Anieszka Banks

In the early days of Zoë & Morgan in NZ, Anieszka brought her magic to everything, illustrating beautiful pieces, writing heartfelt thank you notes to customers, and making us laugh as we built the website together. Nearly six years ago, she became a mother to twins and has embraced a deeply thoughtful approach to parenting. Tuning into their needs, encouraging self-expression, and guiding them with presence.

Now living in one of Tāmaki’s most remote and beautiful spots, she’s created Poppy & Sage. A business that blends her creativity with family life alongside her partner, Oscar. Read on to explore a life shaped with care and intention.

After the cyclone, I learned more about the concept of healing stories and how they can help children process things indirectly, through symbols and rhythm. The stories I tell don’t name the kids or the challenges directly, but they seem to resonate, and I love watching their minds work as they listen and correct me when I forget a detail.

Once the kids are at school, I head home to my studio, which is made up of three spaces: one for illustration, one for woodworking, and one we call the candle cave, my happy mess of wax, moulds, colour tests, and half-finished creations. Even though candle-making takes precision, temperatures, colours, and wick sizes, it’s where I feel most free. I’ve always worked this way: audiobook on, snacks nearby, drinks everywhere, and completely in the zone. This is my calm and my total joy.

Pick-up comes as we discuss the day on the way home before the kids head outside. Either building their fairy kingdom in the bush or doing something mildly terrifying on bikes while I try not to look. We share our land with a lovely elderly couple who lost their home in the cyclone. Chrissy, who has an incredible children’s book collection (her mother was Dorothy Butler), reads to the kids often; they’ll run straight to her house for the next chapter.

At dinner, we light a candle for each child, a ritual from their Steiner school that brings presence and a moment to reflect on the food and its origins. They’re tricky eaters, so these little rituals help make mealtimes more meaningful.

After dinner and a bit of play, it's bargaining about showers and more books. One of our nightly rituals is sharing our Rose, Thorn and Bud: something beautiful from the day, something hard, and something we’re looking forward to. I feel like this helps them organise their thoughts and gives me a way to connect a little deeper with them and what they have experienced.

Weekends are a softer rhythm. Pancakes, beach walks, making things, and friends over, cooking things on the fire and of course more books!

Simply making connections can be enough sometimes, so asking them what the world might look like if we all threw our rubbish out the car windows, if we ate all of the fish before they had had a chance to grow again, if we cut all the trees down, etc.

Growing a daughter and a son, I feel the responsibility to teach them that women are capable of anything, everything that they put their minds to and deserve to be valued as equals always. One of my proudest moments was being told that Poppy had shouted ‘You are being sexist and that is not okay’ at another child who had said girls can’t climb trees very well. I also try to teach my son that his sensitivity, his way of seeing the world, him crying at a beautiful flower, etc, makes him no less powerful or strong. This is so hard in a world that wants small boys to be so different to this.

I have always found the fact that I work and parent difficult to balance. I find the balance so hard to find, and often I feel like I should be working more or being a better mum. Recently, I’ve come to the conclusion that I want them to see me work hard, to try my best, and to have an interest and passion in things. I want to show them that it is possible to be a Mum, but also a creative individual.

That I am a mum, but I am also a human just like them who has hobbies, passions and things that bring me joy too.