Our story

Just Another Tutu is a brand dedicated to creating simple yet interesting products that showcase and celebrate the beauty and complexity of language. Our goal is to bring language to the forefront of design.

Co-founders Lee and Ryan are a couple of Kiwi blokes who have been friends for over 25 years. They first met in Japan in the late 1990s where they were a couple of entrepreneurial educators running their own language schools.  This is where their passion and respect for language and all of its intricacies began. They have a deep love for both New Zealand and Japanese culture.

Ryan is from the north of the North Island of New Zealand. He has whakapapa ties to Ngāti Hine and Ngāpuhi in New Zealand, the village of Tuapa in Niue, and East London in the United Kingdom. Lee is from the south of the South Island and is of European descent (Pākehā), (predominantly English) with genealogy extending to the United Kingdom and the United States.

Just Another Tutu evolved from a desire to be creative and to escape the monotony of the 9 to 5 corporate grind. The name is a reference to the Māori term 'tutu' which, in essence, means to fiddle or tinker with things. The term is used as both a noun i.e., he is a tutu and a verb i.e., he likes to tutu. Since they are both tutus who like to tutu, the name seemed the perfect choice.

If you have any designs you would like to see or are interested in something custom, please contact us.

Thank you for your support.

Lee and Ryan