Our Kaupapa (Ethos)
Oyster & Moon is a B Corp Certified organisation and collaborative realm where the indigenous peoples of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa (the Pacific Ocean) share their cultures, stories, and creations with the world. Born from collective action, we are reimagining commerce as a force for intergenerational transformation, one that honours ancestral wisdom while creating new pathways for equity and self-determination.
From our management structure through to our creators we are a culturally diverse collaborative community who all whakapapa to indigenous cultures of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa (Pacific Ocean). We live this connection throughout every aspect of Oyster & Moon. We build the commercial capability and opportunity of our creators. We invest in our communities. We prioritise procurement from and share opportunities with our communities across everything that we do.
We are more than a platform; we are a movement. By centring indigenous knowledge and values, we reframe the narrative of Te Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa, elevating the enduring beauty, creativity and resilience of its diverse cultures. Every piece in our curated collections carry the depth of this connection, not as artefacts of the past, but as living expressions of innovation and identity.
Rooted in Equity, Designed for the Future
Our model is built on principles that challenge conventional retail:
- Creator Sovereignty: We prioritise indigenous makers, with flexible margins to support product development to support revenue diversification and ensure fair value for their work
- Intergenerational Impact: Profits reinvest in community capability-building, bridging traditional practice and contemporary opportunity
- Cultural Integrity: Each item is presented with its true story, of people, place, and purpose - rejecting extractive narratives
- Regenerative Systems: From sustainable materials to carbon-conscious logistics, we align with Pacific cosmologies of environmental kinship
Our Living Connection
Every aspect of Oyster & Moon reflects our shared whakapapa to Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa:
- Governance guided by indigenous protocols and our Kaitiaki Group drawn from our community
- Procurement that intentionally sources from Māori and Pacific businesses
- Design processes that honour cultural intellectual property
- Commerce as ceremony, transactions that sustain communities
Join Us in Shifting the Tide
When you engage with Oyster & Moon, you participate in:
- ✓ Equitable exchange that respects indigenous innovation
- ✓ Intergenerational stewardship of knowledge and resources
- ✓ Conscious consumption aligned with planetary boundaries
Oyster Workshop
Oyster Workshop: Cultivating Regenerative Futures
We, at Oyster Workshop aim to help our people realise a future that has previously been aspirational. We do this by working towards the development of systems that support our communities. Our work has proven that we find our way forward by returning to what has always sustained us - the profound interconnectedness that defines Māori and Pacific ways of being. Where others see scarcity, we recognise the abundance that flows when we honour our relationships to people, knowledge and place.
The seed from which Oyster & Moon has grown was initially planted through the work of it's parent, Oyster Workshop.
Oyster & Moon stands as living proof of this philosophy in action. What began as a seed in the fertile ground of Oyster Workshop's vision has grown into a thriving ecosystem - demonstrating daily how indigenous economic models don't merely adapt to contemporary markets, but actively reshape them to reflect our values.
At the heart of our work lies a regenerative approach that transforms how value circulates. We create enterprise models where benefits flow back to nourish their sources, where ancestral knowledge informs modern practice without compromise, and where commercial success strengthens rather than dilutes cultural continuity. These aren't theoretical ideals, but practical frameworks being proven daily through our networks.
The principles guiding this work are simple yet radical. We practice economics as relationship - transactions grounded in reciprocity rather than extraction. We measure success collectively, understanding that one artisan's breakthrough creates rising tides for entire creative lineages. And we ensure the wisdom of our elders shapes the enterprises of tomorrow, creating businesses that are culturally rooted and commercially sophisticated.
What makes this work vital now is its proven capacity to create resilience. Where mainstream systems falter, our indigenous frameworks demonstrate another way - showing how shared cultural capital appreciates through careful stewardship, how self-determined networks create security, and how economic participation can be a force for cultural revitalisation rather than erosion.
This is the future we're building together. We invite you to explore how these living models work at oysterworkshop.co.nz, and to consider how such regenerative approaches might transform your own circles of influence.
Oyster Foundation
Wholesale
We support Oyster and Moon creators to find new opportunities to share their product globally. If you are interested in a creator or a collective of creators please get in touch and we can discuss wholesale, exhibition, education and licencing opportunities.