2025 The year it all began

2025 was the year House of ōwai came to life, officially launching 03/09/25 in Te Tairāwhiti, Gisborne, the first city in the world to see the sunrise.

House of ōwai is an Aotearoa New Zealand fragrance brand inspired by passion and lineage. A Māori twist in perfumery, curated for all people.

New Zealand is home to only a small number of locally crafted fragrances, and even fewer Māori owned fragrance brands compared to the rest of the world. I strive to be a part of changing that, to build, to create, and to bring fragrance to the world in the richness of Māori culture through House of ōwai.

The 2 years before launching House of ōwai were filled with learning, planning, creating, and plenty of trial and error. But every step helped shape what House of ōwai is today.

The 3 months following launch, our 5 fragrances entered 8 stores across New Zealand. We held our first commercial photo shoot with Salt Creative Studio NZ, attended our first market, saw our fragrances enter the pharmacy industry, and travelled across the world to Grasse, France, the perfume capital of the world, to continue learning the craft.

2025 was short for us as we launched 9 months into the year. But in that time House of ōwai reached new people, new spaces, new lessons and new opportunities.

Ngā mihi 2025
Gratitude to the year it all began.