Though Edmonds didn’t have a Māori upbringing, she echoes Toki’s sentiments about the importance of mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) on Aotea: “You learn from being in that environment. The culture of the island is: you live off the land, you understand the land and you respect the land.”

Consumable drinks came before beauty products. Towards the end of his law degree, Toki began making and selling health tonics using native flora, one for immunity and one for inflammation. The idea for a business steeped in traditional Māori herbal remedies began to take shape, and Aotea was conceived to create a range of scientifically backed soaps, creams, balms and oils.

Aotea’s products have been formulated from four key native New Zealand species; kawakawa, mānuka, kūmarahou and harakeke. Toki is passionate about each plant’s properties and the science that validates their active and healing benefits. Adding to the brand’s merits is the fact that each of the ingredients used is also grown and sourced on Aotea.

One of New Zealand’s most important healing plants, kawakawa, is grown underneath the banana trees of a local organic orchard and the team are currently planting more of the mānuka and kūmarahou used in their soaps and enriching creams. Toki says the only challenge to sourcing solely from Aotea is the ancient harakeke (flax) plant “because we take the seeds and press them [to produce the oil], and you can only do it once a year”. In traditional Māori medicine, harakeke was used to heal burns, cuts and skin infections, and flax leaves have long been used to weave baskets, containers and mats. Harakeke seed oil is rich in omega-3, -6 and -9 fatty acids, and when used as an ingredient in Aotea products, provides nourishment for skin and helps to support cellular function.