Stories
Tania Rupapera and Unity Collection
Everywhere she has lived — small towns and large cities in both New Zealand and Europe — Tania Rupapera (Ngāruahine and Ngāti Kahu) has always made connections with the local community and found a creative business outlet for her skills.
From 1989 to 2007 she lived in Wellington, which was developing as a creative capital with growing music, fashion, hospitality and filmmaking industries. Tania’s retail store Unity followed the trajectory of Wellington’s growth — starting as a small store on Ghuznee Street and becoming a successful retail business on Customhouse Quay, with a second branch opening in Newmarket, Auckland.
Although she is quick to acknowledge her team and her community collaborations, it is Tania’s attitude to life and business that made Unity a success — not only financially, but also as an influence on the wardrobes of Wellington locals and its long lasting impact on a new generation of fashion designers.
Tania grew up in the 1970s in Eltham, a small town in South Taranaki. She references the influence of her Nan on her future career. “She was always the best dressed, the most glamorous. She always liked to put outfits together. I remember going to Nan's house and she'd have an outfit laid out on her bed and the earrings to go with it.”
Tania went to Eltham Primary School, where, surrounded by a good group of friends, she became captain of the netball team and a school prefect. She found her local high school less supportive, but a move to New Plymouth Girls’ High for her senior high school years was life changing. “When I moved to New Plymouth, you just had to make things happen because there wasn’t a lot of entertainment.”
For Tania and her friends, Maree Watson and Phil Tumataroa, ‘making things happen’ turned out to be organising fashion shows for the local community. They contacted stores in New Plymouth such as Gas Works, Kingsway Menswear, and the surf shops and invited them to take part. “We were the trio that would put events on, and they'd supply the clothing. We'd pull the models and the dancers in, choreograph it, get all the music, and put shows on and I would photograph them.”
The shows were so successful they even published a magazine called Summer Styles New Plymouth. There was only one issue however, because Tania had determined that she would become a professional photographer.
Tania had fallen in love with photography when she was 13 years old. In Eltham she worked in the darkroom for local photographer Connells Studios, and later in New Plymouth she found part-time work as a portrait and wedding photographer at Margaret Bake Studios. She sent her portfolio — a mix of studio and fashion photography — to Wellington Polytechnic and was accepted into their one-year photography course
Tania arrived in Wellington in 1989. The course was part of Wellington Polytechnic’s School of Design, which was making a big impact on the local creative scene. Fashion students in the 1980s and early 1990s included Collette Dinnigan, Kate Sylvester, Rebecca Taylor, Clare Bowden and Fiona Edwards from Mandatory, and Kate Bryant and Rachel Strong, who designed under the label Ripe.
Tania found a job as a catalogue photographer at James Smith’s Department Store. “I was so happy to get the job, because it was my cash flow. That was my bread and butter, nice and dependable.” However, her fashion photography experience meant she was also in demand as a photographer for fashion students’ portfolios and live shows, and it was being part of that community that eventually led Tania to open Unity — a store for emerging designers to sell their clothes.
It was 1991 when Tania opened Unity Designers on Ghuznee Street. As well as selling designs from fashion students on a sale or return commission basis, Unity stocked newly established Auckland labels Marvel, Feline, and Karen Walker.
Unfortunately, the location was prone to repeated break-ins. The fifth burglary was on Christmas Day, an event that made the front page of The Dominion on 26 December 1992.
Article from 'The Dominion', 26 December 1992. © Stuff.
It became difficult to get insurance so after a few months selling at nearby Wakefield Market, she found a new space in the Willis Street Village to relaunch Unity. Chrissie Potter’s A Modo Mio and Laurie Foon’s Starfish were close, so close in fact that Laurie recalls customers going between the stores trying on something from Unity with something from Starfish (City Voice, 16 December 1993).
Unity customers enjoyed finding their own style by mixing the different brands available in Wellington. The business was given a boost when Tania started stocking State of Grace and Glory. “They were just winning tickets, and their style really added to the collection in the shop.”
Tania employed two staff in the Willis Street store — one part-time and one full-time — and to begin with, she was herself still working as a photographer for extra income until Unity’s revenue began to grow. “So if there was a challenge, it was actually having to learn how to do the business side of things, how to be a buyer, which I loved, because I'm the geek that loves numbers.”
Unity on Willis Street, 1993 to 1996. Images © Tania Rupapera.
Unity shifted from the sale or return commission model to buying stock, so there was a whole lot more riding on that approach. Always keen to learn, Tania would enrol in short courses, and she also made sure she had a really good team around her, including her bank manager and lawyer.
The 1990s in Wellington were a creative time with musicians like Fat Freddy's Drop, Trinity Roots, and Hollie Smith starting to make their mark. In the same collaborative mindset as her events in New Plymouth, she put on shows with local designers and retailers including her own Unity, as well as Zambesi, Workshop, Starfish, Mandatory, and Voon, with Mu from Fat Freddy’s Drop putting together the music.
One show called ‘Native’ in 1995 was held in the Wellington Town Hall. It included designs by Jeanine Clarkin (Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Raukawa), Starfish, Leod Hais and other local designers. Tania also designed a limited edition range of men’s t-shirts featuring designs by artist Rangi Kipa (Taranaki, Te Atiawa Nui Tonu, Ngāti Maniapoto). Rangi also played taonga pūoro at the show, which was MCed by Moana Maniapoto Jackson after she visited Unity as a customer. Stacey Morrison filmed it for Māori Television.
Poster for the 'Native fashion show', 8 July 1995. Image © Tania Rupapera.
In 1996 Tania moved the store, rebranded to be called Unity Collection, to Customhouse Quay. She also wound down her photography work and committed to growing the store. “I joke about growing up, but it was; we were able to double the size of the business. And we were next door to Zambesi, which really solidified our confidence and our brand.”
By then there were three full-timers and two part-timers, including James Dobson, who would go on to start the label Jimmy D. Tania recalls that he walked into the store and exclaimed ‘oh my god, I really want to work here’. He was studying photography and they quickly made a connection. “He was so cool. I curated him into our team and made a role that matched his skill set.” He worked for Unity Wellington for 10 years and then moved up to Auckland to work in the Newmarket store that opened in 2000. Tania describes herself as the ‘proud auntie in the background’ as he was working part time at Unity when he launched his first collection and won the Mercedes Young Designer of the Year Award.
The opening of Unity on Teed Street in Newmarket, Auckland, in 2000. Tania (left) with staff Charlotte Morse, James Dobson (Jimmy D), Nicola Holden and Cate Calver. Image © Tania Rupapera.
Tania always stocked a mix of established and emerging designers in her store. “We would be approached every season by about 20 different designers wanting to stock Unity. But I always saved 10% of my buying budget for emerging artists, someone that might come from Polytech or might be sitting at home creating something, and come down and we'd be like, ‘man, this is amazing’.”
She also established an award at the Wellington Polytechnic annual fashion show. The winner got a cash prize and the opportunity to display their collection in the window at Unity.
Tania regularly travelled to the New Zealand and Australian fashion weeks. She also went to New York, where she attended the Yoji Yamamoto collaboration with Adidas show, and to London to the Vivienne Westwood show. “We were the first [in New Zealand] to bring in Vivienne Westwood. At a buying appointment in her amazing showroom I had this amazing ‘pinch me moment’, placing my order alongside buyers from Japan and Singapore, and then there's Tania from Eltham!”
Tania acknowledges the importance of these highlights, “because the majority of the time, you are working your butt off to survive in the industry.”
In 2007 Tania was running two successful Unity stores, and she intended to expand and franchise the brand all over New Zealand. She was looking at a location in Queenstown when she changed her plan. “I thought, ‘What am I doing? I'm repeating my life by building another business from the ground up. And I thought, I haven't gone and done all these other things. And I just turned around and I decided I'm going to sell Unity.”
Photo of Tania in Unity Collection on Customhouse Quay in Wellington. Photo by the Dominion Post, 2007. Image © Stuff.
Tania left and fulfilled a childhood dream of living in Paris for six months. Visiting a friend in Spain, she was inspired to get her Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) basic safety certificate so she could crew on board superyachts. Her first position was on the Qatari royal family's boat. She spent several more years sailing around the Mediterranean before moving to Majorca, where her son was born.
Tania returned home so he could get to know his extended whānau. While working as regional retail manager for Trelise Cooper, she visited Matakana and felt an immediate connection.
“About a year after moving to Matakana, I learnt that I whakapapa to Pākiri Beach through my grandmother's side. That sort of gave everything another sense of connectivity and understanding as to why I felt so comfortable here.”
Always learning and studying, Tania set up a life and business development coaching business in 1997 which she had been running alongside Unity. In 2018 she started working with the Māori Women's Development Inc, coaching young wahine Māori. “I was aware that they didn't have anywhere to sell their products so when a shop became available during the Covid lockdown she made plans to re-launch Unity Collection. The new business has a kaupapa similar to Unity Wellington, but now the brands in store are at least 50% Māori owned. Unity Collection in Matakana is a contemporary gallery that stocks fashion (kākahu), design (whakaahua), and art (māhi toi) made by Māori creatives.
Text by Kelly Dix.
Published December 2025.
References
Kelly Dix interview with Tania Rupapera, 1 August 2025
City Voice, Verve Fashion Supplement, 16 December 1993
City Voice, Verve Fashion Supplement, 24 February 1994
Article by Amanda Louise Foot, ‘Going native’. Publication unknown, 1995
https://manacoaching.co.nz/about/
https://unitycollection.co.nz/
