Collectivism is the guiding tenet of a new online platform designed to showcase and sell the creations of independent makers from all around the Pacific.

Oyster & Moon, which launched on April 1, aims to be both an online retail space for Indigenous Pacific creatives, and a source of stories and information for anyone who visits the website.

You might buy kina-inspired earrings by Māori jeweller Timmy Smith, or shampoo by Tongan hairstylist Eithne Curran. There’s art, clothing, pantry goods and even wellness supplements – and on each maker’s profile you can learn about their story and culture, and how it feeds into what they do.

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Listen to an audio clip on the pages of designers such as Papa Clothing’s Keva Rands. She’ll tell you about the inspiration behind her brand while you browse her pieces.

You can tick different boxes under the “origins” tab on the left to see creatives from around Fiji, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Aotearoa and more.

The platform was founded by Kim Tuaine and Sarah Rennie, who have been business partners for four years now. Together, they also manage Oyster Workshop – an agency designed to support business programs for creative Māori and Pacific entrepreneurs – and Oyster Foundation, a charitable initiative that economically empowers Pacific Island and Māori women, youth and families.

Both Tuaine and Rennie are of Cook Islands heritage. “I’m also a recovering lawyer,” jokes Tuaine, and Rennie’s background is in retail and manufacturing.

Oyster Workshop (the business programming arm) is “Sarah and my legacy business”, says Tuaine. They wanted to give back to their communities using the skills they’ve honed in “really successful careers” in mainstream industries.

Many of the businesses stocking their wares on Oyster & Moon have come through one of Oyster Workshop’s business programs. “Oyster Workshop has been building the businesses and delivering the data, and we have these amazing alumni of around 40-50 creative, modern Pacific businesses,” says Rennie.

Around six years ago, the duo started working towards a solution for the struggles that Māori and Pacific communities face when trying to achieve economic equity. “Our focus narrowed over time to creative and culturally-based businesses, as they are where our communities have the greatest USP [unique selling proposition] and potential,” says Tuaine.

It was after a process of designing, developing, delivering, testing and reviewing both their capability programming, and the problems faced by the businesses they were working with, that they realised a platform like Oyster & Moon was needed.

Another catalyst for the creation of the new website was a trip with some Māori and Pacific fashion designers to Hong Kong Fashion Week in 2019, which further highlighted the challenges faced by these creatives. They also saw that validation from offshore markets leads to media exposure and interest back home in Aotearoa, which then increases opportunities for commercial development.

“We started saying ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we can have our own really high-end department store, to really position the things that our communities make, and pitch them at the right market?’” says Tuaine.

It was also about creating a place where makers could come together and “collectivise” their offerings in an elevated way.

“Most of our businesses and our people don’t want to be in mass-market production,” says Tuaine. “They want to create beautiful things, high-value things that are full of meaning for people who are going to value that.”

“All the businesses who’ve been through our program are focused on a story of where [their] products are derived from – which, often for Māori and Pacific businesses, is their tūpuna, their ancestors,” adds Rennie. “We know that in today’s world, those stories are what consumers are really looking for.”

Conscious consumers are also looking for products that are sustainable and ethical, say the founders – and Māori and Pacific culture is about looking after people and the planet. “So, a lot of our businesses are just inherently doing things that are sustainable and ethical, with amazing stories of where their products are derived from,” says Rennie.

Oyster & Moon is a self-funded, bespoke platform – and it’s currently in its initial stages of launch, so is set to grow and evolve with time. “Once it’s launched, we are embarking on a B-Corp journey,” says Tuaine. “It will take 12 months to get the accreditation, but it’s really important for us in terms of whakapapa and provenance to ensure that everyone that’s part of the community signs up to a set of behaviours and standards that adhere to that.”

There’s a relatively small number of creators represented at this early stage of the website – about 23 so far – but this will grow, with a wider launch to take place around June or July this year.

“They’ve all got really amazing, big dreams,” says Rennie. “I’ll be happy when I can sit down one day and know that they’re all amazingly successful, and those dreams are being met.”

Oyster & Moon is currently holding an exhibition at Depot Artspace to celebrate its launch. Visit from now until April 26.

oyster-moon.com