TE KŪITI-raised makeup artist Krystina Te Kanawa has worked in New Zealand, the UK, Europe and Asia and recommends travel for anyone who can. PHOTO SUPPLIED
TELEVISION hosts, brides, and refugees are among some of the people Krystina Te Kanawa has worked with during her career as a makeup artist. From Auckland to London and now Hong Kong, Krystina has experience across the globe, and has found strength in her own culture while experiencing others. Krystina first got a taste for makeup artistry when she was a secondary school student living in Te Kūiti. She would visit her beautician aunty’s studio after school to help with cleaning, taking phone calls and other duties. TRIGGERED “That’s what triggered my thoughts of possibly wanting to be a makeup artist.” With Lord of the Rings big at the time, Krystina thought she would be interested in doing special effects makeup and found a course in Auckland which covered hair, makeup and special effects. After gaining her qualification Krystina got some sporadic work in the industry and eventually got her foot in the door of television working for Māori TV and TVNZ. The special effects career never eventuated, owing to Krystina gaining a preference for hair and makeup and special effects being a small, niche industry in New Zealand. Krystina said she worked in the television industry for seven years before wanting a change of pace and moving to the United Kingdom. “I loved working in TV because I got the best of the Māori culture at Māori TV and then mainstream media with TVNZ. “I also got to travel around New Zealand and do heaps of different jobs and work with all the magazines like New Idea and Woman’s Day. GOOD VARIETY “It was a really good variety of everything.” Krystina said she saved for a year and a half so she could travel for three months before settling in London. “That was amazing. I 100% recommend anybody to do it if they can, it’s just an amazing experience and you make so many amazing friends.” Being in London with her husband and her sister gave Krystina the opportunity to explore different parts of her identity, including being Māori. The trio joined Ngāti Rānana London Māori Club, which Krystina said was her first introduction to kapa haka. “It connected me better to my Māori side. “In London it’s serious but there’s no pressure to be amazing. We made lifetime friends from there.” Krystina’s television connections in New Zealand secured her work at CNN and CNBC news stations in London and she said the highlight of her two years in OLYMPICS London was working with medallists at the Olympics. “I worked for the French team for three weeks. “Once the medal winners won their event they would come down to our station and I would do all their makeup for their interview. “I also got to go to the opening and closing ceremony which was incredible. That was a huge highlight.” From London, Krystina moved to Hong Kong, where she has been living with her husband for nine years and their two young children. Language barriers meant she couldn’t work in television there, so after a period of working in a salon to find her feet Krystina started her own business with a strong focus on weddings, events and lessons. Krystina said she had always enjoyed giving back, including through charity work, so it was a natural fit when she was connected with two Somalian sisters who wanted to learn how to do makeup. “I love to do charity work. My parents are really big on charity and giving back. I had grown up with that.” Krystina worked with the women for three or four months, meeting up every couple of weeks to learn right from the very basics of doing makeup on themselves and others. “Their confidence just grew mostly because they loved doing the makeup but they also loved that they were getting something out of it SOMETHING TO OFFER “A lot of the refugees here eventually get refugee status in another country. “They want to have some sort of skill so when they do go to these countries, they’ve got something to do or offer.” Krystina thought with the evolution of makeup as an industry, propelled by the internet, the women she worked with would have options ahead of them. “Makeup artists have got their own makeup brands, they’re doing huge events. Makeup has really evolved. “It’s good they were able to do something they loved, but it’s fun, and offer it wherever they are going to be.”
