July 25, 2025 • 8 mins
Times are tough, many businesses unable to survive the cost of living crisis and downturned economy.
Cultural institutions and smaller businesses alike are closing up shop, and Kevin Milne is dismayed by the loss of Kiwi enterprises.
One in particular, the colourful Matakana ceramics firm Morris & James, is particularly saddening for him.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks at.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Be Good a Jack voyeuristic titillation. We have developed a
voracious appetite for the ugly and inane, says Anne. Great words,
and yeah, I can't disagree with that at all, Neil,
says Jack. Let he who is without sindcast the first stone.
A hypocrites abound. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure there are
(00:32):
plenty of hypocrites who have been delighting in it all.
I just I think what's amazing about the information age
is whereas in the past, you know, people of course
had you know, incidents in public in which they were shamed,
I mean, sometimes quite deliberately, sometimes as a purposeful punishment,
you know, being locked in the old stocks and pelted
with fruit in that kind of thing. But the thing
(00:54):
about virality, the thing about the spread on the Internet,
is that there's just there's nothing you do. Once it
kicks off, it's gone. And where as you might think, oh,
they kind of deserve it this time, what's to say
that the next time there's a viral moment where someone
preps you think doesn't deserve to have their names splashed
around the world. You know, experiences the same consequences ninety
(01:19):
two ninety two. If you want to send us a
message this morning, eighteen past nine and Kevin Milner's alea
us today to Kevin.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Heck you got to Jack. I remember a time in
TV when if you're going out to film somewhere that
had a large crowd, And I'm thinking of race meetings
where we used to go out and mainly you'd film
the big race, but you would also get shots of crowds.
You would never film people close enough so that they
(01:48):
were recognizably at the meeting. Ah, And I wonder what's
happened to those sort of laws you mentioned suing the
producers of the show or you know about coldplay or
whoever it is. Yeah, I wonder whether there's any law
about intrusion of that sort. Yeah, I definitely remember were
(02:15):
on live show, on live coverage of race meetings, for example,
the cameras would stick very wide on the on the crowds.
So the very reason that somebody might be in that
shot that shouldn't be in the.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Shot, I don't know. I mean, I think in New
Zealand we have like public space, you know, filming rules.
I mean, you know in that video having seen it
a few times now, I mean they were they were
smiling and all happy one moment when they had a
problem with the video until the camera was turned on them.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So yeah, sure, But I also wonder if the you know,
the nature of us all having smartphones and cameras in
our pockets, powerful cameras in our pockets, has meant that actually,
you know, just generally privacy when it comes to videos
isn't what it once was. That the kind of societal
expectations there have changed. But there's a very good point, sure, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
And after all, it is only just a bit of fun,
and it's sort of like competition, isn't it really You
get it at all the rugby matches. Yeah, couples together.
But it's a slightly it's a slightly dangerous practice.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, yeah, it's real. It's been a kind of fascinating
anthropological exercise, this whole thing. Anyway, Kevin, you're saddened by
the closing of a retailer that you have never actually
been inside.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah, we're becoming anewer, aren't we. To the announcements of
Kiwi Enterprises closing down for reasons none other than the
trading environment's got too tough. But the businesses that are
now closing down seem to me increasingly those you'd have
backed as winners rather than losers. Restaurants, for example, since
some of them. I'm sadden to hear that Madikan ceramics
(03:50):
firm Morrison James is calling it quits. We had three
of their huge outlaw pots and a bird bath with
Morrison James striking glaze all over them. I love their
ceramics because they haven't got maide in China or made
in Vietnam on them. They're really strongly kiw. I love
them because there are no two that are exactly the same.
(04:12):
You might buy a pair that from a distance seems
the same, but they're not there, made by artists, not machines.
Then there's the classy Morrison James metal stamp on them.
If you've got one, you'll know what I'm talking about,
proudly stating that they're from Matakana, New Zealand, which is
actually somewhere I've never been to. We buy online or
(04:34):
via our local furniture short store. There's been a phenomenal experience. Well,
it would be to walk through the Morrison James Northland Factory.
We've only wandered through their website and that's uplifting enough,
and I recommend people do that. But once they're current
supplies of clay used up, it will be all over.
(04:54):
Well they've left themselves are very slight out. I heard
the owners saying that if a generous investor where they
decide they wanted to be part of a wonderful operation
and a wonderful bet of the country that happily keep
its colorful heart beating. I wholeheartedly recommend that if you
like color in your garden, at least by something online.
(05:16):
Now to remember Morrison James, as we found with the
stunning bird bath that I bought London for Christmas. Their
work arives at your door, superbly packed. Who knows if
enough of us invest in something special for around the house,
the unique Morrison James ceramics of Matticana might live on.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
It is really sad news, isn't it, Because they'd make
it incredible, Like the really lean into the color, don't they.
There's a real kind of splendor to their color of
their designs. Yeah, And to be honest, I'm a bit
surprised because I feel like ceramics are having a moment,
don't we feel like that? I sort of feel like
pottery in the last cup five years and ceramics, and
(05:57):
you know, it's kind of going through a little little
boom period. And just curious that a Kiwi firm, you know,
is preps finding it a pretty trick at the moment.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
You don't have to buy a great big pot like
we have. They sell gorgeous jugs and right about every
color you can think of, and they're superb.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, this is very good. Okay, that's a good little
gift suggestion too. And like you said, yeah, I suppose
to get running the risk of becoming collectors additions very soon.
Yeah all right, Kevin. Yeah, it is a shame. And
you've never been to Matakana, never been to Madicana.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
No love to go there.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Oh yeah, you have to put it on the list.
It's very it's very fancy these days. That's where all
of the well to do is like to head up
there for the weekend, go and check out the market,
you know.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yeah, we can go on tours of the factory. I
think the Miles and James Statory. I'm here, I am
thinking that Madicana is attainly a little place that's got
a big, huge ceramic statuary, but I'm certain it's got
loads of other great things as well.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Plenty of attractions in Matacana. So the next time, yeah,
around the nine, you have to make sure you carve
out an afternoon and go and have a bit of
a look. Kevin, Hey, thank you for that, and thanks
for drawing it to our attention. If there are any
generous benefit, was listening right now? Who'd like to invest?
Like I say, ceramics are having a bit of a moment. Hey,
thanks for your text this morning. Heaps the messages regarding
(07:14):
the Coldplay couple. Jack I disagreed. The damage is done.
The CEO should sue. He should ramp up the rhetoric,
keep the beast rolling and then write a book. At
least make a buck out of the whole experience, says
Shane Jack. Things will always go viral on social media.
What I found disconcerting with the Coldplay cam is how
the news around the world and the mainstream news media
have weighed in and amplified it. Isn't that where the
(07:36):
problem lies, says Mark. I think it all is kind
of speaking to the same phenomenon.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Mark.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
I mean, I logged and I was on the BBC
BBC yesterday and it was like, you know, like story
number one, Gaza, story number two, Donald Trump and the
head of the Federal Reserve having a tiff, Story number
three or four, the coldplay Kescam, and I was like, Okay,
we're really you know, even the BBC's really covering the
(08:01):
gamut of stories here. And look, I mean, I can't
criticize anyone here. I am talking the whole thing. But
at this think it speaks to the kind of you know,
like we wouldn't be talking about it unless it was
a perfectly encaptured little you know, if unless that five
second video didn't tell a much richer story, right, And
there's something about human nature where we just want to
(08:21):
laugh and share and laugh and sheer and laugh and share.
The Internet allows us to do that so quickly. But
I can imagine that the you know, the impacts are
pretty significant.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks' b from nine Am, saturday or follow
the podcast On. iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks at.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Be Good a Jack voyeuristic titillation. We have developed a
voracious appetite for the ugly and inane, says Anne. Great words,
and yeah, I can't disagree with that at all, Neil,
says Jack. Let he who is without sindcast the first stone.
A hypocrites abound. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure there are
(00:32):
plenty of hypocrites who have been delighting in it all.
I just I think what's amazing about the information age
is whereas in the past, you know, people of course
had you know, incidents in public in which they were shamed,
I mean, sometimes quite deliberately, sometimes as a purposeful punishment,
you know, being locked in the old stocks and pelted
with fruit in that kind of thing. But the thing
(00:54):
about virality, the thing about the spread on the Internet,
is that there's just there's nothing you do. Once it
kicks off, it's gone. And where as you might think, oh,
they kind of deserve it this time, what's to say
that the next time there's a viral moment where someone
preps you think doesn't deserve to have their names splashed
around the world. You know, experiences the same consequences ninety
(01:19):
two ninety two. If you want to send us a
message this morning, eighteen past nine and Kevin Milner's alea
us today to Kevin.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Heck you got to Jack. I remember a time in
TV when if you're going out to film somewhere that
had a large crowd, And I'm thinking of race meetings
where we used to go out and mainly you'd film
the big race, but you would also get shots of crowds.
You would never film people close enough so that they
(01:48):
were recognizably at the meeting. Ah, And I wonder what's
happened to those sort of laws you mentioned suing the
producers of the show or you know about coldplay or
whoever it is. Yeah, I wonder whether there's any law
about intrusion of that sort. Yeah, I definitely remember were
(02:15):
on live show, on live coverage of race meetings, for example,
the cameras would stick very wide on the on the crowds.
So the very reason that somebody might be in that
shot that shouldn't be in the.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Shot, I don't know. I mean, I think in New
Zealand we have like public space, you know, filming rules.
I mean, you know in that video having seen it
a few times now, I mean they were they were
smiling and all happy one moment when they had a
problem with the video until the camera was turned on them.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So yeah, sure, But I also wonder if the you know,
the nature of us all having smartphones and cameras in
our pockets, powerful cameras in our pockets, has meant that actually,
you know, just generally privacy when it comes to videos
isn't what it once was. That the kind of societal
expectations there have changed. But there's a very good point, sure, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
And after all, it is only just a bit of fun,
and it's sort of like competition, isn't it really You
get it at all the rugby matches. Yeah, couples together.
But it's a slightly it's a slightly dangerous practice.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, yeah, it's real. It's been a kind of fascinating
anthropological exercise, this whole thing. Anyway, Kevin, you're saddened by
the closing of a retailer that you have never actually
been inside.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah, we're becoming anewer, aren't we. To the announcements of
Kiwi Enterprises closing down for reasons none other than the
trading environment's got too tough. But the businesses that are
now closing down seem to me increasingly those you'd have
backed as winners rather than losers. Restaurants, for example, since
some of them. I'm sadden to hear that Madikan ceramics
(03:50):
firm Morrison James is calling it quits. We had three
of their huge outlaw pots and a bird bath with
Morrison James striking glaze all over them. I love their
ceramics because they haven't got maide in China or made
in Vietnam on them. They're really strongly kiw. I love
them because there are no two that are exactly the same.
(04:12):
You might buy a pair that from a distance seems
the same, but they're not there, made by artists, not machines.
Then there's the classy Morrison James metal stamp on them.
If you've got one, you'll know what I'm talking about,
proudly stating that they're from Matakana, New Zealand, which is
actually somewhere I've never been to. We buy online or
(04:34):
via our local furniture short store. There's been a phenomenal experience. Well,
it would be to walk through the Morrison James Northland Factory.
We've only wandered through their website and that's uplifting enough,
and I recommend people do that. But once they're current
supplies of clay used up, it will be all over.
(04:54):
Well they've left themselves are very slight out. I heard
the owners saying that if a generous investor where they
decide they wanted to be part of a wonderful operation
and a wonderful bet of the country that happily keep
its colorful heart beating. I wholeheartedly recommend that if you
like color in your garden, at least by something online.
(05:16):
Now to remember Morrison James, as we found with the
stunning bird bath that I bought London for Christmas. Their
work arives at your door, superbly packed. Who knows if
enough of us invest in something special for around the house,
the unique Morrison James ceramics of Matticana might live on.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
It is really sad news, isn't it, Because they'd make
it incredible, Like the really lean into the color, don't they.
There's a real kind of splendor to their color of
their designs. Yeah, And to be honest, I'm a bit
surprised because I feel like ceramics are having a moment,
don't we feel like that? I sort of feel like
pottery in the last cup five years and ceramics, and
(05:57):
you know, it's kind of going through a little little
boom period. And just curious that a Kiwi firm, you know,
is preps finding it a pretty trick at the moment.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
You don't have to buy a great big pot like
we have. They sell gorgeous jugs and right about every
color you can think of, and they're superb.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, this is very good. Okay, that's a good little
gift suggestion too. And like you said, yeah, I suppose
to get running the risk of becoming collectors additions very soon.
Yeah all right, Kevin. Yeah, it is a shame. And
you've never been to Matakana, never been to Madicana.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
No love to go there.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Oh yeah, you have to put it on the list.
It's very it's very fancy these days. That's where all
of the well to do is like to head up
there for the weekend, go and check out the market,
you know.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yeah, we can go on tours of the factory. I
think the Miles and James Statory. I'm here, I am
thinking that Madicana is attainly a little place that's got
a big, huge ceramic statuary, but I'm certain it's got
loads of other great things as well.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Plenty of attractions in Matacana. So the next time, yeah,
around the nine, you have to make sure you carve
out an afternoon and go and have a bit of
a look. Kevin, Hey, thank you for that, and thanks
for drawing it to our attention. If there are any
generous benefit, was listening right now? Who'd like to invest?
Like I say, ceramics are having a bit of a moment. Hey,
thanks for your text this morning. Heaps the messages regarding
(07:14):
the Coldplay couple. Jack I disagreed. The damage is done.
The CEO should sue. He should ramp up the rhetoric,
keep the beast rolling and then write a book. At
least make a buck out of the whole experience, says
Shane Jack. Things will always go viral on social media.
What I found disconcerting with the Coldplay cam is how
the news around the world and the mainstream news media
have weighed in and amplified it. Isn't that where the
(07:36):
problem lies, says Mark. I think it all is kind
of speaking to the same phenomenon.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Mark.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
I mean, I logged and I was on the BBC
BBC yesterday and it was like, you know, like story
number one, Gaza, story number two, Donald Trump and the
head of the Federal Reserve having a tiff, Story number
three or four, the coldplay Kescam, and I was like, Okay,
we're really you know, even the BBC's really covering the
(08:01):
gamut of stories here. And look, I mean, I can't
criticize anyone here. I am talking the whole thing. But
at this think it speaks to the kind of you know,
like we wouldn't be talking about it unless it was
a perfectly encaptured little you know, if unless that five
second video didn't tell a much richer story, right, And
there's something about human nature where we just want to
(08:21):
laugh and share and laugh and sheer and laugh and share.
The Internet allows us to do that so quickly. But
I can imagine that the you know, the impacts are
pretty significant.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks' b from nine Am, saturday or follow
the podcast On. iHeartRadio
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