Sojourn Festival

Sojourn was dreamed up on the sun-drenched deck of my whanaus home in Pauanui, or the little tropical oasis we call "The Nui Hut". The Coromandel has forever been my inner-adventurer's retreat, where I can escape the hurried reprise of everyday routine and find solace in a slow and simple lifestyle, away from a frenzy of digital distractions. Removing social media from the mix unlocks a massive sense of freedom and an urge to explore beyond the bounds of our daily default, and from a pretty hefty stack of research it's obvious that an ocean of Millennials and Gen Z'ers also share this heightened sense of wanderlust when techs off the table. So with a love for the local indie rock music scene in play, I present SOJOURN - a traveling music and adventure festival which journeys the eastern coastline of the Coromandel Peninsula. Each sustainably-crafted item tucked inside the Sojourn Roadie Kit aims to encourage festie-goers to become utterly immersed in the present moment, the music, our moana and surrounding whenua, and their connection to each-other. With my hand-drawn illustrations being influenced by the playful, organic and free analogue style reminiscent of the 1960s/70s, it only seemed fitting that 'Vienna' by Billy Joel (1977) sparked this train of thought from onset. Even 45 years on the lyrics, “slow down you crazy child, take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while,” couldn’t be more relevant!