Life & Leisure - Tradition Refined

In a small cabin, tucked behind the Matakana Village Butchery, a family-led collective is turning a traditional, often overlooked ingredient into simple, natural skincare, building a distinctly local narrative along the way.

Sisters, Haylee and Kylie Collings and Sarah Watts, together with childhood friend Zak Thomson, make a formidable team at Matakana Village Butchery. Owned by Sarah and her husband Matt, the butchery has become more than just a workplace – it’s the foundation that inspired this tight-knit foursome to turn an old idea into a new way of life. For the women behind Matakana Tallow Co, the revival began in the most ordinary of ways: mothers trying to help their family with dry, irritated skin. Utilising a by-product from the butcher that was otherwise destined for waste, Haylee started to experiment with tallow in her home kitchen.