A Modern Twist For Ancient Hemp
The story of Hark & Zander has to begin with our organically grown hempseed oil. The benefits of the plant itself were known and recorded as early as 5000 BC in China and spread to India, the Middle East, Europe and eventually the new world by the turn of the sixteenth century. With our first product, HempTonic Face Oil, along with our subsequent products like HempLavish Nourishing Body Oil, we have harnessed the powerful properties of hempseed oil and given it a thoroughly modern twist. We have formulated a blend of natural oils that enhance each other to nourish your skin and leave it feeling fresh and nurtured.
Hark & Zander founder, Kirsty Harkness, was initially passionate about the latent potential in the cover crop she’d planted on the vineyard in Marlborough to replenish and enrich the soil. She’s been growing it on the vineyard since 2018 and was the first in New Zealand to innovate this way. Her research is gaining interest internationally and has proved to increase organic matter and improve cation exchange in her soils. With her research into its goodness for the soil came interest in, and increasing knowledge of, the goodness hempseed for our bodies.
Kirsty began investigating the ways to blend hempseed oil with other essential oils for optimal skin benefits, how to naturally preserve the hempseed oil, and how to ensure a divine scent. With some help from blending specialists, laboratory scientists and, of course, friends and family, they 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 testers liked and disliked and what ingredients worked well with others, it took time and tenacity to perfect… but it was worth it. With our HempTonic formulation we knew we were on to something special… something too good to keep to ourselves, and so Hark & Zander was born!
Hark & Zander
Our vision is simple:
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 reckon 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 and nurture - your skin to the healthy glow you crave." Yes, we managed to get all that in a name: Hark & Zander.
The Future Is Hemp
Encouraged by the results and enthusiastic uptake of our HempTonic Face Oil, we are charging on! We are developing blends for other uses and we can’t wait to share them with you. (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.)
Our products use organically grown hempseed oil as their base. It’s not just a token gesture ingredient - our HempTonic and HempLavish products' primary ingredient is hempseed oil. It contains Omega 3 and six essential fatty acids, vitamins, amino acids and antioxidants in a combination that skin simply loves!
Hark & Zander’s revolutionary luxury skincare range has been forged on three key principles:
- To be New Zealand made
- To be sourced from nature and proven by science
- To be uncompromisingly sustainable.
Find out more about our guiding principles.
And the result of all this?
