GoodFor
Grey Lynn Locals Series - featuring Zoë Williams
The series will spotlight inspiring Grey Lynn residents, their unique crafts, and what draws them to GoodFor. To kick off the series, we’ll be featuring Zoë Williams, Founder of Zoë & Morgan Jewellery, as she shares her Sunday rituals, offering an intimate look at her life and routine in the neighborhood.
Thank you so much for being the inaugural feature in our Grey Lynn locals series. To start, could you tell us about yourself, and your history in the neighbourhood?
Kia Ora , I'm Zoë, one of the creative siblings from Zoe and Morgan. Our father Douglas was the original jeweller in the family, and he had a shop in Paris, and Stroud, England before moving to NZ. We moved to Grey Lynn in my late teens, and the streets were alive with Sunday choirs, and parties. In the first few weeks of being in our new home, a friend came to visit me, and told me the story of her birth in our sitting room! We met a few people who had lived there over the years! Our home had a countryside farm feel to it, and in more recent years mum turned it into an amazing food forest. I gave birth to our daughter at mum's house, so Grey Lynn will forever hold a place in our hearts and whanau history. I now live in our own family home with my husband Teia and our two beautiful teens. We have cool neighbours, Grey Lynn is good for that. And it's only a short distance to our two beautiful shops.
This series celebrates community—a concept that can be woven into so many different facets of life. What does community mean to you?
I've been lucky to live a life with a strong community around me at all phases. Community to me means connection, and a shared sense of oneness. I have lots of different communities, through work, through our kids, through my meditation and yoga groups, and simply by being in our hood.
Your jewellery business Zoë & Morgan has cultivated a wonderful community, through your physical stores and social media platforms online. How have you and your team built and nurtured this community?
Part of that has been organic growth over the years, and part of it has been a conscious movement towards connection. I really noticed over the covid period how people need positive interactions with other people, and how seeing the best in people helps people believe in themselves and grow. I've placed focus on our team, and in turn that fulfillment spills over to our community, through our choice of words, our actions, and interactions with charities, and people doing amazing things, for the point of kindness and love.
Grey Lynn is home to many creative, innovative and sustainable businesses. As a business owner yourself, how important is it to you to champion and support other local brands and businesses?
It feels very easy! My husband is currently our Grey Lynn farmers market shopper, getting us beautiful fresh veggies for the week, and I'm more the one who visits our local GoodFor and Farro for our weekly supplies. We're a whanau who sit together every night to share a meal and chat. We're blessed to have such great companies within a short distance.
What are some of your favourite local spots in Grey Lynn?
We love our local walks, we often meet friends for drinks or dinner, Frida's , Lillian, Nature baby, Jetset Bohemian, Spring Spa and Sala are all places I like to visit. On the fairly rare occasion that I walk through to the new GoodFor, there's a great lil shortcut at the bottom of Hakanoa St, that pops out in front of Kingsize studios. It's a pathway that's been created by the community, with tiny little houses in trees for fairies, and magic alcoves and corners. I'm pretty sure it was made for kids, but the wonder is equally effective on adults!
GoodFor refilleries offer an easy and enjoyable experience to complete a grocery shop, often a ritual for many on a Sunday. What other wholesome rituals do you currently practise, particularly on a Sunday?
I love to potter on a Sunday and not make too many plans, my weeks are quite structured and full, so Sunday is like a love letter to myself, to rest, go inside for reflection time, and to really nurture my body, and mind. I generally start with a meditation, and my cat comes to join me each time! It's a very zen situation! I love the ritual of lighting a candle, and Japanese incense. I get my candles from Poppy and Sage, my friend Anieszka's business, she hand makes beeswax candles, and I set an intention with each light. I have a few different forms of meditation I explore, and I let my body tell me what it needs. Teia and I like to share a coffee and look out over the garden. He will then go to the farmers market, and I'll practise some yoga, mostly at Sala but sometimes at home in the garden if it's not raining. We like a Sunday spa in the garden, or a sauna depending again on what the body needs. The older I get the more I like to give myself gaps to tune in, I find I'm most creative and balanced when I've had enough time out. The other ritual I really love, is the simple joy of a family meal. I'm a big health food/wholefood fan, so I'm most happy with family eating fresh in season yummy meals.
In what ways do your Sunday rituals shape the following week?
I move into my new week feeling satisfied, grounded, and ready for a full eventful time. I plan out my weeks on Sundays so I know what to expect, and even have my clothes all washed and ready!
We love seeing you regularly visiting our stores—what is it about the experience of shopping in a GoodFor store that keeps you coming back?
It's a beautiful design, and it feels calm, so I make good choices! When I'm at the supermarket, I'll buy all sorts of things we don't actually need! And I'll race through it, but with the layout of GoodFor I like to move my way through the store making conscious decisions. I love buying beans to soak overnight, and the NZ grown Quinoa! My teens love the chocolate station, and I like the flour grinder, even though I was a little messy on my first go. I'm also a fan of the Ceres products which are always well stocked, and I've always enjoyed things that look and feel beautiful. I like the whole process of taking clean glass bottles to fill, to have less recycling each week, and to know the food we're feeding our family is whole and not wrapped in plastics.
If you could choose just one item from GoodFor, what would it be?
Maple syrup! Filling up maple syrup and olive oil and vinegar is always a joy. Can I land on three things?
Lastly, do you have a favourite Sunday recipe to share with our community?
Absolutely, I’d love to share a Quinoa Tabbouleh. Something I love to eat as it feels like it cleanses the body.
Zoë's Quinoa Tabbouleh
Ingredients:
1 cup of NZ grown quinoa
1 red capsicum
Huge bunch of fresh parsley
Handful of feta cheese
Ceres Organics kalamata olives (pitted & chopped roughly)
Ceres Organics chickpeas (half a can)
Olive oil
1 organic lemon
Black pepper to taste
Method:
Cook the quinoa until fluffy and light, set aside.
Chop the parsley into really finely cut leaves, and add to a bowl, dice the red capsicum, and crumble the feta into the bowl. Add the olives, olive oil, and squeeze a fresh lemon over the top. Combine with quinoa and serve fresh.
Sometimes I like to add red onion, or toasted seeds. Or i'll add lots of other fresh herbs, like garlic chives, and dill. This is lovely by itself, or as a full meal, with grilled fish or falafel, toasted pita breads, and freshly made hummus.
