ŌKU New Zealand share their passion for traditional Māori remedies
NZTE customer ŌKU New Zealand have recently launched their bilingual tea range into David Jones Australia, showcasing what traditional Māori rongoā (medicine) has to offer across the ditch and beyond.
NZTE customer ŌKU New Zealand have recently launched their bilingual tea range into David Jones Australia, showcasing what traditional Māori rongoā (medicine) has to offer across the ditch and beyond.
The ŌKU NZ tea range is a high-end unique range of herbal teas, with ingredients that can only be sourced from Aotearoa New Zealand.
The husband and wife duo Scott and Helen Paul-Smith (Tapuika, Ngāi Te Rangi) created ŌKU NZ from the ground up, with the kaupapa (purpose) being to share the unique properties of native plants found in the ngahere (forests) of Aotearoa. Fast forward 13 years later, and the duo have grown and taken their passion for rongoā across the ditch and beyond.
"We're really proud of the journey we've been on the past 13 years. Our products pay homage to the whakapapa of traditional Māori practices, and this mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) is what sets us apart and makes us unique in this space."
Helen Paul-Smith explained that one of the big driving forces of ŌKU NZ is their commitment to sustainability.
"While we encourage the growth and understanding of rongoā knowledge unique to Aotearoa, we also want to ensure that this comes from a place of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and manaakitanga (respect).
One of our commitments is to make sure that every effort is made to reduce our footprint on the whenua (land). This covers every aspect of our business model from how we harvest, the packaging we use as well as how we send out our products. We want to ensure that we're being a good kaitiaki (guardian) to the whenua."
ŌKU NZ makes use of a circular business model, which ensures they're constantly planting more native plants, harvesting sustainably, and developing their packaging to be compostable or recyclable. They have started their journey towards attaining an internationally-recognised B-Corp Certification to validate their sustainability practices.
In acknowledgement of their mahi (work), in 2022, Helen won the Marketing and Sales Category in the Māori Women's Development Inc Business Awards (MWDIBAs). This year Helen is a finalist in two categories of MWDIBAs, while ŌKU NZ are finalists in the Rotorua Business Awards for their bi-lingual packaging. ŌKU NZ have recently won Good Magazine's Best Use of Indigenous Ingredients Award 2023, and are finalists in this year's New Zealand International Business Awards (NZIBAs) - He kai kei aku ringa. You can also find ŌKU NZ featured in the October 2023 issue of Air New Zealand's Kia Ora magazine.
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