Our Story
Our Story
Our Past and Future
A Modern Twist for Ancient Hempseed
The Revelation
The story of Hark & Zander begins in idyllic Marlborough, New Zealand where Hark & Zander founder, Kirsty Harkness, was researching the latent potential of an innovative cover crop of hemp which she’d planted to replenish and enrich the soil of Marlborough's famed fruit. She had been growing the cover crop since 2018 and was the first in New Zealand to innovate this way. With her research into hemp’s goodness for the soil (now garnering international attention), came an interest in, and increasing knowledge of, the goodness of hempseed for our bodies. It’s not commonly known that it's a plant that has been used for centuries, its benefits first recorded as early as 5000BC in China.
As Kirsty's curiosity grew so too did her desire to harness the powerful properties of this ancient wonder-crop and give it a thoroughly modern twist.
The Evolution
Dissatisfied with how her skin reacted to many modern beauty products, Kirsty began investigating ways to blend hempseed oil with other essential oils for optimal skin benefit, how to naturally preserve the hempseed oil, and how to ensure a divine scent. With the help of blending specialists, laboratory scientists and, of course, friends and family, we took the hempseed oil base and, using nine vitamin-rich active natural plant oils, created the oil you now know and love as HempTonic Face Oil.
It wasn’t a simple road: Countless recipes; ups and downs on what users liked and disliked; what ingredients blended well with others; what ingredients were scientifically proven to give the results needed. Yes, it took time and tenacity to perfect… but it was worth it. With our first product, HempTonic, we knew we were on to something special… something too good to keep to ourselves, and so Hark & Zander was born!
The vision
To create premium and innovative skincare for the love of people and planet.
Hark & Zander may sound like catchy brand name but it means a lot to us. Here's a little etymology infused with some H&Z swag:
HARK: We love the old fashioned word Hark! We think it's a word worthy of reviving. Think: "Hark the herald..." and you get the gist of where we're heading. When you've got good news you want to share it. Hark! Listen up!
ZANDER: From the Greek Xander, Zander means "Defender Of The People." Yes, it's the perfect objective for a premium skincare range with some kick-ass punch to it.
So essentially we're saying:
"Listen up! We want to share this with you. This crazy-amazing skincare range full of hempseed-goodness will help your skin. It will defend (protect, nourish, feed and nurture) your skin to the healthy glow you crave."
Yes, we managed to get all that in a name: Hark & Zander.
The revolution
Encouraged by the results - both scientific and anecdotal from our customers - we have continued to formulate other blends of natural oils for the face and body. With the same goals always before us: to be sourced from nature and proven by science; to be New Zealand made; to be uncompromisingly sustainable.
Free from fillers, toxins and all things artificial, our blends use the highest quality natural ingredients without compromising efficacy.
If you sign up to our online Hark & Zander family you’ll be the first to hear about our next range, plus you'll get a rather lovely discount off your first purchase.
New Zealand’s first luxury Hempseed Oil Skincare
What is the secret behind the success of our premium skincare range? The secret’s in the bottle. Or more specifically the secret lies in our hero ingredient: Organically grown NZ hemp.
“It’s one of nature’s wonder-plants. We’ve had to innovate to get here, but its worth it to now have products that rival the best.”
Kirsty Harkness - Founder
