Trying to decide on a relatable “life” shot for my bedside lamp photoshoot. Does this hit the mark? Are the books distracting? Too few to be realistic? Ryan usually has one to two, Elisabeth forgets how many are in her pile and adds more…

I think this is my favourite month… and Ryan has just informed me that it will be available as a print too. Now, who can tell me where it is?

Yesterday’s excitement! The calendars have arrived!

Look what’s just arrived!

Look what’s just arrived!

Hi! It’s wet. It’s raining. I’m out running errands right now, but I guess this means when I get home there is no excuse for me to not knuckle down and do product photography. These lamps will finally be available online when we launch. I need photos that don’t look like NZ was left of the map!

Hi! It’s wet. It’s raining. I’m out running errands right now, but I guess this means when I get home there is no excuse for me to not knuckle down and do product photography. These lamps will finally be available online when we launch. I need photos that don’t look like NZ was left of the map!

Starting to like what you see in our posts? Subscribe to our email list now so we can alert you when we go live!

Sneak peak of something new for the next, um, our first tea towel pre-order as Bird and Beach. Bucket Fountain will be Ryan's first ever tea towel design to be offered for sale, and there are more regional ones in the works.

Sneak peak of something new for the next, um, our first tea towel pre-order as Bird and Beach. Bucket Fountain will be Ryan's first ever tea towel design to be offered for sale, and there are more regional ones in the works.

Behind the scenes on our website build. We're starting to load up the products... (they're not visible to the public yet).

Can I avoid paying any money to Meta this year for advertising? Our #BeerAdventCalendar Early Bird Pre-Sale is well underway and I've sold half our supply. Use the coupon code of WHOOSH25 through 18 September to save 20% on your pre-orders from us. www.kererubrewing.co.nz/shop/beer/be...

Ahead of the start of #BirdOfTheYear tomorrow, I've made a Bluesky feed which should gather all #boty content. Feel free to like/pin it! @forestandbird.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/did:...

📌 Welcome to the " Aotearoa Birds 🪶🇳🇿 " feed! This is a feed for people from Aotearoa NZ to share photos or information about any birds in New Zealand. You can use any of the hashtags #nzbirds #aotearoabirds #birdsnz to have your post collected in the feed, or tag your post with these emojis: 🪶🇳🇿

There's still a way to go on getting the website set up, but if you'd like to get an email telling you when we go live, you can now subscribe to our mailing list. You'll find it right there on the home page, easy as! birdandbeach.co.nz

There's still a way to go on getting the website set up, but if you'd like to get an email telling you when we go live, you can now subscribe to our mailing list. You'll find it right there on the home page, easy as! birdandbeach.co.nz

Today Elisabeth has been working on product photography mock-ups, so you can get an idea of how our prints will look in your home. What's your favourite style from the 3 below? (Errr, yes, it is true that none of the below prints are of a bird nor a beach, although the pōhutukawa was right by one!)

One of the things we love about where we live is the abundance of bird life for an urban area. Ryan is day-job wfh today, and I just got called into the living room because he’d spotted this majestic kārearea wheeling around.

One of the lovely things about the Pinehaven School Arts and Craft Exhibition is that they take care of everything! I dropped our stock off a few days ago, they display everything nicely, so all that’s left to do is turn up for the gala opening. Elisabeth will be there around 6, you can come too!

Work is progressing! Elisabeth has managed to produce enough coasters now that these sets will be part of our very first outing as Bird and Beach, at Pinehaven Arts and Craft Exhibition this weekend. We designed, printed, cut and assembled the boxes ourselves. Tomorrow will be proper photography.

Ryan has also been busy - he's in charge of the 2026 Bird and Beach Calendar. The proof has arrived, so this week we're taking orders from stockists*, and it will be available for pre-order when the new website launches. *Know a great store you think might be interested? Please let us know!

Elisabeth has been busy! She's been learning about colour profiles and heat presses and has almost got the coasters down pat! She's also been battling the ancient standard printer to ensure there will be new art prints available for our first outing as Bird and Beach!

Lots of testing going on at the moment, to make sure we're confident we're doing a good job on making the products that we're bringing in house. Today I'm testing the colour profiles on our new printer, by printing out mini samples and pressing them onto fabric. Insufficient heat, but colour is ✅.

Launch preparations continue. Exciting new machines have arrived. Elisabeth has prepared a nest for them. She's been working on the files that they will turn into finished products. Ryan has just told her that it is too late to play with files and new machines tonight. Ryan is the sensible one.

Ryan loves capturing the essence of the whenua up and down the motu. Right now he's working on a calendar featuring his illustrations, ready to launch pre-sales when we launch the new website.

How's your evening going? Tonight Ryan and I are sitting in armchairs in opposite corners of the living room working on getting the website ready for launch. Here's a sneak peak of what's coming...

Tēnā koutou, Ko Tauhou au - I'm new around here, some might say I'm a stranger, but others may recognise me as an old friend. There's a follow button you can press on my profile if you'd like to see me pop up from time to time in your feed. #Kikorangi