the most important part of the retail or hospo experience

Welcome to clipboard, a weekly newsletter about hospo, fashion and Tāmaki Makaurau, by Reilly Hodson. This week: why manaakitanga is the single most important part of the shopping or dining experience, and a preview of a very exciting celebration of clipboard’s first anniversary.

manaaki

manaakitanga (noun): hospitality, kindness, generosity, support - the process of showing respect, generosity and care for others.

I have expensive taste, in lots of things: food, clothes, furniture, home goods, books, you name it. In a culture like New Zealand’s, where outward displays of wealth are frowned upon, and spending more money than absolutely necessary is seen as superfluous, or stupid, it can be extremely difficult to justify choosing to buy things that aren’t the most financially efficient version of that item or experience.

My view of a cheap meal out doesn’t align with people at my work, for example, and my view of a reasonable price for jeans isn’t the same as my parents, and I’ve struggled over the years to justify why I feel that way. I think I’ve finally worked it out, though, and it comes down to manaakitanga, the Māori concept of hospitality and generousness.

The times where I will willingly overspend are where I’m being truly taken care of. The best retail and hospitality experiences are like going to a good friend’s home: no request is stupid, everything has been thought of, and you get taken care of just the way you like to be. It’s not overly fussy, or trying too hard, it’s comforting and appreciative.

That’s why I keep returning to Ockhee, my favourite restaurant. Paulee, the proprietor, always takes the time to make us feel welcome, he remembers what we like, insists that I have japchae on my birthday, and it feels like there’s always room for us at his place. The food and drink are delicious, of course, but we keep coming back for the manaakitanga.

It’s the same with Paul Doran, the tailor mastermind behind Doran & Doran. His clothes do not come cheap, there’s no getting around it; his core audience is judges, lawyers and bankers. There’s a reason they go to Paul, though, and it isn’t just because he manufactures the suits in the Zegna factory in Italy (they also manufacture for brands like Gucci and Tom Ford, ever heard of them) out of the best quality fabrics money can buy. He gets the little things right. He remembers about your new role at work, the clothes that are already in your closet, whether there’s anything in your size in stock at the moment, your coffee order. It doesn’t feel like shopping, it feels like catching up with an old friend.

That generosity of spirit is priceless to me, and it’s why I’ll keep returning to a place with great service over and over, whether I can afford it or not. That’s the businesses I want to stick around, and if I can be a part of that, I’ll do it every time.

clips

• My sister-out-of-law, Ella Stewart, achieved a rare NZ newsletter three peat (The Spinoff’s Bulletin, Jean Teng’s Metro Eats, and now clipboard) with this great article she wrote about the fact that many of the hospo owners complaining about not being able to find staff are the same people who have created a culture of hospo as a student job, rather than a career, though decades of low pay and poor working conditions. Worth remembering, though there are also real skills shortages, if I could make a real living working in a cafe for my working life, I would have at least thought about it.

• I’m a broken record at this point, but folks, Thom Morison has cracked it once more. This time: a 100% cotton moleskin suit, with a boxy workers jacket, and a trouser with pleats!

• Speaking of pleats, the kings of freaky Kiwi clothes, Checks Downtown, have me thinking about leopard print for the first time with these pleated pants and the matching coat.

• I loved reading this article about Great Jones, the millennial fake Le Creuset, and the terrible drabness of direct-to-consumer goods.

• A great conversation between Jessie Wong of Yu Mei, artist Nikau Hindin, and Jade Townsend, the curator of Whānau Mārama at Commercial Bay.

• My new Sunday coffee go-to, Kind Stranger, is throwing an opening party next Sunday, will be a great chance to boogie and enjoy the lovely burnt orange space.

clipboard’s birthday

Clipboard is turning one at the start of August, and I wanted to do something cool to celebrate. I am still working out the kinks, but the plan, at the moment, is to break clipboard out of your email screens and into the physical world with a zine type situation. It will definitely be a PDF, emailed to your email address, and I will try and get it to people who want a physical copy, we’ll see. This is not something I have done before, so I need help. If you can help with any of the following, get in touch!

• Money, for printing the thing! This will be much appreciated, as I do not really make any income from this newsletter. Any financial contributions will be much appreciated and thanked in the zine, and if you want to pay to promote something, I’ll also gladly sell you an ad.

• Content! If you’re a writer, photographer, designer, or anything, send in something you’ve been working on, and we’ll try to work it in. If you’ve already promised me something (you know who you are), consider this your reminder to send it over!

• Kind words! Part of the zine will be testimonials from the crazy folks who read this thing every week. If you enjoy the newsletter, have ever gone somewhere or bought something because I recommended it, I want to hear about it! Send through a few sentences, help my ego out and get a shout out in the newsletter!

• Honestly, anything else you think would be helpful or valuable to me. My inbox is open, so reply to this email or click here.

That’s all for clipboard this week, thanks for reading! Thanks for allowing me the week off for my birthday last week, I’ll be back to the weekly cadence for the foreseeable future. If you enjoy the newsletter, send it to your coolest friends (I’ve been very heartened by new subs recently), or subscribe with real money to help me fund it! As always, get in touch on email or instagram, I’d love to hear from you.