Society Insider: Heir’s $500k engagement ring; SPQR sisters on building an empire

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Jessica and Bronwyn Payne, the sisters expanding their hospitality empire with the relaunch of SPQR; Harry Hart, son of NZ’s second-richest man Graeme Hart, is believed to be engaged to his Australian heiress partner, Cartier Lee.
Man about town Ricardo Simich brings you Society Insider. The exclusive parties, the exotic holidays, the hook-ups, the break-ups, and the high stakes business deals – this new Thursday column pulls back the curtain to reveal how New Zealand’s other half live.
As they take the hammer to SPQR’s 90s decor, Bronwyn and Jessica Payne have spoken to Society Insider about the highs and lows of running their businesses.
The sisters took on the failed restaurant in September, adding to their hospitality and fashion empire which includes Ponsonby’s Elmo’s and Hopper’s Garden Bar and a shapewear brand.
They have revealed SPQR’s reopening date has been pushed back to January after originally saying it would be ready by December.
“The main reason why we will be opening in the New Year, is to have some well-rested and happy faces in our new venue to celebrate an exciting year of positive change,” the Paynes tell Society Insider.
Bronwyn, 31, and Jessica, 32, have been in the hospitality industry together for over a decade with the older sister owning her own restaurant at age 20.
They grew up in the United Kingdom, which helped inspire their passion for Italian food and European-style garden bars.
Their parents have been key to their success with father John Payne often on the tools – he is a bricklayer by trade – and their part-French mother Susan is a chef.
Both sisters graduated from Massey University with bachelor’s degrees.
Brownyn’s Bachelor of Communication in marketing and media has served the creative side of the business well.
Jessica opened The Pizza Library on Rata St in Mount Maunganui in 2012. Understood to have been 20 at the time of opening, she was the sole owner.
It’s fair to say it was a family effort to make it a success – both her parents were certified managers of the establishment and, from 2013, sister Bronwyn was the creative director.
They weathered controversy in 2014 with public objections being made for a permanent alcohol licence for their new neighbouring bar to The Pizza Library, Vaudeville were raised.
“The Pizza Library was a great venue and had a positive impact on all of its customers and community,” Jessica tells Society Insider.
They have learned that as far as any disputes go, they are part of the territory of being in the hospitality industry.
“It’s great to see the community supporting venues, but also for some to query, which allows us the opportunity to connect in open conversation in order to impact communities in a positive way,” says Jessica.
They moved on from The Pizza Library and several takeaways associated with it in 2017, intent on making their mark on the Auckland hospitality scene.
The sisters have owned Hoppers Garden Bar at 134B Ponsonby Rd since 2018.
The space was previously the much-loved entertainment and dining venue The Golden Dawn: Tavern of Power.
A year later they transformed Mr Tom’s across the road into Elmo’s, an Italian restaurant and bar specialising in pizza and Italian cuisine.
In 2020, Hoppers attracted negative press for hosting a US election party attended by Maga-hat-wearing Trump supporters. That same year, three former employees made allegations to The Spinoff about their working environment, including a case of sexual harassment by customers.
The Payne sisters told Society Insider a staff member “got slapped on the bottom by a client”.
“She was really upset at the time. The manager working on the night advised her not to serve the table at the time to make sure this did not continue.”
The pair said they were upset at what had happened, took incidents of this nature seriously and the following week put in place a number of new protocols, security training and a traffic light system.
The staff member was moved to Elmo’s Restaurant.
“We felt a restaurant would be a better environment for her to work.”
In 2021, the pair stepped into fashion in 2021, creating their Kynn Wear brand, a shapewear line, designed and crafted in New Zealand.
This year, on July 12 SPQR closed its doors to diners after 32 years, with liquidators from PKF Insolvency appointed, confirming it was no longer trading.
In late July, the Payne sisters registered a new company called Estelle Entertainment Limited and took the keys to SPQR at the end of August.
Since news broke of their takeover, curious locals have been trying to peer through the shielded renovations.
“Our mission is to bring some of the sophisticated creative freedom of European nightlife and turn it into a feast for the senses for locals and visitors to enjoy,” Jessica says.
“There isn’t much timber or wooden detailing to work with, so it’s been a fun challenge working with the existing bricks, masonry, and metal detailing.”
Bronwyn’s boyfriend, former model Matt Donaldson, has been working on-site at 150 Ponsonby Rd, as has the sisters’ father John Payne who has been seen with a paint can and paintbrush in hand.
“Dad and Matt have come from a background in the trades and are great assets on this front in helping this project come to life for us sisters,” Bronwyn says.
They are currently headlong into the procurement of products, which they say involves some exciting custom furniture that they have designed themselves, along with a local furniture company in Auckland to bring an exciting new look.
“Some of this contains wrought iron, brass, copper, bright weaves into our fabric, and of course some colourful leather,” Jessica says.
The sisters have kept SPQR’s beloved copper bar, and other fixtures that exist, along with the well-known kitchen.
There will, however, be changes in seating areas and layouts, with a plan to introduce more of a European style of dining.
“We want to artfully infuse a range of inspirations from SPQR’s vibrant past, Ponsonby character, and a sprinkling of disco fabulousness, ready to inject some vibrancy into Auckland’s nightlife,” says Bronwyn. They promise to “hit the ground running” with a “fabulous opening celebration”.
They say creating their promised new “playful and spectacular” hospitality venture is a huge task, with the perfectionist sisters in constant meetings.
“We have needed a little more time to procure decorative products such as furniture, fabrics, art and the like,” Jessica explains.
“It’s been an incredible experience already through working with the old walls, peeling back layers of old plaster and paint, leaving a lot of the old, and making it work with the new.”
Even though the pair was seen on television earlier this year as guest judges on My Kitchen Rules NZ, alongside Kiwi foodie Polly Markus and famous Australian chefs and judges Manu Feildel and Colin Fassnidge, the pair prefer to keep a low profile.
Their Elmo’s site was very desirable for other hospitality bigwigs, and they are both fully aware that taking on SPQR has thrust them even further into the spotlight.
Like any entrepreneurs, high risk can bring its rewards; the sisters purchased a $2.5 million five-bedroom villa in Ponsonby together last year.
Australian heiress Cartier Lee and Harry Hart, the son of New Zealand’s former richest man Graeme Hart, are believed to be engaged.
Guests were said to have been seen admiring the large rock Lee was wearing on her engagement finger – a 10-carat canary diamond, estimated to cost around $500,000 – at Nick Mowbray and Jaimee Lupton’s Halloween party.
Mowbray usurped Hart’s father from the top spot on the rich list this year. He and fiancee Lupton, founder of Monday haircare, threw the no-expense-spared bash at their Herne Bay property.
Lee is the daughter of Aussie rich lister Trevor Lee, who is a Brisbane cattle baron, and fashion designer Keri Craig-Lee, dubbed by the Australian press as Queensland’s Empress of Style.
Will Cartier’s mum be involved in the planning of the happy couple’s nuptials?
In 1984 she cast Queensland fashion into the international spotlight with the design and co-ordination of Sir Elton John’s Sydney wedding to his German bride Renate Blauel. Craig-Lee designed Blauel’s wedding gown, bridesmaids’ dresses and Sir Elton’s bow tie.
Society Insider first reported Hart and Lee were dating in 2019, after they were seen together at the Karaka Million at the Auckland Racing Club.
On the night of the Herne Bay Halloween party Hart, 31, and Lee, 27, are understood to have first visited the Remuera home of All Black Beauden Barrett and wife Hannah Laity for pre-drinks. The couple dressed as a deer and deer hunter with Lee’s rock on full display.
Society Insider’s diamond expert describes the ring as around a 10-carat canary emerald step-cut diamond ring. Rarer than colourless diamonds, a 10-carat canary diamond’s average value is just under $500,000.
Lee and Hart have enjoyed nearly six years of romance. Hart has visited Lee’s native Queensland and the pair spent Covid lockdowns together at the Hart family $100 million compound in Glendowie. Since borders opened, they have enjoyed private jet and superyacht holidays all over the globe, most regularly during the summer season in Europe on the Mediterranean.
Earlier this year we reported Graeme, Robyn and Harry were in New York to celebrate Cartier’s graduation from New York University Stern School of Business. She achieved a Masters in Business Administration in Fashion and Luxury.
Since then, the pair spent the northern hemisphere summer in the Mediterranean on the new Hart family boat Ulysses, estimated to be worth $300 million.
Some are speculating that Cartier’s parents’ boat, the $30m Thalassa, was on the Med at the same time.
The Thalassa is reported to be kept in the Caribbean in the northern winter and the Mediterranean in the northern summer. Society Insider wonders if Harry proposed while many family members from both families may have been in port at the same time.
The Lees’ boat has reportedly been available for charter – at up to A$400,000 ($442,000) per week.
Unlike the fiercely publicity-shy Harts, Lee’s parents Trevor and Keri are known to give interviews to the press. However, in an extensive Australian Financial Times interview in 2021 the pair did not mention their daughter’s relationship with Harry.
Trevor Lee is one of Australia’s largest landholders and biggest private beef supplier, with a reported fortune last year of more than A$1.8 billion ($1.99b).
Earlier this year, Graeme Hart had his wealth reported at $12b.
Cartier Lee is understood to work for German company BIOWEG in business and brand development for beauty, nutraceutical, and food/beverage sectors.
Lee’s role may complement that of Harry, who, along with his father, owns food business Walter & Wild.
Lee is also known as an actor and singer and has been represented by former American Idol Judge Randy Jackson for her music and entertainment agency Magnolia Entertainment for her acting. Magnolia’s other clients include Rosamund Pike and Bill Skarsgaard.
Harry’s mum Robyn is famous for her events and event planning. Cartier has been the muse and model for her future mother-in-law Robyn’s silk flower business Bloom and Vivid, whose designs have been seen at fabulous weddings around town.
The question on everyone’s lips now is who will make it up the aisle first: Hart and Lee, or Mowbray and Lupton who have been engaged for a year and a half.
Lupton’s engagement ring is a stunning pear-shaped diamond by London-based, New Zealand-born jeweller Jessica McCormack, thought to be a 5ct pear-shaped diamond in a Georgian cut-down.
Watch this space.
Kiwi artist Ross Jones’ paintings hold pride of place in some of the finest homes and apartments and in private collections in New Zealand and around the world.
Original paintings from his latest collection will be on sale at Parnell Gallery, priced from $30,000 to $55,000.
“These paintings are short stories from my childhood; old forts, fast cars, slow boats, robots, rockets and epic adventures, lawns that seemed to take forever to mow and summers that would never end,” Jones tells Society Insider.
Parnell Gallery is inviting selected guests for a preview with Jones on Tuesday evening.
Although Jones, 58, won’t name his clients, a well-known New Zealand vineyard has three originals of his work. One long-time collector has 12 Jones’ originals.
“My originals sell to many different types of people from entrepreneurs and business owners, philanthropists, those in education, innovation and accountants and other creatives, including other artists, who seem to appreciate the story and details in my works,” says Jones.
Jones also creates giclee prints (best fine art reproductions) of his original paintings, which he says are being regularly posted throughout the world, with big interest in Australia, Tokyo and the United Arab Emirates.
From his studio overlooking the Hauraki Gulf, Jones conceptualises his work in detailed sketchbooks filled with ideas waiting to come to life. When they do, Jones says, it’s an adventure when he takes his brush and oil to the canvas.
At his Parnell exhibition Jones will add an interactive element for the first time with the toys from his paintings on view at the gallery.
One of his new works called Daydreaming features tennis balls floating in a pool alongside his 11-year-old Labradoodle Alice. It is a new take on an earlier work Obsession which captures Alice’s devotion to tennis balls and water.
There are approximately 4000 tiles in the pool. Jones painted 10 tiles an hour, 10 hours per day for 40 days.
“I usually have at least three to four paintings (or a year’s worth of work), fully planned out in advance,” says Jones.
Jones started out as a freelance illustrator after he graduated from the Wellington Polytech Design School with a diploma in visual communication design, majoring in Illustration.
“I had a portfolio of illustrations and simply began door-knocking at every advertising agency and design studio in Wellington.”
For the next 15 years, Jones honed his craft by creating commissioned works for notable clients such as Bank of America, Penguin Books NY, The Wall Street Journal, and Time Inc.
As an illustrator, Jones enjoyed the challenge of his creative freedom with art directors and designers.
“There are a lot of fingers in the creative honey pot,” he says.
Jones explains from the beginning of his career he set a goal of producing 100 paintings for the project 1 in 100.
“One hundred paintings to put me on the path as an artist,” he says. “I didn’t realise it would take 20 years to achieve the goal.”
He is about to start painting No 84.
If you can’t afford his originals, once his goal is complete he plans to publish a book featuring all 100 paintings.
Jones’ advice for anyone collecting art is to do their research.
“Like every other investment, artwork is a risk, and nothing is guaranteed,” he says.
“Who still remembers NFTs? How many millions were quickly made and lost? It was a fool’s paradise in the wild, wild West.
“Besides – the customer is a patron and without patrons, artists wouldn’t survive economically.”
Jones’ latest exhibition is open to the public from November 12-26 at Parnell Gallery, 263 Parnell Rd.
She was recently back in Auckland to open the doors to her father’s Full Time Sports Bar & Eatery in Kingsland.
But Danielle Dodds had something exciting of her own to announce.
Nine months after the Gold Coast-based former Bachelorette married her tradie and former YouTube superstar husband Logan at the palatial Ātaahua Estate in Ōmokoroa, the pair have revealed they are expecting a baby.
Dodds is the daughter of Mark Robinson, owner of One New Zealand Warriors and Autex Acoustics. She was back in Auckland in her role as marketing manager for both organisations.
The Dodds have enjoyed a mini babymoon at the award-winning luxury Calile Hotel in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.
Kiwis party for the Melbourne Cup
On Tuesday punters got race day ready for lunches across town for the Melbourne Cup.
Designer Kathryn Wilson, Harfield Jewellers owner Jodie Dick, interior designer Shelley Ferguson and former Real Housewives Michelle Blanchard and Gilda Kirkpatrick were standouts in the fashion stakes at Soul Bar & Bistro at Viaduct Harbour.
This year, Dick performed the honours outside the restaurant’s steps with the annual Champagne sabrage on a Jeroboam of Mumm Grand Cordon.
Around the corner, another Real Housewife, Anne Batley-Burton was one of many glamorous guests in attendance at Botswana Butchery and Harbourside Ocean Bar and Grill’s annual lunch and fashion show at the Ferry Building on Quay Street.
The runway show featured designs from Trelise Cooper, Caitlin Crisp, and SHEN.
NZME hosted its Melbourne Cup event with clients at Rooftop at QT with hearts and feet pumping and stomping when Knights Choice won the race that stopped two nations in a photo finish.
Benee’s acting debut
Last Thursday, critically acclaimed audience favourite New Zealand film Hard South had its cinematic release set off with a special screening at Event Cinemas in Queen Street.
The event was attended by director Jonathan Ogilvie along with cast, including Stella Bennett (aka popstar Benee), who made her acting debut in the film alongside Trendall Pulini and Oscar Phillips.
Head South is a coming-of-age post-punk story set in 1979 Christchurch, Ōtautahi, loosely based on creator Jonathan Ogilvie’s childhood.
The film sold out screenings at festivals around the world including Rotterdam, Sydney and Melbourne and is available in cinemas across Aotearoa now.
Ricardo Simich has been with the Herald since 2008 where he contributed to The Business Insider. In 2012 he took over Spy at the Herald on Sunday, which has since evolved into Society Insider. The weekly column gives a glimpse into the worlds of the rich and famous.
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