Our new tohu reflects care for people and communities

St John of God Hauora Trust has a new tohu. It is the most visible change to our identity in many years, and it has been a long time in the making. The new tohu was designed by Ariki Creative, working closely with the Trust through a process that began with the foundations: who we are, what we carry, and what we want to signal about the work we do.

What the tohu carries
Three core elements shape the design. The pomegranate has been a symbol of St John of God for almost 500 years. It appears in the iconography of the Order and in the heritage of every organisation that carries the St John of God name. In our tohu, it anchors the design in that founding mission: to walk alongside people in their suffering, with compassion and without exception.

Koru and koiri forms are woven through the tohu, reflecting the uara of the Trust. The koru speaks to growth. The koiri, a koru with another curling away from its centre, speaks to nurturing and manaakitanga. These are not decorative choices. They are how we try to work.

Mangopare and pūhoro forms carry the qualities of resilience, strength, and wai. They reference movement, flow, and renewal, qualities that feel right for an organisation that has been through significant change and continues to find its path forward.

Five motifs within the tohu represent our five guiding values: Manaakitanga, Aroha, Whakaute, Tika, and Hiranga. These values are not aspirational. They are how we operate every day, or how we work to.

Working with Ariki Creative
The design process was a collaborative process of aligning our unique heritage and Mission with Te Ao Māori concepts. Ariki Creative brought deep knowledge of tikanga and visual language to the work, and the result reflects both the depth of St John of God’s heritage and the Trust’s commitment to its journey as a Tangata Tiriti organisation. The tohu does not simply update our look. It asks us to keep living into what it represents.

What comes next
The new tohu launches with this website and will roll out across the Trust’s communications, publications, and facilities over the coming months. You will see it across Hauora Ability Services and Waipuna Youth Services, in our pānui, and in everything we produce.

We are proud of it. We hope it means something to the people we serve, the communities we work alongside, and everyone who has been part of this organisation’s journey.