Dune swoon – Duffle & Co
A limited edition duffle bag in support of conservation organisation Forest & Bird is the beginning of something bigger for Duffle & Co owner and bird lover Bernadette Stevenson.
Already the owner of a beloved B Corp bag brand and supporter of offshore landscape restoration, Bernadette felt compelled to do more close to home. Forest & Bird’s ‘Bird of the Year’ campaign opened the conversation of collaboration – Duffle & Co would create a bag and donate $88 from each purchase to the charity.
“Bird of the Year is such a fun time for bird lovers in Aotearoa,” Bernadette says. “But there is more we can do to express our adoration for birds via a tangible piece that like-minded supporters can cherish, feel proud to wear and combine with an additional donation.”
A chance meeting with Christchurch fine artist Georgette Thompson – whose oil painting of a tui caught Bernadette’s eye when exhibiting at the same trade fair – saw the limited edition Dune Duffle take flight.
As an artist, Georgette specialises in capturing the personalities of native birds and has donated a significant amount to wildlife charities over the years. To celebrate Bird of the Year’s 2026 election year theme, Georgette’s rendered portraits include a bird from each of the bird ‘parties’: floor birds, sea birds, shy birds, shore birds, high birds and tree birds. The Dune Duffle is lined with organic cotton that artisans have screen printed by hand in Bali to depict Georgette’s botanical style reference artwork of six native manu (birds).
“Creating art that gives back to our birds has been at the core of my practice for many years,” Georgette says. “I feel honoured that my little illustrations may play a small part in giving our birds a fighting chance,” she says.
Photographed by Ashley Alexander.
“In our Bali workshop, we had enough of this beautiful canvas left over to make exactly 88 bags, so that’s what we did. The colour also reminded us of one of the favoured nesting places for our sea birds and shore birds, the dunes and coastlines of Aotearoa,” Bernadette adds.
