Throw Your Hands In The Orakei Air. Photo: Norrie MontgomeryWe were fortunate recently to be invited to an event called
Kia Ora LV. The location said it all. Held at Orakei Marae, Tamaki Makaurau's finest piece of real estate and the ancestral home of the
Ngati Whatua o Orakei, the event was a welcome to the sailors, billionaires and international Louis Vuitton folk who were in town for the recent
Louis Vuitton Series by the Ngati Whatua.
It was a stellar event, not so much in a limousine and champagne way - although there was, of course, plenty of Moet et Chandon on hand - but in an inspiring melding of the world's leading luxury giant and the people of Ngati Whatua, Auckland's iwi. The powhiri, waiata and warmth of the welcome given to the global bosses of Louis Vuitton, sailors Barker, Butterworth, Coutts et al and their bosses (Larry Ellison among them) would have made most New Zealander's proud.
Photo: Norrie MontgomeryDuring the speeches there was talk of a long term relationship between the Ngati Whatua and the LV Series with the iwi taking an active role as the hosts and landowners of the area. Congratulations to Louis Vuitton and Ngati Whatua for creating an event that reflected the (relative) harmony of the Louis Vuitton series, and the gulf it was sailed in so well.
Throw Your Hands In The Orakei Air. Photo: Norrie Montgomery
Photo: Norrie Montgomery
