We've both already lived quite large lives, accumulating knowledge, skills and global perspective, but also personal bruises and scar tissue, before finding our way back to smaller places and more intentional creative paths.
The two of us are united by many things, including our approach to life, dark sense of humour, and shared love of things made to last.
We're also passionate about domestic creative and manufacturing resilience, fewer chemicals and plastics, and pursuing a (re:)generative agenda rather than an extractive one.
Then there's our photography. We've each spent over 40 years behind the lens, but our images couldn't be more different. Mark sees in layers and shadows, the complex friction of things in relation to each other, while John works in light and transition, the charged, fleeting moments between changes of state.
Two photographers.
Two founders.
Two different pictures of the world.
Those shared values, alternate perspectives, and the ensuing creative tension fuel everything we make together.
Meet the founders
John Bache
John spent over two decades working across the German-speaking world, with some of the world's biggest brands and leaders in design, media, sport, automotive, and organisational transformation.
After returning home to Aotearoa in 2024, he settled in Wānaka, from where he's building the Naked & Curious creative ecosystem, hosts The Unmaking podcast, and spends his spare time photographing the Southern Lakes' changing states, and playing and (re:)making in nature.
Mark Lever
Mark is a highly skilled designer, craftsman, storyteller, and material expert. The founder of SYML and Daedalic Lightworks, his Matakana studio is one of Naked & Curious' home bases.
A former award-winning director, photographer, and chef, Mark continues to combine ingredients, develop narrative arcs, solve problems, and channel alchemy in the pursuit of surprising and delighting. Whether he's designing a new product at the drawing board, refining a prototype in the workshop, or giving his historic wooden yacht Nereides some TLC, Mark's work is all about maximising sensory and emotional engagement.
