About us

Hi, I would like to introduce myself, an owner and a designer of Hena Hena. I was born and raised in Kyoto, Japan and I moved to New Zealand and started my new life as an immigrant in 2008. Everything was new and exciting to me, however I found myself missing ‘something Japanese’ after having a honeymoon time with NZ. I re-discovered Japan and realized my love for my own country’s art and culture for the first time only after leaving Japan. I guess it often happens to everyone that we don’t know the true value of things until we are away from them. 

Now my passion is giving vintage kimonos new lives and letting them shine again. Compared to designing and making clothes and accessories from new fabrics, upcycling vintage kimonos needs a lot of extra work. However, I believe this is a worthwhile task: to pass on the beauty of Japanese kimonos to people here in NZ and all over the world as wearable and useful items. In addition to that I love to offer exquisite traditional crafts which I carefully selected and imported directly from Japan. Japanese traditional crafts are not only beautiful but also practical and made to last long. It would be wonderful if my wee business could contribute to a sustainable way of living for everyone.

 Many thanks, Nana