The studio is beginning to feel exactly how we imagined it would.
Warm. Welcoming. Full of purpose. A place where people don't just come to purchase a korowai—they come to connect.
This week alone we've welcomed two customers through our new korowai hireage service. Over the past month we've quietly been sharing our vision for Te Puna Reo o Te Uru through our Instagram and Facebook Stories, and now we're excited to officially open registrations.
We're bringing Poi Workshops back into the studio—a kaupapa that's incredibly close to our hearts—and once again we'll have the privilege of sharing the whakapapa of poi, teaching people how to make their own poi, and watching them leave with something they created themselves.
We've added our Founder story wall. We're filling the studio with more pieces that reflect who we are. Not because we're decorating. Because we're telling our story. As each piece finds its place, the studio feels warmer. More welcoming. More honest. It feels less like a retail space and more like a place where people can come to connect.
To create.
To learn.
To ask questions.
To spend time.
Looking back, I realise we were never trying to build a showroom. We were building a hub. A place where contemporary korowai are handcrafted. Where taonga are thoughtfully chosen. Where stories are shared. Where Te Reo Māori is spoken. Where tikanga is practised. Where poi is taught. Where people feel comfortable simply pulling up a chair and having a kōrero. Everything feels like it's flowing now.
Not because we've suddenly figured it all out.
But because we've stopped trying to force what we thought the business should become, and instead started listening to what it was quietly becoming all along.
It's a really special feeling.
One that I hope every person who walks through our doors gets to experience too.
— Hiria