Bolster Design

08/05/2024

It's been a minute! With lots going on in the world at the moment let's take a moment to share a bit of positive news with the release of the new Kaiako resource for the Poto Series. We've worked on the series since its inception and excited for this new resource in the suite for our bilingual units. We shot this at Sutton Park School in Māngere, Tāmaki Makaurau, who have both Samoan and Tongan units. This was the first job working with the talented Samoan photographer Edith Amituanai. So many fantastic shots but it's easy when you have such photographic talent 🤩

02/09/2023

The biggest congrats to our friend Giselle Clarkson. Such a well deserved award. You are such a vibrant, creative person. We love collaborating with you ❤️

https://www.thearts.co.nz/artists/giselle-clarkson?fbclid=IwAR2wpdvdaZNW2KdtfDebjKqUbXC3TYSSY8Km7mk4CcFQwjS0wU4jserdav0_aem_Afqg85BROyRDWp2KHCIfTXv2QO5G0REf07LnI3h-HlI6zz_Fc2eBwNo3vlcEZUITbrE&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

Giselle Clarkson

15/08/2023

Thanks to our fantastic Toitoi artists who were chosen for our School Journals. Hope you are as proud of your work as we are

23/05/2023

EDIT: Thank you everyone for such an amazing response! We have now signed up enough teachers for the trials. We really appreciate your offers to be involved.

Would your ākonga like to see the School Journal in development? We are looking for teachers of year 4 students to trial a text for the next Level 2 School Journal. We’re also keen to hear from teachers of year 4–8 students who would like to trial the Connected series. Trialling will take place in mid June and consists of trialling a scaffolded text with students, using the teacher support material for that text to plan your lesson, and completing an online questionnaire for the text and the TSM.

Both new and experienced teachers are welcome and koha will be offered. If you’re interested in trialling one or more resources, please contact Geraldine at [email protected] for further details.

(Illustration by Minky Stapleton from the screenplay "The Box" in School Journal Level 4, November 2022)

26/02/2023

Sending our love to Ans' family and friends. What a talent and a NZ icon.

The noted photographer Ans Westra has died at the age of 86. She was regarded as one of New Zealand's most important photographers, capturing unique sides of kiwi life. See some of her most famous images.

21/02/2023

Privileged to have designed the Tama Pasifika Wellbeing Journal with Dahlia and Mani from Empowerment Training. Can't wait to hear about and see the ripple effects of this wicked cool resource ❤️

26/01/2023

Our mates at Lift Education are looking for teachers to trial scripts for forthcoming School Journals, Junior Journals, and more. Details below ⬇️

EDIT: Thank you everyone for such an amazing response! We have now signed up enough teachers for the trials. We really appreciate your offers to be involved.

Want to be a part of bringing the next School Journal to life? We are looking for teachers with different levels of experience to trial scripts for the next School Journal, Junior Journal, or chapter book.

The trialling for each resource will take place over two weeks, between late February and mid-March 2023, and consists of trialling with students one or two texts from the book. This includes using the teacher support material for that text to plan and teach your lesson, and completing an online questionnaire for both.

Both new and experienced teachers are welcome and koha will be offered. If you’re interested in trialling one or more resources, please contact Jo Cho at [email protected] for further details.

(Illustration by Minky Stapleton from the screenplay "The Box" in School Journal Level 4, November 2022)

14/01/2023

We are working on the journals that have the inaugural submissions! Check out Toitoi's post below for info about the submissions for the next round!!

01/12/2022

So great to have student pieces in our Level 3 and 4 School Journals. Our mate Simon Waterfield at Lift Education designed the Level 2 🥰 Congrats to our budding writers from across Aotearoa!

31/08/2022

So proud to be the designers of the Ministry of Education's new set of Pacific Dual Language books! We are loving working with the team at Lift and our amazing illustrators. We had a couple of new Pasifika illustrators join the ranks for these 🥰

NEW PACIFIC DUAL LANGUAGE BOOKS 📕 We're excited to introduce 25 new Pacific Dual Language books, designed to help parents, whanau and kaiako explore the content and language together. These are available as PDFs online and have additional audio files to support language pronunciation.

The use of these resources and the promotion of Pacific languages affirms children’s identity, language, and culture

To access these resources, head to Te Whāriki online, your go-to website for Ministry early learning curriculum support: https://bit.ly/3xTvE6m

Early Learning services can access hardcopies of the books here, click : https://www.thechair.co.nz/login/moe-thechair

16/08/2022

Another image taken by Mark Coote with talent/whanau we sourced & art directed. The image was a part of a much bigger project to refresh the Ministry of Health's image library. We also project managed the 6 shoots. It's such a pleasure to see our work, working to relay important messages! Liz is about to head outside in Welly 🌧 for quick blat around the block with a mate as part of her staying well this winter!

There may not be a lot of sun around during winter days, but it’s important to get it while you can to help you stay healthy over winter.

Our bodies produce Vitamin D whenever we get sunlight on our skin – an essential vitamin that helps the body use calcium to build and maintain strong bones and teeth and helps with muscle function.

During the cooler months, it’s still important to get outside – try a daily walk or another form of outdoor physical activity while the winter sun is out. Remember that wearing an SPF 30+ sunscreen when outdoors is still necessary throughout the year, not just in Summer.

Oily fish (for example salmon, tuna, sardines, eel and warehou), mushrooms, eggs and fortified milks (including non-dairy alternatives) are all great food sources containing Vitamin D.

Find out more about getting enough Vitamin D: https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/healthy-living/food-activity-and-sleep/healthy-eating/vitamin-d

12/08/2022

Shooting in Auckland today with this amazing crew 🤩❤️

12/08/2022

FYI for all our budding authors and illustrators our there check Toitoi's post 🔽🔽🔽

Take the leap!

Toitoi invites young writers and artists ages 5-13 who are curious, courageous and creative to submit original material in English or te reo Māori that reflects the cultures and experiences of life in New Zealand.

Our next submission deadline is coming up on September 30, 2022.

Email your writing and/or art to [email protected] and include your name, age, school and a parent or teacher’s name and contact details. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Pictures by Christian Lobb, age 11, Toitoi 28

08/08/2022

One of the books on the new Gagana Tokelau website check out the Ebook https://gagana-tokelau.org.nz/en/resources/e-books/fagatua-tokelau illustrated by long time illustrator and mate Vaitoa Baker 💙💛

Ilai Elekana Manu hopes his new book on Tokelauan traditional wrestling, or Fagatua, will garner more interest in the sport.

08/08/2022

It's been very busy period both for us both professionally and personally but we wanted to SHOUT 📣 about a massive project that we've worked on with Lift Education's Don Long and Peggy Nesbitt and lots of our stalwart illustrators and some new pasifika illustrators. We started in 2017 with the first set of books for the Government of Tokelau we've worked on another 2 sets of books since.

Last week, the Gagana Tokelau Website https://gagana-tokelau.org.nz was launched, the bilingual site is a repository, housing all of the resources and much more! You'll find levelled readers, flip books and ebooks. All the books have audio and a downloadable PDF. Jason Darwin built the website and created the E books.

It's been a labour of love and a privilege to be part of the vision the team in Tokelau had for their programme of work to revive and preserve their gagana. Its so satisfying to see all our work in the one place and accessible to so many. What a true gift, Fakafetai Government of Tokelau, Kai te manaia 💙💛

17/07/2022

Beyond proud of the being a part of the Mila's Books all pasifika team - helping realise our dear friend Emeli's dawn raid story 💛 Check out the Dahlia's blog ⬇️⬇️⬇️

A New Dawn by Emeli Sione published by Mila’s Books will be released 1st August 2022 Have you ever heard someone’s story and thought, That so needs to be a book.  I’ve openly share…

02/07/2022

Sunday shoot with 3 generations. Adrian seems to have a new assistant 😎

17/06/2022

Pretty stoked that our Te Papa Press book Going to Te Papa | Asiasiga ‘i le Falemata‘aga i Te Papa authored by our mate Dahlia Malaeulu has been awarded a Highly Commended (Children's Book) in the 2022 Museums Australasia Multimedia and Publication Design (MAPDA) Awards.

We are very pleased to share that three Te Papa Press books have been awarded in the 2022 Museums Australasia Multimedia and Publication Design (MAPDA) Awards.

Winner, Children's Book:
Why is That Spider Dancing? The Amazing Arachnids of Aotearoa. Designed by Kate Barraclough.

Highly Commended, Children's Book:
Going to Te Papa | Asiasiga ‘i le Falemata‘aga i Te Papa. Designed by Liz Tui Morris, Bolster Design.

Highly Commended, Book:
Hei Taonga mā ngā Uri Whakatipu | Treasures for the Rising Generation. Designed by Area Design.

👏A big congratulations to the designers and authors of these three wonderful books. You can view the rest of the MAPDA winners here: https://www.amaga.org.au/mapda-2022-winners-list

17/06/2022

Our Poto Series books are online now! We've got some great stories written and illustrated by our fav authors, Dahlia & Emeli and fav illustrators Leilani Isara, Samuel Sakaria, Darcy Solia, Michel Mulipola, Andrew Burdan and relative new comer to educational publishing Kennedy Faimanifo. Set 2 also up there we've revived and renewed some beautiful TUPU series titles. Check them out on the link below 🇼🇸🇹🇴📚💙❤️

31/05/2022

Do love seeing our images we helped art direct and source talent for pop up. We shot this with another long time collaborator Mark Coote. 

It’s the first day of winter - and the start of the “busy season” for our local healthcare providers and hospitals. But this winter could be even more challenging. While we’re still dealing with Omicron, open borders may bring more flu, colds and other winter illnesses, with the possibility of new COVID-19 variants.

Here are three simple things you, your whānau, friends and colleagues, can do to stay well this winter:

1. Stay home if you’re unwell and get tested for COVID-19. Remember: you need to self-report both positive and negative results for RATs through My Covid Record, so we understand the size of the outbreak.

2. Wear a face mask when on public transport, in indoor settings like retail stores and supermarkets, in poorly ventilated spaces or when it is hard to physically distance from other people.

3. Make sure you and your whānau are up to date with all available vaccinations against infectious diseases like influenza; measles, mumps and rubella; chicken pox; whooping cough (pertussis); pneumococcal diseases and COVID-19.

For more information about staying well this winter, visit: https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/healthy-living/stay-well-winter

31/05/2022

❤️

Marsden Books - Online Shop

31/05/2022

We've been busy but we've just managed to have a look at our awesome images shot with Adrian Heke, for the Office of the Childrens Commissioner on their new website!

27/04/2022

We are so proud to have designed this series of books for the Ministry of Education NZ. Always a pleasure to work with the team at Lift Education and illustrators, Leilani Isara, Darcy Solia, Samuel Sakaria, Kennedy Faimanifo, Michel Mulipola and Andrew Burdan to create these unique 🇼🇸 & 🇹🇴 stories.

NEW POTO BOOK SERIES 📚 🌺 We've developed a collection of wonderful stories in Gagana Sāmoa and Lea Faka-Tonga for young ākonga.

Pacific learners’ identity, language and culture are at the heart of our Poto book series. We're proud to have distributed the books to 28 Pacific bilingual units across the country.

The book series will be officially launched online in May and will be available to all schools and kura.

Story books in gagana Sāmoa:
🌺 ‘O Lo’u ‘Āiga / My Family
🌺 Pē Fia ‘Avea ‘e ma Saienitisi? / Thinking About Being a Scientist?
🌺 ‘O le malaga Fa’alemāfaufau a le Tusiata Komi / Adventures of a Comic Book Artist.
🌺 Fa’asoa I Talatu’u ma Fāgogo / Sharing Talatupu’a and Fāgogo.
🌺 ‘O le Tatalo / The Prayer.

Story books in lea faka-Tonga
🌺 Ko Hoku Fāmili / My family
🌺 Fakakaukau Ke Ke Hoko Ko Ha Tokotaha Saienisi? / Thinking About Becoming a Scientist?
🌺 Ngaahi Me’a Mālie he Fononga ‘a e ‘ĀTISI TĀ Kōmiki / Adventures of a Comic Book Artist.
🌺 Fevahevahe’aki ‘o e Fananga mo e Fāgogo / Sharing Talatupu’a and Fāgogo.
🌺 Ko e Māketi he Tokonaki / The Saturday Market
🌺 Ko e Tāpuaki’i ‘o e Me’atokoni / The Prayer

If you know a school or kura who would be interested in these books for their ākonga, share or tag them in this post.

13/04/2022

Bolster is proud to have been a part of designing such important resources to support our ākonga. Now there is wrap around resources to go with the guidelines we designed. We hope schools use this to further enhance their inclusive culture

LAUNCHED TODAY 😍 We’re proud to announce new resources designed to support wellbeing and the teaching and learning of relationships and sexuality education in schools and kura in ways that are effective, safe and inclusive.

The new resources contain additional information on:
💚 Consent
🧡 Use of digital technologies
❤ Healthy relationships
💛 Po*******hy

This follows a 2018 Education Review Office report noting that the curriculum would benefit from more on these issues, and reflects feedback from the Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation calling on schools and kura to:
💙 take more action against bullying, violence and child abuse
💜 to be more inclusive, and to help students recognise the importance of diversity and respect in relationships.

Thank you to everyone involved in developing these resources alongside Te Poutāhū | Curriculum Centre – including universities, government departments, non-government organisations like InsideOUT, teachers and young people.

ACCESS THE RESOURCES
Printed copies will be distributed to all state and state-integrated schools and kura, and digital resources can be accessed on our website: https://bit.ly/3O65nLl

These new resources are optional, but we believe effective, safe and inclusive teaching practice around relationships and sexuality education is something we should all strive for.

It’s mandatory for schools and kura to consult their community at least every two years on the content of their local health curriculum.

15/03/2022

Made a wee book for the Auckland Down Syndrome Association for people to share to help raise education and awareness about Down Syndrome and promote inclusion.

is the perfect time to open discussions and raise awareness. We are super excited to launch the NZ update of "A Kids Guide to Down Syndrome". Thank you to all those families around the country who have contributed images, and to Jodi Wicksteed for volunteering her design talents.


You can download a pdf at this link. https://adsa.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/A-Kids-Guide-to-Down-Syndrome-Book-2022.pdf

19/01/2022

Pretty stoked to see the latest addition to the awesome Pacific Dual Laguagec series out! Together with Lift Education we helped produce the 5 titles for our littlest people and their people. This is the first set of ECE Dual language books which also includes an E book version. Check out the link ⬇️⬇️

07/12/2021

Thrilled to see our finished images on the clients website. We work really hard to cultivate relationships so we can call on beautiful whanau like these for our clients images ❤

13/11/2021

Seeing the beautiful images we helped curate and organise on clients socials makes the grind worth it. 📸 Adrian Heke