For over a year, 15-year-old Amelie Coggan, behind Little Joys by Amelie, has sold hand-crafted clay Kiwiana-themed souvenirs and mental wellness mementos.
The year 11 St Andrew's College student was awarded with the Best New Product at the NZ Autumn Gift and Homewares Fair last month, shortly before Coronavirus lockdown implementation.
Prior to Amelie's mum, Sara Coggan, sending out a post to four local community groups on Facebook, business significantly slowed down with tourist stores - a number of which Amelie supplies - shutting their doors with national tourism restrictions.
"The sad thing is we had a lot of potential orders... and of course, we've just heard nothing," Sara said.
"Amelie wanted tourists to be able to buy a locally-made product by a local artist as a way of remembering their trip to New Zealand."