Business in Southland to expand its Shell brand

Second generation Southland companies are taking their business expansion seriously as the tourism sector has been hit by Covid-19.

Nina Shields, director of global sales at Ocean Shell, said her core business of supplying shells to souvenir makers has been hit hard by the lack of tourists from the closed borders.

Three years ago, Riverton started the luxury veneer brand Lumea, and now he’s decided it’s time to focus more on that.

“We sell more or less the same products and just try to reach different places more specifically.

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“I think Lumea was…because that was before the coronavirus…it was about trying to scale back the products because they looked a little tired. We had existing markets, but we really wanted to upgrade the products to…because it’s basically a luxury product.”

The main customers of the company come from the Middle East and Italy, and the Lumea brand has focused on the sale of veneer shells.

Lumea provides veneer to these customers to make luxury furniture.

Shields has joined COIN South’s Proof It program, so the company can identify specific types of clients and what is needed to identify them.

Lumea places great emphasis on sustainability and the practices that fall within its procurement casings; That’s what sets the company apart from other people selling the same product, Shields said.

“No one is involved in identifying the sources of the case,” he said.

The company buys seashells directly from divers.

Shields said one of the company’s main goals is to tell the story of the issue’s source and relationship with nature.

According to Shields, Ocean Shell has supplied 90 percent of manufacturers in New Zealand with shells to make gifts.