Stories

DP Herbals’ Deirdre Panapa shares some centuries-old wisdom so we can enjoy wholefoods with new knowledge. The "doctrine of signatures" is an idea that’s fascinated herbalists for centuries. Many believe God marked everything he created with a sign or a signature to indicate what the item was created for. Later, science took a look at the doctrine of signatures, and found shapes or patterns in wholefoods that look like body organs that can indicate the benefit the food provides the eater. The pupil, iris and radiating lines of a sliced carrot look just like the human eye, and science shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes. A tomato has four chambers and is red. Sound familiar? Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which are great for heart health. Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart while each grape looks like a...

Feel like swinging your hips to sultry samba music in a buzzing dance hall? Brazilian Beatz is bringing the carnival to Christchurch. You might have two left feet, but pro dance instructors Leo and Becky reckon they can get anyone’s booty shaking. Join them for their beginner classes – you can do fast and flirty samba dancing, or try the smooth and sexy bachata style. You’ll be drawn instantly into the studio’s luscious latin vibe, and once you’ve found your feet you can head over to their social nights, where you’ll get your groove on with a bunch of other fun-loving dancers. And although you’ll be too busy soaking in the good times to notice, a good caper is great for your health. When you take the floor, you’re boosting the brain chemicals required for nerve cells to grow. Couple that with remembering steps and sequences, and you’ve got a great...

If you find shopping for skincare confusing, overwhelming or are just sick and tired of spending money on beauty products that promise the world and deliver nothing, then you will love the new Probeauty Advanced Beauty Hub. Probeauty knows skin, and is committed to sharing the game-changing power of skin science. The new online hub is a go-to for all things skincare, active ingredients and the destination to search out the best skin and beauty clinics throughout the country. Learn about how you can firm, tighten and rejuvenate skin, clear acne and brighten your complexion through high-performance skincare products and advanced treatments. As a leading supplier for the professional beauty industry for more than 20 years, Probeauty also houses a curated selection of top of the range active skincare brands, nurturing internal supplements and clean beauty brands. You can even support local and nominate your regular clinic at the checkout when...

Mary Turnbull has got the good stuff: she’s a cracking Christchurch real estate agent, and one of the top Harcourts agents in the world. Mary says the secret is giving as much care to marketing a $400,000 house as she does to a home worth $1.5 million. She goes beyond the call of duty, always chasing the buzz of a happy client – perhaps a retiree who made more than expected on a sale and went travelling, or a couple who found their dream first home. Mary likes to give her clients a personal touch: regular phone calls for updates and a genuine care for the work she does. “I never pass the buck,” she says. “I put myself in the vendor’s shoes. This is probably their most valuable asset, and it’s important that I’m passionate about their house.” Mary started her career working for the New Zealand Government Tourist Bureau,...

These crisp winter blue-sky mornings and snow-socked hills have made us feel invigorated; we’ve got our boots on and there are frozen puddles to jump on. Bring it on, world. Now we just need a conduit for this frost-induced zest for life that’s sprung up like a daffodil shoot breaking ground a few months early. So here at the Cityscape office, we’ve vowed to try something new this winter. This isn’t just to use up our excess winter energy. We’re focussing on wellbeing this year, and there’s a ton of evidence to say that trying new things will make us feel good: psychologist Rich Walker of Winston-Salem State University catalogued 30,000 event memories from 500 people’s diaries over four years, and found that people who try out a variety of different experiences feel more positive emotions than those who don’t. Research has also shown that learning new skills comes with mental...

This Royal New Zealand Ballet season represents a new era in dance, with the powerful programme’s full repertoire choreographed by women. The masterminds behind the routines tell Cityscape what’s what in the whirling worlds of the 2020 season. Venus Rising is first to ascend into the spotlight. The invocation of Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and victory over adversity as well as Earth’s scorching hot sister planet, the brightest of stars and herald of the dusk and dawn, seems wholly appropriate for the ignition of this female-fronted year of ballet. “The astronomical symbol for Venus is the same as that is used in biology for the female sex. The Venus symbol also represents femininity, and the symbol for Venus has sometimes been understood to stand for the mirror of the goddess. Rather fitting at this time and place for the RNZB and for New Zealand,” says RNZB artistic director Patricia Barker. The...

There’s no better place to be this winter than the newly-opened He Puna Taimoana hot salt water pools in New Brighton, where you can relax in open-air hot salt water baths while looking out over the beach and pier. The complex features five hot pools ranging from a muscle-relaxing 39 degrees down to the 36-degree family pool and a 28-degree pool for those who want to get active. There’s a refreshingly-chilly plunge pool that fluctuates between 10 and 14 degrees, a steam room and a sauna where you can enjoy the heat while watching the waves break on the beach. He Puna Taimoana has a great range of accessible features, with ramp access into the active fitness pool and hoists for the four other hot pools. Handrails have been installed to support entry in every pool, and there are accessible changing rooms and toilets. Also in the complex is a gorgeous...

New online catering platform is a hit with corporates, but you can use it too. We’ve got a hot tip for savvy Cityscapers: new online catering platform Caterway is designed for corporates looking to simplify their catering administration, but it’s also a great way for anyone planning a birthday or event to see a wide range of caterers in one place. If you’ve ever planned food for a big party or organised a caterer for a wedding, you’ll remember the stress of back-and-forth emails organising menus, delivery times and invoices. Caterway does it a different way, and it makes a lot of sense. You just choose what you want on a caterer’s page, choose pick up or a delivery time, and pay online. It’s easier for you, and easier for our wonderful local catering businesses. It’s a tummy-rumbling website to browse, listing caterers that cover every kind of cuisine you could...

Christchurch screenings of Whānau Mārama - The New Zealand International Film Festival begins tonight, showcasing critically-acclaimed home-grown and international films at the Isaac Theatre Royal, Lumière and online for film-buffs to stream at home Lumière’s programme will open with the Australian film, True History of the Kelly Gang screening concurrently with the online premiere tonight. The film, directed by Justin Kurzel (Snowtown, NZIFF11) and based on the Booker Prize winning novel by Peter Carey, is a surreal adaptation of the outlaw legend featuring high-profile New Zealand actors including Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie (Leave No Trace, NZIFF18 and Jojo Rabbit), musician Marlon Williams and Russell Crowe. The Isaac Theatre Royal’s programme begins with The Truth; the first film acclaimed Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu (Shoplifters) has made outside of his home country, featuring French film icons Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche. One to watch out for online, having its world premiere at Whānau Mārama,...

After 102 years in Colombo Street, Smiths City is set to move its flagship Christchurch store to the vibrant, characterful New Zealand-owned establishment The Colombo. It’s a new era for Smiths City, which has had new ownership since May this year and has a new CEO, Tony Allison, at the helm. “We got an insight that the space was available, we loved the owners, the whole vibe of the place, and we looked at the space and it just felt right,” says Allison. It’ll take its place among the boutique stores, arts cinema and euro-style bars of The Colombo over next few months, due to open in October 2020. Tony Allison has been on the Smiths City board of directors since 2016, so he knows the business well. “As soon as I got here, it felt like a family-run company,” he says. Starting out as an accountant, he’s spent the past...

Set your tummies rumbling. Bottle and Stone is the new pizza joint in town, and this one promises to be a little unorthodox. The people behind Welles Street and Earl bring us Bottle and Stone, serving up a simple menu of anything-but-simple pizzas, as well as a rotating selection of wines and crafties, all handpicked by the staff. It will be the latest addition to the eccentric reinvented workshop space that’s now health and wellbeing complex The Welder on Welles Street. Bottle and Stone have developed their unique space with a back street grunge vibe – think wine served in tumblers and pizza on foldable paper plates – totally fitting for the space’s history as an old panel beater’s storage facility. But most importantly, the pizza. It’s taglio style, which means it’s cooked in big rectangular dishes, and usually has some toppings cooked on, and others, like salad greens, soft cheese...

The group behind smooth Kiwi singalong anthems ‘Fish in the Sea’ and ‘Wandering Eye’ have just announced free limited-time streams of a live recorded session. Jam along to Fat Freddy’s Drop for free this weekend with live streams of a one-off concert captured in the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington. With no audience present, it’s a personal and meaningful studio-like experience. The band were forced to pull the pin on their 2020 tour of Europe and the UK, and say the live streams are a way to show those fans some love. Having hurriedly returned home from Germany in March as the Covid pandemic broke out, the band then had to wait almost three months for their tour gear and instruments to get back to New Zealand. That moment inspired the idea of putting on a show with no audience at the Michael Fowler Centre. The live concert of eight songs...

Flox, AKA Hayley King is one of New Zealand’s coolest contemporary artists and we’re seeing her distinctive spraycan handywork all over the place, from street art to super-trendy stationery. She’s just teamed up with BLUNT umbrellas for their third collaboration on an umbrella that’s practical and looks amazeballs. Do you have a favourite New Zealand bird? You know what? I’m all about the Kākāriki parrots right now. Tell us about the birds and plants on your new BLUNT umbrella design. The New Zealand kākāriki and native botanicals feature alongside native Australian flora and the crimson rosella and ringneck parrot. I wanted to incorporate the brightest birds and foliage for the highest impact on a grey winter’s day, but also pay homage to our-long standing trans-Tasman relationship. You don’t seem like someone who collaborates willy-nilly. What drew you to BLUNT? Not only do BLUNT have super high standards with their products, but...

With all the craziness of 2020, NZIFF decided to stream its films to watch when and where you want. You can also catch selected viewings at Lumière and Isaac Theatre Royal. Bravo! Organisers have rejected cancellation and are bringing this year’s film festival to theatres and homes near you. Here in Christchurch select films will be showing at Lumière Cinemas and the Isaac Theatre Royal as well as streaming online. Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival 2020 (NZIFF)’s Christchurch shows will kick off with viewings of French language feature The Truth, starring Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke at Isaac Theatre Royal, and True History of the Kelly Gang at Lumière on July 24. Over the festival Lumière will show My Extraordinary Summer With Tess, Rurangi, The Girl on the Bridge, Exile, Martin Eden, The County, The Perfect Candidate, Heroic Losers, The Truth and the festival’s best short films....

Matariki, the Māori New Year, coincides with the rise of the Matariki star cluster, which this year begins on July 13, with educational events beginning in late June. Cityscape has the low-down on what’s happening in Christchurch. It’s almost time for Aotearoa’s own midwinter New Year celebrations. Matariki rises at a different time each year, and as a result the Māori New Year shifts around. This year is a particularly late one (the cluster usually rises in June). Get involved with kid-friendly and community events anyone can take part in. Plant trees, gain some cultural knowledge and get involved with music and fun at Matariki in the Zone. The best part is you don’t need to book or buy tickets for any of these events – just turn up and have fun! Christchurch City Libraries events The libraries usually hold a series of Matariki events, and this year they have been...

The Court Theatre is reopening its doors with the Winter Warmer series of four shows through July and August.We’ve been waiting in the wings for more theatre to hit the stages this winter and things are starting to heat up with more shows announced all the time. We’re particularly stoked to see The Court Theatre reopening its doors with these funny and original productions and can’t wait to get out and enjoy some live theatre.There’s something for the kids, the adults and everyone in between. Here’s what to expect at the Winter Warmers: The Quarantine Diaries The theatre’s official reopening performance comes from the talented young creatives in The Court Youth Company. Take this opportunity to get behind the scenes in an immersive production that goes to parts of the theatre usually closed to the public.The Court Youth Company came up with this show in lockdown, and it’s an exploration of...

Christchurch is about to get lit, with big lighting installations throughout the city in July. More than 20 installations created by Christchurch companies and artists will light up Victoria Square, Friendship Corner, Park of Remembrance, Cathedral Square, City Mall, New Brighton Pier and more. The lighting festival, CHCH IS LIT, will run between 6pm and 11pm from July 1 to July 29. The temporary lighting will highlight and enhance the permanent lighting that has been installed around the city over the last two years. Installations range from lit-up trees in the central city to large-scale, fully interactive projections on buildings. All of them are free to view and can be easily accessed by people of all ages. Christchurch City Council organised the event as a way to connect people with the central city and New Brighton. So take your family out for a walk or meet some friends for dinner and...

Christchurch (and its surrounding area) is blessed with numerous tracks and walks perfect for grabbing some fresh air, checking out some cool sights, or scoring a back-to-nature soul fix. Cityscape hits some of the routes you should try out – whether it’s to rediscover the city, check some killer views or just breathe in our great outdoors, you need to get yourself up and walking! Urban excursions The city centre is a great place to start, with little dedicated walks that will deliver you to some of Christchurch’s gems. These walks will direct you to take in Hagley Park, Riverside Market, The Earthquake Memorial, The Bus Interchange, Victoria Square, The Margaret Mahy Family Playground, Rauora Park and the East Frame, and many other new places including interesting private developments. There are plenty of places to stop to look and grab a drink or bite to eat along the way. If you’re...