About Us

Hello! My name is Erin, owner and founder of Orinoco. Below is my story of how Orinoco began from humble beginnings in October 2020. Orinoco was born to be a boutique store unlike any other on the Kapiti Coast. I wanted to create a store that has a vibe, style and a feel where we truly care and connect to our community.

All my life I have always loved people and the Community.  I worked as a Community Pharmacist for over 20 years in Palmerston North and Wellington. I also retrained as a Florist while working in Pharmacy rediscovering my love for flowers. I found a new love for style and design through clothing, fabrics and homewares while working in Retail. I wanted to bring local NZ designers and suppliers to our store.

When I first opened Orinoco we had dried floral arrangements and I did flowers for Weddings. Before Covid was upon us, we also donated beautiful dried flowers bouquets to the Kapiti Cancer Centre for patients and whanau, collected weekly by a lovely Cancer Centre volunteer.

The name “Orinoco” was affectionately my childhood nickname (yes one of the Wombles!). I am also called “Rin”. My sisters and I all had a womble toy each, mine was Orinoco. I loved how the name sounded, felt, and looked on paper. I discovered to my delight that there are two Orinoco Flowers. The “Orinoco Flow Iris” (purple and white) and an Orinoco Daisy Chrysanthemum (lovely deep red pom pom with a yellow centre).

The Orinoco logo represents a circle for the community. It encompasses the veins of the Orinoco Flow Iris, with its buds for new beginnings. Our little store is right by the beach, and the lines of our logo in the circle may be seen as wood grains or water flowing, in the sea or the Orinoco River.

We also proudly give back to the community. To the NZ Cancer Society - our team and lovely clients perform two catwalk shows a year in Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer. In spring/summer 2023, we raised just under $4000 for the NZ Cancer Society. In Autumn/Winter 2023 we were asked to model for the NZ Breast Cancer fundraiser too!

Orinoco would not be here without the amazing people who have helped along the way. My dear team and many clients are now dear friends. Life brings people together. Our little store has often been said it “connects” people.

I recall a lovely lady saying to me over two years ago when I was describing our store to her “What you are describing to me about your store is “An experience for the self”, and we do truly offer an experience for the self. Come and see for yourself.
Erin x