When Blair Coates’ parents took a skinny dip in the river running through the family farm one hot summer’s day, little did they think it would inspire a skincare production line in the former cowshed.
“I can’t actually remember a time it wasn’t calledNudi Point, and it’s just always been a very, very special place,” Coates told RNZ’s Country Life.
Coates called his range of serums, balms and other skincare products after the swimming hole because “my number one criteria for the range was that it was 100% natural”.
The former city banker and music teacher was also inspired to strike out in skincare after dealing with bad skin as a teen.
“I just couldn’t seem to work out why or how to get rid of it, and it was so bad that I was not confident to go to school on quite a few days, and I would wag school, or I would make up some excuse as to why I’m not feeling well enough to go because I was just getting teased and bullied.”
Blair Coates, in the production area for his skincare range – a converted cowshed on the family farm. Photo / RNZ, Sally Round
Coates said he became “quite obsessed” with learning about skin care and all of the elements that help clear the skin.
He returned to the family land in the Takahue Valley, south of Kaitaia, 12 years ago and decided to launch Nudi Point, using his earlier training as an aromatherapist.
His husband and mother are also involved in the business.
In a pristine lab, without a whiff of the cows who used to come through here, Coates showed Country Life how he mixes up a serum of several essential oils and decants it carefully into small blue bottles.
Blair Coates blends essential oils and bottles them for his customers. Photo / RNZ, Sally Round
“We like to think that a little bit of Nudi Point magic goes in every little product that we send out.”
That sense of place is an important selling point for Coates, especially as his is a small rurally based business, now more reliant on online sales as retailers shutter in the cost-of-living crisis.
Still part of a river reflecting the native bush on its banks, the swimming hole which inspired Nudi Point. Photo / RNZ, Sally Round
“I think it matters, you know, it’s more than just a bunch of products that someone made and put on a shelf,” he said.
