The Host

I’m John Bache — a creative strategist and co-founder of Naked & Curious, a small venture studio in Aotearoa focused on analogue creative work and regenerative design.

My working life has unfolded in distinct (if occasionally overlapping) chapters: the 90s in multinational corporates in New Zealand; an unexpected second career in sport (this was the overlapping bit); and more than two decades in Germany working across media, communications and design. Each phase required me to start from scratch in a different world and taught me a great deal about how people and ideas grow and thrive.

Throughout all of this, one thread has remained constant: a commitment to creativity and to supporting those for whom creative expression is a driving force. Whether advocating for snowboarders and mountainbikers, championing graffiti artists, or now building the Naked & Curious ecosystem, the work that matters most to me has always involved helping under-recognised creative practitioners receive due reward for their talent.

Returning home in 2024 presented its own kind of personal unmaking. It closed a long loop and led to a relocation in early 2025, settling in Wānaka after more than twenty-five years' absence. That first year back in Wānaka brought significant clarity: a period of slowing down, rebuilding and understanding what kind of work I wanted to commit to for the long term. It also confirmed something I had sensed for years: meaningful creative work often unfolds beneath the surface, in the doubts, pivots and transitions that rarely appear in public.

The Unmaking grew directly from that realisation, and is an essential part of the Naked & Curious ecosystem. It was created to indulge my own curiosity and love of in-depth conversation, explore the deeper processes that shape creative lives, and honour and elevate those doing brave, meaningful work in all its forms.