Awhi Company
Client
Awhi Company
Engagement
Build partnership
Overview
A phased rebuild for a Māori-design pēpi brand: a gated puzzle launch first, then a redesigned home, menu and cart the whānau run themselves.
Services
What we did
Where they started
A Tauranga whānau business making Māori-design pēpi blankets and wraps, about to launch te reo Māori puzzles. The brand had outgrown the site, the theme had been tweaked by many hands, and they wanted a long-term build partner, not a one-off fix.
How we worked together
The launch came first: a password-gated early-access page for their email list, VIP access at 7pm on launch night, public the next morning, with launch-day standby. Then the rebuild, phase by phase. A custom mega menu with imagery per category, a rebuilt home page on its own section library, hero, category tiles, customer video section, and a reviews band, plus collection drill-down navigation and a custom cart. Announcement bars and hero slides carry show and hide windows, so a sale banner turns itself on at 7pm and takes itself down when the sale ends. One detail mattered more than most: the old heading font drew macrons incorrectly, so kupu Māori never sat right. The typography moved to a face that renders te reo properly.
What changed
The site finally matches the brand. The puzzle launch went out on time to a waiting list, sales schedule themselves instead of relying on a late-night edit, and every section is editable, so the team change imagery, copy and layout from the theme editor without touching code.
Notes from this work
A Shopify sale banner that schedules itself. The font that couldn't spell te reo.
