About APW
Aotearoa Permaculture Workshop (APW) is a grassroots community education organisation that has been supporting people to navigate ecological, social, and economic change since 2008. Rooted in Aotearoa New Zealand, APW works at the intersection of permaculture, systems thinking, ecology and natural sciences, design, bioregioning and place-based community learning.
APW exists to help people think clearly, act meaningfully, and build resilience in their lives, whānau, communities, and ecosystems.
For over 14 years, APW has delivered in‑depth, face‑to‑face education that consistently exceeded participant expectations. Alumni regularly describe APW as life‑changing: influencing career shifts, business creation, land regeneration projects, and deeper engagement in community life. What distinguishes APW is not only what is taught, but how: learning is experiential, reflective, place‑based, and grounded in real‑world application.
Our mission is to teach, inspire, and empower local living cultures and lifelong learning through ecological design, social innovation, and the appropriate use of technology.
At the heart of this mission is a belief that lasting change does not typically come from top‑down solutions, but from individuals, whānau and communities developing the skills, confidence, and relationships needed to respond creatively and compassionately to a changing world.
Meet the team
Finn
As a designer, educator, facilitator and permaculture practitioner, Finn’s primary passion and skills are in the cultural, psychological and behavioural realms. He is a trained educator with a background in anthropology and psychology, and professionally, his work over the last two decades has focused on social innovation, placemaking, community development, co-design and collaborative processes.
He brings to APW an in-depth understanding of teaching pedagogy and practice, dynamic facilitation and accelerated learning practices, a love of human cultures, and a breadth of experience and exposure to indigenous knowledge and sustainable practices from around the globe.
Along with Gary, Finn co-founded APW in 2008, Resilio Studio in 2015, and Dark Green Aotearoa in 2019.
He is in the early stages of setting up an intergenerational homestead near the shores of Whāingaroa harbour in the western Waikato region, and loves applying his knowledge and understanding to the regeneration of land, people and place.
Gary
Gary has always been passionate about art and design and came to permaculture through his growing awareness of environmental challenges. He discovered permaculture and landscape architecture around the same time and these two design disciplines have been a focus of his professional interests ever since.
Gary is a lifelong learner - he loves learning new things, and getting to the bottom of things he hasn’t yet fully understood. He is a wealth of knowledge and a prodigious reader.
Gary is a practicing landscape architect and permaculture practitioner currently living between Tāmaki Makarau, Auckland and Pirongia. His kaupapa brings together design, ecology, and community in a way that regenerates people, place and nature. He is driven about what he does, and loves sharing what he has learnt about ecology, design and sustainability with others.
Along with Finn, Gary co-founded APW in 2008, Resilio Studio in 2015, and Dark Green Aotearoa in 2019.
APW’s Foundation Programme is the course Gary wished he’d had access to when he first started on this journey to understand the world and how to meaningfully contribute to it.
Ron
Ron has spent 14 years practicing and integrating permaculture into his life in a suburban setting, with a particular passion for appropriate technology and hands-on learning. Ron previously worked as an educator and innovator in the Zero Waste field for over a decade.
He loves making things, especially from wood and other recovered materials. His first permaculture mentor, the late Joe Polaischer, inspired him with to learn to repair or redesign almost anything, and looking back, he is immensely proud of what he has achieved in this regard. Ron’s passion is in inspiring others to achieve this and more.
In 2014 Ron joined the APW core team. Since joining the team, Ron’s particular contributions to APW is connecting the conceptual with experiential learning and implementation where practical.
In late 2021 Ron, utilised his permaculture training and theory together with online tools to find a suitable rural property for his family to move to through the challenge of Covid lockdown. It has been immensely satisfying for Ron to see the theory hold true and the rural property he moved to has performed as anticipated. He is currently living the dream in a rural setting with his extended family.
APW is preparing to launch the Foundation Programme.
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