About Us
The Trēwhare Story
A lot has changed since Stefan first began his journey into landscape design, over 25 years ago. Since then, we’ve seen numerous extreme environmental, political and economic events, the flow-on effects of which have forever changed the way we live. As a designer, he felt the impact of his own industry, in particular how it contributes to environmental issues. The reality is landscape development is expensive and energy intensive. The presence of natural values is hard to achieve in smaller properties, which are fast becoming the norm. However, with reduced size comes the opportunity for a more intimate relationship with our garden, where they become an integral part of our daily experience.
Stefan’s goal was to create the most beautiful, sustainable, and useful solution he could for today’s modern life. At the heart of this process was understanding how we live and how we connect with our environment. Stefan says: “I wanted to create a space that empowers us to spend more time outside in a way that felt natural yet was specifically designed to be functional. A place to converse, work, play, and, most importantly, relax. It involved going back to tertiary education and completing postgraduate studies in Product Design, and of course lots of building and experimentation. The journey of learning and developing the concept has been a wonderful experience. Incredibly interesting but also deeply personal and revealing. Its taken a while but I am extremely proud of what I have achieved. The result is what I have named the Treewhare.”
Meet The Maker
Tēnā koutou katoa
Ko Kapukataumahakate te maunga
Ko Waikouaiti te awa
No Ōtepoti ahau
Ko Mutch taku whānau
Ko Stefan tōku ingoa
Nau mai, haere mai
Stefan is the father of four awesome tamariki and a Dunedin born Landscape Architect with over 25 years of experience. His passion is creating harmonious places that encourage meaningful connections to our natural world. This is achieved by only using locally sourced natural materials, reducing our carbon footprint, and making designs that truly matter. Stefan is focused on getting the most from each material and preventing unnecessary development, believing that “the best garden is often the one you already have”. He committed to this vision by developing the Trēwhare range of outdoor spaces and applies this methodology to his bespoke in-situ projects also.
Stefan’s philosophy is to respect natural processes, recognizing we are part of a bigger picture. To understand where we come from and to care about what we do while we are here. His values of manaakitanga and gratitude lead to designing respectful places that truly benefit people and mother earth. His designs aspire to come from nature, for us to be with nature, and to one day return there.
The Trēwhare Logo
The Trēwhare logo was designed by Stefan to represent both a tree and a whare. It identifies air, sea, earth, and forest and the harmonious integration of nature into our homes.
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