WildLab

WildLab is a group of designers and researchers committed to growing a world where people and nature thrive together.

We collaborate with community groups, iwi, farmers, business, and government agencies. Together, we create regenerative landscapes, strategies, experiences, and communication tools that connect them and their partners with te taiao and nature.

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Te Araroa Map Series and Toolkit

Be among the first to explore Te Araroa in a whole new way. This new six-map series brings the whole trail together, beautifully designed for walkers, section-planners, and everyone who’s part of the Te Araroa journey.

$58.00

Southern Faces - An Introduction to Rock Climbing in Ōtepoti Dunedin

Southern Faces is a comprehensive climbing guidebook for Ōtepoti Dunedin, created to fill a 25-year gap in local climbing information. Designed and edited by WildLab's very own Riley Smith, the project brought together climbers, designers, mana whenua and scientists to produce an accurate and visually engaging resource. It combines detailed route descriptions, maps and access notes with essays and photography that highlight the region’s geology, ecology and climbing culture.

$48.00

Southern Faces Tees - Pinnacle

Tees feature Dave Brash’s original topos from his 2000 classic Dunedin Rock - cheers Dave! These shirts are a tribute to the cliffs, climbs and community that continue to shape the climbing story of Ōtepoti. There are three awesome designs to choose from!

$48.00

Our Projects

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Antarctica New Zealand’s Scott Base Waste Reduction

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This review identified ways to reduce environmental impact at Scott Base—including comparing air- vs sea-freight emissions, cutting food waste to 20%, improving storage and stock control, optimizing recycling systems, and ensuring unnecessary items are returned efficiently to New Zealand.

Wild Heart Project Punakaiki Storytelling

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A series of interpretation panels brings local nature stories to life, guiding volunteers through the plant nursery, sharing the project’s mission, and helping them become storytellers themselves—turning each visit into an engaging, educational exploration of this coastal restoration effort.

Ararira Wetland Community Restoration Project

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A restoration design reimagines a degraded wetland into an inspiring outdoor classroom where planting events connect people with place. The landscape's patterns evoke inanga, tuna, and a lazy river, nurturing both ecological renewal and a community of learners and stewards in a shared space.

Seaview Vineyard White Road Tour Storytelling

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Storytelling panels and wayfinding signs guide vineyard visitors along Yealand's White Road Tour, explaining sustainable winemaking practices—like caring for water, nurturing vines naturally, and repurposing prunings—with engaging visuals and clear directions, turning each stop into an immersive, educational journey through the vineyard’s regenerative processes.

Field Notes

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Behind the Image

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This column, some years back for Wilderness Magazine, takes a look at our love of pristine wilderness photos—those calendar shots with no people, no huts, no mess. But behind every image is someone swatting sandflies, hauling gear, and eating tuna from a foil pouch. Maybe it’s time we showed that too

Forever Wild

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This recent column reflects on how moments in wild places shape who we are. It traces the history of New Zealand’s protected lands and how they came to be, while noting the pressures they face today. It asks us to consider the shared responsibility we all have for ensuring these places remain fully protected both now and into the future.

New Land

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This exploratory map invites us to see Aotearoa’s public conservation lands—covering a third of the country—not as fixed or finished, but as places full of fresh potential. Re-imagined as a newly discovered archipelago, it prompts us to ask how we might live differently within these lands. Could they foster new forms of innovation, economy, and culture grounded in restoration, care, and a deep engagement with nature?

Being Landscape

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This article reimagines landscape not as a static scene to be observed or preserved, but as an active, lived relationship between people and place. Drawing on personal experiences, design research, and fieldwork,a case for more participatory approaches to conservation is made—ones that foster mutual shaping between people and landscape, and enable deeper belonging through embodied practice.

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Our Projects

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