Our story
About
Aroha Bears
"Aroha" is the Māori word for love, compassion and care. It is the only word that felt right for this small workshop.
Aroha Bears & Friends began as a quiet project on a kitchen table in Christchurch, Aotearoa. A few inherited bears needed mending. Then a few more arrived from charity shops, then friends began passing along their own. The work of listening to each bear and giving them somewhere clean and quiet to wait for their next family slowly turned into a small boutique.
We are deliberately small. Each bear is a one-of-a-kind listing, with a real photograph, a real story, and a real assessment. Nothing here is mass-produced, and we will never pretend that it is.
Most of our bears come to us through estate sales, donations and quiet referrals. Some are restored to a careful "loved again" finish — others are left almost exactly as we found them, because their wear is part of who they are.
Profits go back into restoration supplies, kind shipping materials, and the occasional donation of bears to children's hospitals around New Zealand.