Two amazing wahine, Kristy Bedi (Kai Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Kāti Pākehā) of Aho Creative and Helen Townsend of Sustained Fun, visited Tūranga as part of a special sustainable edition of Speaker Series @ Tūranga. They shared thought-provoking stories of their journey into the world of small business with the keen green entrepreneurs and families that had come along to listen.
It was intriguing to learn how Kristy and Helen have established their pākihi (businesses) around many of the same core ethical and sustainable principles - even though they design such different products! It was also inspiring to hear how, despite the constant challenge of operating a small business in the current economic current climate, they both remain strongly commited to their core sustainable values. 
Kristy shared how her background in Māori Visual Arts and deep interest in social justice and cultural identity led her to establish her design company Aho Creative | New Zealand Indigenous Design around a kaupapa Māori World view. You can get a taste of Aho's foundation story by watching this amazing video. At Aho, Kristy crafts sustainable and practical products (fabrics, ceramics, and décor) that affirm indigenous identities, have a positive environmental impact and whakamana (empower) the communities that make them.During our kōrero Kristy explained how she seeks out processes, practices and materials that are both sustainable and ensure a better future for the people and environments involved. She does this by weaving together decisions steeped in whakapapa (the connections between people, environments and processes) and kaitiakitanga (the responsibility to take care of the world).
An example of this shone through when Kristy talked about the whakapapa of the cotton that she uses in her work. The cotton is grown by small scale farming whānau (families) in the Telangana region in the south of India (the homeland of her partner). The cotton is grown using organic and permaculture principles, and Kristy and her whānau have spent a lot of time in India getting to know the local community, setting up strong working relationships with them based on fair trade principles. These actions support the continued wellbeing of not only the crops and environment, but also all the community and people within it. You can learn more about this process in Kristy's vlog.
Our second speaker Helen, a trained ecologist, shared stories of her time spent overseas - most notably, living in Kathmandu and working in the Botanic Gardens. She talked about how she was struck by the amount of unprocessed rubbish littering this beautiful country and explained that this led to a big light bulb moment for her. On return to Aotearoa she established The Rubbish Whisperer, a pākihi that sources and develops alternatives to single-use plastic products. It was a venture that ended up being highly influential in Aotearoa’s single-use plastic ban.
From this successful base, Helen has broadened her business interests to include the invention of toys that use play to address climate anxiety. The goal with this pākihi is to catalyse sustainable change in the world’s most plastic intensive industry – toys. She co-founded Sustained Fun with Anthea Ibell (check out the cool work Anthea has been doing with us at Christchurch City Libraries - where she gathers and reuses 3D printer waste to run sustainability workshops and design jewellery).
Ensuring her design and business decisions consistently align with Sustained Fun’s core values has presented Helen many challenges. Just one example of this is the extensive exploration she’s had to undertake to find new ways to market and sell Sustained Fun’s products after many mainstream retailers refused to stock their games and toys because the minimalist packaging design (which reduces transport-based CO2 emissions) made them less ‘attractive’ on the shelf.
We rounded out the evening with a Q&A session. There were lots of thoughtful questions from those in attendance (many of whom were looking to follow similar paths and set up their own sustainable small business). We established an amazing kōrero, with all members of the audience offering reflections, experience and advice to one another.
One key reflection that I’ll take away with me was how Kristy and Helen talked about weathering the tough times in business. They both spoke about how they draw strength from the ‘why’ of what they do. They beautifully expressed how people, relationships, experiences, health, whanau and community are priorities in both their personal and professional lives. These are the things that sustain them. They don't define success by profit or expansion - and this helps relieve some of the pressure. Doing and achieving ‘enough’ is more than ok, as long as they can top their tanks topped up with what really matters.
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