Business Beat: Made By Mandy performs alchemy
Mandy Hargood, wearing one of the hats she makes from surplus mussel lashings, sits with some of her other goods also created using recycled materials. Photo: Frank Nelson.
FRANK NELSON
Mandy Hargood has been running her Rai Valley business, MBM Unique Designs, for almost five years, turning sustainable, reusable materials into handsome handmade craftwork.
She uses an industrial model sewing machine to transform surplus materials from the mussel industry into hats, bags, bowls, baskets and more. Even old clothing is transformed into colourful mats.
She worked for Sandfords for about eight years sewing the large mussel harvesting slings when they became ripped on the boats. That led her to begin making things using off-cuts from the lashings, the PVC ropes that support mussel lines in the water.
Using her creative imagination, Hargood is turning such unlikely materials into goods which MBM (Made By Mandy) sells at her Rai Valley centre and from galleries in Havelock, Nelson and Golden Bay.
Neil Kapadia, ranked among New Zealand’s top 100 sommeliers, is planning a champagne opening on Friday (27 March) to launch a new-look Fidelio wine bar in the historic Blenheim railway station.
Kapadia will be leaving Harvest Restaurant, on Rapaura Road, to focus exclusively on his first business venture, promising to use the distinctive venue to showcase a variety of vineyards and wines.
He will also be pairing wines with food, including food from other countries such as his native India. And to ensure Fidelio appeals to a wide audience, future offerings may range from Roots gin and Boomtown beers to hot chocolate fondues and waffles.
The original Fidelio Café and Wine Bar – known for its wines, tapas and live music – closed about five months ago.
Just weeks after the 2026 Marlborough Wine and Food festival, already thoughts are turning to next year’s event. Marcus Pickens, general manager of Wine Marlborough, says 2027 will be the 40th festival which launched in 1985 but missed two during COVID.
“There’s always a keen interest in the venue,” says Pickens, who talks about the natural beauty of Marlborough’s vineyards being the “romantic ideal” for the festival, as it was for many years at Brancott Estate.
But he says finding another such site and developing it for a major festival presents as a very difficult, complex and expensive exercise. He said 40-plus sites were scouted and evaluated before settling on the Renwick Domain, which will again be hosting in 2027.
Tania Norton will be taking over next Wednesday (April 1) as the new owner of Total Body Rehab, a health and wellness business created by Emma Vienings at the Marlborough Lines Stadium 2000.
Norton has worked at the Blenheim stadium complex for the last four years as a self-employed aquatic personal trainer. She says she intends continuing in that role while at the same time managing Total Body Rehab.
That means she will be overseeing the existing five sub-contractors who provide a range of massage therapies designed, says Norton, “to help the people of Marlborough move and feel better.”
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