3. Have you ever had a project fail?
I've had heaps of failed projects. You have to be adaptable and allow the design to evolve as you go along. For example I designed a waharoa for the Kiwi village at the Rio Olympics. I wanted to set some acrylic in the concrete to create windows of light. The guys making the concrete mould hadn't done that before but the key thing is they were willing to try. The first one cracked so we added some stainless steel plates at the back to make it stronger and the design ended up looking better.
4. You have your own coffee brand, Tutukaka Roast. Do you design the taste as well as the labels?
Yes, I've been into coffee for years. I got into the machines first, designing bespoke cases for an Italian brand. Then I got myself a little roaster, some green beans and started playing with my own flavours which my wife and I would sell up the coast in summer out of a van. It got to the point where we needed the beans bulk roasted so that's now done on contract to our specifications.
5. Growing up in Manurewa, how did you get into design?
I can't remember a time when I wasn't creating something. I started my first clothing label at intermediate school. I'd come up with my own brands and stencil them on to T-shirts and hoodies. I'd paint artwork on to army surplus bags and sell them. In high school I started making my own clothes using mum's sewing machine and offcuts from Dad's job at Bonds apparel factory. By 19 I was selling my urban streetwear label Vampire in 10 high street stores. Each garment was limited edition and had a story connected to it.
6. You went on to design for the surf label Town and Country and rugby giant Canterbury. What did you learn about the fashion industry?
It's pretty cutthroat and hard to make a living. Canterbury were trying to modernise and become more youth orientated but there were too many fingers in the pie and really entrenched views so I left and did a graphic design diploma. It was good for me to study once I'd been in the working world. Most of the gang in my course were fresh out of school and mucked around with no concept of the money they were wasting because they hadn't had to earn it. I was the geeky swat. I'll be telling my sons there's no hurry.
7. You designed the New Zealand team's uniform for the Rio Olympics. Were you happy with how that turned out?
I wasn't particularly happy. The uniforms got a bit of flak for being too bland but that's what happens with design by committee — the original concept gets whittled down. There were also commercial realities. The uniforms were manufactured under sponsorship by a massive company in China that wasn't going to do specific designs for such a small print run. Some of the negative comments were from people in high fashion but the uniforms weren't supposed to be worn down the catwalk. The Olympic committee said the athletes were the happiest they've been with them so I was stoked.
8. Have you ever been down and how did you pull yourself back up?
Yes, I got majorly depressed when my first son was born. I had to take four months off work. I couldn't really function. It was the stress of carrying my own marketing business. I was working 70-hour weeks but I wanted to be present as a father. I started painting and it was making me happy. I realised I need to do work that uplifts me so I became a fulltime artist. It was really scary because it was make or break but looking back it was the best thing that could have happened.
9. How did you come to design two BMWs as native New Zealand birds?
I'd known about the BMW Art Cars for a while — artists like Andy Warhol and David Hockney have created a canvas on cars — so I got in touch with BMW New Zealand. They'd already heard of me and said "great". I made two large artworks on vinyl to cover the cars. I did a black M3 that looked like atūī — athletic, sleek and manoeuvrable — and the bigger X5 as a kōtuku. We toured the country with them and profits from limited edition art prints went to Forest and Bird.
10. What is your ethnic heritage?
My grandfather was Chinese. He came here from Canton in the 20s and did market gardening where he met my Māori-Scottish grandmother. My Dad is of Danish-English descent. So my work is a fusion of all those different ethnicities. A lot of people see the Chinese influence, particularly the style lines in the birds, which are big in both Māori and Chinese culture. My Chinese grandfather used to do a lot of calligraphy. My Dad's side were talented artists, too.
11. Māori patterns and motifs feature in your work. Have you studied traditional Maori artforms?
No, I didn't grow up with my Māori culture but I still feel like it's intrinsic to who I am. When I started doing art all these shapes started flowing from me. People well versed in Māori culture have described the meanings in my work and surprisingly it is actually what I'm trying to say without that traditional knowledge. I avoid doing work to do with Māori legends, spiritual and whakapapa connections because I don't have enough of an understanding for it to be authentic. I tend to stick with my stories and native flora and fauna as I interpret them.
12. You designed some craft beer cans for Good George. Were there objections to putting Māori imagery on alcohol labels?
Yeah, there were but you can drink alcohol responsibly. I just like to try different avenues to get my work out there. Traditionalists tend to give me a pass on that when I explain my reasoning and they can see I'm not just doing it for commercial reasons or to provoke controversy.
