor Elyse Glickman.
   The current issue, no. 32, is on sale now and features a cover shot by Claire Harrison in the UK.
   Entries are open, meanwhile, for Miss Universe New Zealand 2014, after the new consortium put the event back on television in New Zealand after two decades.

Oriflame

Our good friend Stefan Engeseth, author of Detective Marketing, Sharkonomics and One: a Consumer Revolution for Business, recently gave a presentation to Oriflame, the Luxembourgeois cosmetics’ group.
   Engeseth usually styles One in all capitals—he has done ever since his book came out in 2006, and frequently gives presentations based around his titles. In our work for a related company to Lucire, we have espoused this title a lot, too, in our dealings, and credited Engeseth accordingly.
   So it was quite fascinating to see Oriflame since come out with a new campaign, called The One, with the second word also in all caps, in the wake of the presentation. And it’s used another Swede to promote it: Elin Kling.
   It makes sense. Engeseth’s One can be summarized thus: forget “them and us” when it comes to consumer relations, and try to be on the same side as your customer. Learn about what matters to them, and side with them. That helps build engagement and loyalty, and those are the drivers of your business performance in the 21st century.
   The information that has come out of Resumé, Sweden’s leading advertising and marketing newspaper, mirrors the Engeseth One approach.
   Oriflame is gearing up to the largest launch in its history and Kling becomes its main ambassador. The concept behind The One: a group of influential trend-setters who are linked to the launch of a new make-up brand of the same name.
   Kling has spent years building up her blog to be one of the most successful worldwide and often takes the stance of being “one” with her readers. It’s a formula that many other bloggers use, and it has come naturally as the blogosphere developed. Companies have seen fit to use these connections in the latter part of the previous decade. Kling has been the face of other campaigns where there is a formal agreement for a blogger to be a spokesperson.
   Her own magazine launched on the basis of the strong loyalty she had from her blog.
   She stated in a release, ‘It is an honour to be the global ambassador for Oriflame, a company that I really admire for its values and knowledge in beauty. I look forward to inspire Oriflame customers worldwide by sharing with you my creativity and expertise.’
   In other words, if you follow her already, either online or through her publication, you can feel “one” with her and—the theory goes—see Oriflame as a beauty brand that’s already on your side.
   If it is as good as the manufacturers claim, that’s a positive thing. It’s also a good way to battle some of the larger budgets Oriflame might encounter, and they are betting a lot on this one which appears to engage social media. It could be just right for the mid-2010s.—Jack Yan, Publisher

Above Author Stefan Engeseth photographed in New Zealand.