My Office: A Sanctuary for Garage Kit Enthusiasts

As I walk through my office, you'll notice that it's filled with an assortment of garage kits. To many, they might seem like just trinkets, but to me, they're a testament to the artistry and creativity that goes into building these miniature sculptures. As someone who has spent their career in film production, I've had the privilege of working on some amazing projects, but there's something special about having the opportunity to showcase one's passion project.

I often find myself drawn to the tactile nature of garage kits. There's something about touching and holding them that feels almost primal. I've always felt encouraged by my team to explore this aspect of our work, and as a result, we've incorporated it into our design studio. You'll notice that many of the art pieces on our walls are not just our own creations but also belong to other artists from around the world. We believe that inspiration can be found in the work of others, and by showcasing their art, we hope to create a sense of community and connection.

As someone who has spent a lot of time traveling for work, I've always made it a point to explore local studios and shops whenever possible. It's not just about meeting clients or delivering projects; it's also an opportunity to discover new talent and learn from others. I often reach out to artists who share my interests, and we'll arrange meetings or studio visits. These connections have led to some incredible relationships and collaborations over the years.

Living in New Zealand has been a blessing for me, but it's also limited our access to a rich cultural scene of creative endeavors. As someone who loves public art, sculpture, and figurative work, I've had to seek out inspiration elsewhere. However, this hasn't stopped me from being curious about the world around me. One of the most valuable gifts you can give yourself is the ability to observe the world, and that's something that I hope to inspire in others.

As my assistant, Ari, can attest, our office is a space where creativity knows no bounds. We're not just a film production company; we're also a community of artists who are passionate about their work. From Guerry's gaming figures to Jamie Best's Warwick zoological creatures, there's always something new and interesting to discover. Our design studio is a treasure trove of imagination and inspiration, and I hope that by sharing our space with others, we can encourage them to explore their own creativity.

When traveling, I often find myself reflecting on the world around me. It's not just about seeing places; it's also about taking the time to observe the people, the culture, and the art that surrounds us. This is why I believe that cataloging the world is such a valuable experience. By paying attention to the little things and being mindful of our surroundings, we can gain so much more from traveling than any material item we might purchase.

As I look around my office, I'm reminded of the importance of nurturing creativity in ourselves and others. Whether it's through art, design, or simply observing the world around us, there are countless ways to cultivate a sense of curiosity and wonder. It's something that I hope to inspire in others, whether they're fellow artists or simply people who appreciate the beauty in the world.

The intersection of film production and garage kits may seem unusual, but for me, it's a natural fit. Both involve a deep passion for artistry and creativity, as well as a willingness to take risks and try new things. By combining these two passions, I've been able to create something truly unique and special – a space that celebrates the beauty of both film production and garage kits.

In many ways, our office is like a museum of sorts – a showcase for the art and creativity that surrounds us. Whether it's through the work we do on set or the projects we pursue in our free time, we're always looking for new ways to express ourselves and connect with others. As I look around my office, I'm reminded of the power of community and collaboration, and how these relationships can lead to some truly amazing things.

The relationship between film production and garage kits is one that's often misunderstood. To many, they seem like two separate worlds – one high-end and artistic, the other more playful and whimsical. However, for those of us who are passionate about both, there's a deep connection between them. Both involve a sense of creativity and playfulness, as well as a willingness to take risks and try new things.

As I continue to explore the world of garage kits and film production, I'm constantly reminded of the importance of community and collaboration. Whether it's through social media or in-person events like Comic-Con, there are countless ways to connect with others who share our passions. By sharing our work and experiences with others, we can create a sense of belonging and connection that goes beyond just our shared interests.

The art on my walls is not just a reflection of my own personal style; it's also a testament to the incredible talent of other artists from around the world. From Guerry's intricate gaming figures to Jamie Best's vibrant zoological creatures, there's something truly special about each and every one of these pieces. By showcasing their art in our office, we hope to inspire others to explore their own creativity and passion.

As I look around my office, I'm reminded of the importance of nurturing creativity and community. Whether it's through film production, garage kits, or simply observing the world around us, there are countless ways to cultivate a sense of wonder and curiosity. It's something that I hope to inspire in others, whether they're fellow artists or simply people who appreciate the beauty in the world.

In many ways, my office is a reflection of my own personal journey – a space where creativity knows no bounds and imagination runs wild. Whether it's through film production or garage kits, I'm constantly inspired by the beauty and wonder of the world around me. By sharing this space with others, I hope to inspire them to explore their own creativity and passion.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome to still entitle the Adam Savage project I'm norm I'm Adam I'm Richard Richard Taylor welcome thank you very much it's lovely to join you again yes and and we've been here in wellington now for for just about a week just about a week yeah yeah we are here working on some projects but also covering and it feels like visiting family members well for the first time ever we've got to hang out properly in the weekend yes be nice I was able to invite you out to play trains which i think was something that surprised you because you think though that was coming and that was great fun yeah and it really it exemplifies the feeling that we get coming here it's the third time I visited Wellington and I pulled up to the front gate here it was oh you know it's like I'm home I'm with some family again feels like we're we're so welcomed and it's so warm here in every department that we've been that we've been covering right and because of course because of what is your core fascination your love of making and your love of giving to the world stories about how to make that's the core of what we do here of course I say to our team it's all about what's at the end of your arms these ten digits and what you can do with them it's got to be about a love of making and and you know arguably you I think that's what you feed off when you're here oh and I I must say I'm always God smacked by when we're hanging out and having a meal together and chatting how calm you are and yet how many varied and many armed this creature that is weather is and also at the same time I've worked in big effect shops where there was over 200 people working at once and one of the things that typifies in the u.s. at least was that there were often people who protected their fiefdoms in their section of the company and if you drifted you you would find resistance and I don't see any of that here I see many many tales of people matriculating from one department to the other we're here for decade or two decades and working in different departments you know I can't come into my own store in in anywhere else because I'm not I've not got experience of that but here we cover 11 different departments there that is born out of necessity to stay in business by diversification but it's also born out of a love of mine to just give everything a go and a love of our team to feel a sense of responsibility for lots of different creative areas and exploration into those creative areas so that means it's a prerequisite that you can't come armed with an ego we want people to be egotistical people use the word ego as if it's a bad thing you actually want people to take a sense of pride in what they do and that's driven by an ego and what you do but it can't be to the point that your exclusive allowing others to do it with you and collaboration you know just the fact we call ourselves Witter as opposed to the name of the owners of the company or something like that is so that everyone feels like they're working underneath a banner that is almost a collective and singular banner that's almost faceless as well then you know it's a co-op of people working together and the fact that we've got people with the longevity of service here as you were mentioning I guess speaks to the fact that people enjoy that they enjoy not specializing they enjoy being entirely collaborative even to the point they're a sculpture I don't know if this is necessarily the one that one that we did it was but we will have sculptures that we will hand from artists or artists someone will work on it for three weeks and then it will be passed on to another sculptor who may work on it for a bit of time and so on so that the collective is adding something richer to it then just a single individual Wow and you know I imagine that's a fairly unusual thing in the world yeah absolutely I mean you know it what it lends itself to as we walk around is the understanding that Wetty is about so much more than just film or telling stories on film and television that you guys are into architecture and museum exhibit design it's storytelling in every possible place you could find it yeah the term I use and it might be a little bit clumsy but with her services the world's creative industries because we're an artisan studio we're not filmmakers we don't make movies Peter Jackson makes the movies we work on James Cameron does Andrew Adamson does etc etc we've contributors to them and we love to be an integral part of them and on something like ghosts in the show you find yourself being an incredibly integral part and others you may be just a passing moment in the making of the film but what we're trying to be is an artisan studio servicing the creative industries of the world what is the prerequisite for us accepting a job first and foremost is will it deliver creative enjoyment and worth to us as a group that's before profitability that's before kudos whether we get a credit etc etc so we'll take on projects that so richly creatively rewarding but none may even know that we work on them some of the private Commission's that we do for people around the world for private individuals are some of the most exciting work but no one knows that we do their work there remember when I first got to Industrial Light & Magic in the late 90s and up my resume so that people started just giving me work without having to see my portfolio and that was great but I also it was very useful because as a model maker in film it's a boom and bust business as you know and as a freelancer you're always thinking what's next what's next what's next so I would do toy prototyping and I would do a mechanical problem something and it's exactly the same thing that's what this is the thing is taco can you talk a little bit about the difficulties of bringing in work for this large group of people and keeping them going yeah well is everyone listening to this can appreciate where we're the last model making workshop arguably there may be in the South Island of New Zealand and maybe there's some people in the lower part of South Africa or there may be more self than us but we're a long way from the epicenter of the world and especially the world's film industry and keeping our team busy is an incredible challenge and we do fall quiet for periods of time but we we are focused Tania and myself made a decision a very very long time ago that our primary calling and our business was to retain our core staff and that's a core staff of about 150 to 180 people so it's a lot of people right now we've got 320 people in the on the workshop floor and then the company he had just that with a workshop but our core staff we want to retain and we want to retain them on full wage weather we've got work or not God works so that that requires a process of making sure that you look after them well enough you facilitate the workflow successfully enough and you try and keep consistency of work because another thing that a skilled creator of artisan doesn't want to be doing is being paid for doing nothing right as well so you have to generate creative ideas that give them worthy work that you can then commercialize and a lot of our tourism offering our traveling art exhibitions our publishing arm to some degree even our collectables business has been born out of that aspiration to keep people and worthy work when you have no work and then figure out a way for that work to make the money that keeps you going as it company and that doesn't just benefit the people that are working for you Johnnie Fraser Alan told us the story of years ago there being some downtime and you keeping him on the books to learn sculpting during the downtime and he has become the most amazing sculptor you-you-you fomented that by providing him the space and time and and money to do that no a fundamental is that you're only as good your staff I worry sometimes that maybe business owners don't stop to understand that they think they're only as good as their own self intelligence and drive and entrepreneurialism and and cash and the bank and so on those things are important but nowhere near as important because you're just one individual the the power in a skilled group of artisans is extraordinary so the the relative inexpensive cost of hosting someone in the workshop and allowing them to learn from the people around them in a new craft - what it gains in the future for now that person may leave and and someone listening to us who may be of the previous school of thought may go we'll see there you got caught out they live you can't think about just your own company of course you've got to think about the community of art and you've got to think about the world of that there are far too few artisan this fad far too few artisans in the world and it's critical that you know I talked to you a little while ago about the critical importance of tactility in our world when a world is interfacing with the world through glass interface computer screens tactility that touch the sense of squishiness through your fingers of dirt under your toes of stepping off their tarmac roads and concrete pavements of the urban centres of the world and allowing the people of the world to touch the have connectivity with the earth that stuff's actually important it all starts with craftsmanship you mentioned there are 11 departments here didn't start out that way and some of that necessity comes from the technology that's coming you know the sculpting it's just types of sculpting and digital sculpting so how do you keep apprised of what's new in terms of technology well that that comes down to you you know the answer to that because you live it and breathe it you specifically Norman probably more than on to anyone that's in the public arena in the world and that's just a fascination just a deep fascination I have an unquenchable fascination for what is happening and I want to be part of it I want to have part of it now if you can't afford it and often is the case we can't afford it we can't go and buy the latest piece of technology although I'm proud to the things I'm proud of is that maybe a staff member way back in the past could catch me out on the statement but I believe that Tania and I have never turned down a request for a piece of equipment or technology because it enables ya it may be expensive work but often the cost can't be met by going and buying it prepackaged so we build it the great fortune of our company is that we have incredibly innovative people and you see this every day that you walk around here and should we need a specific piece of equipment and we can't buy it we'll build it because in the building of it we enable new technology in the workshop and we advance ourselves that little bit more that little bit yeah well you seem so fearless about the you know there are some shops I know in Los Angeles where everyone builds everything by hand and it's hand sculpted and you guys are doing that but you're also using the latest scanning equipment the latest photogrammetry the latest 3d printing rapid prototyping techniques I saw the titanium sintered fingers on the armor of a robot yesterday that I had never you know a level of precision and tightness to an actor that was impossible five years ago it's really great how fearless you guys are yeah what we want to never do is the audience do not want to see yesterday yesterday tomorrow yeah they always want to see something new and and the the level of it's a funny word sophistication because sophistication must not doesn't mean high-tech manufacturing it's more about a mind sit the way you think differently but there is a reality that some things just cannot be created physically to the degree that your client or you aspire to it yeah and that requires technology a very quick and good example when we started the Gallipoli exhibition we couldn't find a 3d printer that would print clear material there may have been in the world but flies have a very specifically a wing yeah so eight months out from the deadline we started designing and building a 3d printer to print the wings seven months out from the deadline it worked and in the last month we had already printed non translucent wings in case we didn't pull it off but the technology was designed and built to achieve the results we really really wanted Wow and there that's very much the mindset that goes into these things I we were visited the the scale of our war this morning oh did you walk oh yeah that's great I'm pleased about that it's overwhelming in every possible way and I'll even add in addition to the ways in which it's purposefully overwhelming I'm overwhelmed by every tiny detail that you guys had to scale up from the the the the coarseness of the fabric and the canvas and the leather to the buttons yeah these scabs on them and the healed scabs on the arms and the skin of the of the soldiers I'm very glad that you acknowledged the fabric and I wouldn't expect anything listen yeah because most people look at the figures and they enjoy the hyper realism of the flesh and here punching and the corneal bulges on the eyes and the cracking a little upset cetera and the broken fingernails and but that was challenging of course but nothing compared to the challenge that our costume department went about the brief I gave Alastair our head of costume was should a world expert on military costuming from the First World War see these figures they would never question that weren't exact one-to-one scale Kosh uniforms from the original federal law so they're that that's a gauntlet you throw down and of course an Alistar as any of our team leaders will pick that up and guarantee so the trying to match stitch for stitch the authorized military stitch count are they denier of the wool that was used to weave the fabric at the time that had to be blown up to enough time there's no end of story not just located but skilled up not just cutting a largest no no no no it's not scaling up is we learned so clearly on Lord of the Rings when we did the hobbits cuz of course Gandalf the large-scale Gandalf could not just be put in the same fabric he couldn't be dressed his hair gonna be the same thickness as human here it had to be at one point for eight times larger there same with these guys because it's 2.5 times larger that's why we use yak here because yak here has a larger D near the thickness of the hair than normal here so all those things are gonna be thought about when when one of the things I do when I see things that I'm encountering for the first time as I often walk through in my head its manufacturing process I've been doing this for a decade yeah I'm just sitting in a room and just think about how the ceiling tiles were made exactly the same and I was looking at those exhibits at Te Papa and just thinking of the lists of you know how many dozens of different kinds of fabrics how many buttons how many badges and all the little bits of militaria and not just military but the detritus of its being used and muddied and bloodied and damaged then I started picturing these lists and I was I couldn't conceive of how many places you guys were we're looking for it for to to achieve what ends up being a completely seamless experience it's accurate to the hair follicles on the fly's legs accuracy so a seam at an accurate level is a fairly easy thing to achieve when you're trying to get extra seeing on the Flies leaks hair follicles you know it it's hard to express to people but maybe it would be like you guys getting a phone call and saying could you please do an exhibition about the war of independence what Appaji MA or Pearl Harbor it's as this this war is a seminal campaign in New Zealand's history it transformed New Zealand arguably from a a colony of England to a nation and its own right because of the reaction to the British rule at the time that forced that cause the Anzac forces to be so it to end up in such a difficult place and the subject matter of Gallipoli is such a critical and important subject matter here so I've been bold enough to say even though Lord of the Rings as a pivotal moment in my career that this exhibition is the seminal thing thus far in my life that I've had the opportunity to do and the fact that we were given the chance to oversee it and because normally we work for a client right although he had a client mt popa they allowed us to be our own clients and conceive of an idea work with them would be Brad the designer at Te Papa and make the exhibition as we saw fit and that was a very gracious client to allow you to do that do you think that New Zealand itself being a small country four million people do you think there's something about New Zealand that makes Wetty possible undoubtedly absolutely undoubtedly I this is something I can even lecture it's hard to actually give you a quick sound bite about bite on it but the sort of the as people maybe out across reference to other interviews that have been done with me on this subject the way I put it if you're growing up in New Zealand as a child and you have fantasies in your head and you can't buy a blister pack from the corner store you're going to invent it with your hands or you're going to go without that fancy and course if you're living at the last island before the South Pole away from the heart or in the in the early years England multiple month ship sailing ship journey you're not going to buy a piece of equipment that's going to break down and then you gotta wait for spare parts or you're not going to buy the piece of equipment at all you're going to build it with your own hands you know there there is a lovely metaphor of that which I'll mention the Wright brothers undoubtedly pioneered powered flight in the world and they and they are worthy of the celebration of it but there is an argument that maybe a month before maybe a month after a New Zealand person took to the air it is almost irrelevant whether he flew before or after the fact that he actually was who he was living where he was and thought to build an aeroplane farmer's son wakes up one day decides to build a plane and over the next few months does and then arguably is successful and invents things like wind wing warping which are still used today invents ways to build a plane there as innovative as the Wright brothers the story is about the fact that he had the innovative aspiration to do it in isolation and that is the source of our very being in the workshop for a very long time we had a large proportion of our staff from South of Christchurch there's four million people in New Zealand at the moment there were three million at the time that that statistic was correct of which a million and a half live in Auckland another million and the rest of the country in a million in the whole of the South Island so maybe only half a million south of Christchurch end a large proportion of our company came from Salford Christchurch because it's coming from the heartland of based innovation of of just mucking and get it done there's a there's a saying in New Zealand she'll be right right she'll be right because you'll just fix it with your own two hands you'll notice that when you enter our company downstairs there's a model of a Witter the Witter is made out of number eight fencing wire it's specifically made out a number eight fencing wire because in New Zealand there's a saying if you can't if you can't buy a part or if you can't get it fixed fix it with number eight fencing why it's what you twist the tractor together with you hold the gate up with you repair your car worth you shove it in for an eery all you you know even if your child needs a tourniquet you probably use a piece of number okay anyway that the point being that it's that mentality and that is it certainly would has allowed me because I've done no training and what I do in the workshop I did train and graphic design but I don't use that for what I do here I use everything that I learned on the farm growing up before I got to my training in the workshop and that's what most people bring to their careers if you know that run the company which of the eleven departments where would you spend your that's really tricky Norman I think about that myself sometimes because I'm really scattergun you mentioned at the beginning of this interview or Norman said you've got a living Department it wasn't always like that I understand what you were actually angling at you were trying to draw in the other new technology departments but from the day that my wife and I started our company we were firing in every possible direction we could prosthetic smaadahl making creatures puppets and everything else in between so we I think miniatures I think miniatures because I love the interaction with the actors which is what procedure to I love animatronics because it brings life to inanimate objects but miniatures the opportunity to build the architectural II impossible and realize places that you can never go on your own planet and there's something super special about there yeah you know I I am deeply envious of the people working on Thunderbirds because those miniatures every day yeah and imagine that as a glorious existence for those few short years so yeah we're surrounded by you know essentially miniature characters and collectibles and it allows people that have a piece of that yeah this is this is a very special part of my career as my office can contester you've both seen my office I am a huge collector of garage kits I've been clicked in my whole professional life I love making them I love putting them on the Shelf at the end of the day if some were to see them they're just trinkets they're silly trinkets to me they're a captured moment of dynamic sculpture you know what would you collect otherwise you'd have to be wealthy enough to collect marble statuary or beautiful bronzers but the garage kit industry offers a way for young people doing beautiful sculpture to distribute their art and a small number of people in the world like me like you guys collect that art well when we got the opportunity I wanted to continue that on and the our film work we enjoy and we're very proud of and we can pour immense artistry into our film work but these sculptures really offer our our creative staff the chance to realize something so special so so intrinsic to who they are and and then share it with the world and that that's a that's a great thing to be doing it's why when we're at comic-con at your booth it's not just the movie work it's also some of the the work that you're doing a pendant Lee their passion project sir our projects are equally as phenomenal as any a commercial project and the the Johnny Fraser Ellen's and you know the hubby is and Max pates and our the list is endless everyone's got their own little thing that they're doing you Guerry hunts gaming figures and Jamie best Warwick's zoological creatures I mean it's just so rich what people do outside of the hours that they work here you've talked about tactility and yeah we've both walked through many different model shops and special effects studios and there's always models and things that were built by the studio on the walls but this is the one place where not only do I want to touch absolutely everything it seems like that's encouraged yes we've even got wrecks where we haven't screwed the weapon to the wall we want people to take the sword off the wall and the the stuff on our walls you may notice that almost all of the art on the walls especially in the design studio is not our art I every time I go to places like comic-con I try and buy one or two special pieces of art and I hang it on the wall of our workshop because I want other people's art from around the world to be inspirational to us it's one thing it's great to hang your own art but boy it's really inspiring to have other people's art you talk about going to come and kinda by somebody else's art and you told us a couple stories this weekend one of the things that I find really impressive and is that when you're traveling when you travel a tremendous amount you are not just travelling to a place to go do a job or meet a client or deliver something but you are also taking the opportunity while you're in that part of the world to go look at other people's Studios other shops we've met people here who you just reached out and said I'm in town I like your work I'd like to come by your studio and that developed a relationship you're always looking for the thing you haven't heard about that you don't know about always yeah I think that's a result of living in a place such as well into New Zealand this is a beautiful place to live I wouldn't live anywhere else but it is not rich with we have a rich indigenous culture but it is not rich with a creative culture of the things I love public art sculpture figurative work collectibles pop culture so and so I have as my assistant Ari could contest you because it drives here mad we're supposed to be in a meeting but there is another texture to photographing boy there's another amazing thing to see and I love cataloging the world and because I love observing the world and I'd love to what would I always hope I can do with when I talk to young people or try and inspire people here is is remind them that to observe the world is the greatest gift you can give yourself for free you know you may want to go and buy a material item from the store but in walking to the store you gain far more material items through observation than ever you'll get out of the thing you've bought and I worry that some people forget that sometimes yeah they definitely do that is a wonderful place to stop thank you so much heard that was my assistant calling thank you so much for the podcast and thanks so much for opening your doors to us we love coming here we will keep coming quickly as you possibly can and start thinking about bringing your wife with you I will doesn't feel envious get here up in that plane and riding trains and automobiles as always thank youwelcome to still entitle the Adam Savage project I'm norm I'm Adam I'm Richard Richard Taylor welcome thank you very much it's lovely to join you again yes and and we've been here in wellington now for for just about a week just about a week yeah yeah we are here working on some projects but also covering and it feels like visiting family members well for the first time ever we've got to hang out properly in the weekend yes be nice I was able to invite you out to play trains which i think was something that surprised you because you think though that was coming and that was great fun yeah and it really it exemplifies the feeling that we get coming here it's the third time I visited Wellington and I pulled up to the front gate here it was oh you know it's like I'm home I'm with some family again feels like we're we're so welcomed and it's so warm here in every department that we've been that we've been covering right and because of course because of what is your core fascination your love of making and your love of giving to the world stories about how to make that's the core of what we do here of course I say to our team it's all about what's at the end of your arms these ten digits and what you can do with them it's got to be about a love of making and and you know arguably you I think that's what you feed off when you're here oh and I I must say I'm always God smacked by when we're hanging out and having a meal together and chatting how calm you are and yet how many varied and many armed this creature that is weather is and also at the same time I've worked in big effect shops where there was over 200 people working at once and one of the things that typifies in the u.s. at least was that there were often people who protected their fiefdoms in their section of the company and if you drifted you you would find resistance and I don't see any of that here I see many many tales of people matriculating from one department to the other we're here for decade or two decades and working in different departments you know I can't come into my own store in in anywhere else because I'm not I've not got experience of that but here we cover 11 different departments there that is born out of necessity to stay in business by diversification but it's also born out of a love of mine to just give everything a go and a love of our team to feel a sense of responsibility for lots of different creative areas and exploration into those creative areas so that means it's a prerequisite that you can't come armed with an ego we want people to be egotistical people use the word ego as if it's a bad thing you actually want people to take a sense of pride in what they do and that's driven by an ego and what you do but it can't be to the point that your exclusive allowing others to do it with you and collaboration you know just the fact we call ourselves Witter as opposed to the name of the owners of the company or something like that is so that everyone feels like they're working underneath a banner that is almost a collective and singular banner that's almost faceless as well then you know it's a co-op of people working together and the fact that we've got people with the longevity of service here as you were mentioning I guess speaks to the fact that people enjoy that they enjoy not specializing they enjoy being entirely collaborative even to the point they're a sculpture I don't know if this is necessarily the one that one that we did it was but we will have sculptures that we will hand from artists or artists someone will work on it for three weeks and then it will be passed on to another sculptor who may work on it for a bit of time and so on so that the collective is adding something richer to it then just a single individual Wow and you know I imagine that's a fairly unusual thing in the world yeah absolutely I mean you know it what it lends itself to as we walk around is the understanding that Wetty is about so much more than just film or telling stories on film and television that you guys are into architecture and museum exhibit design it's storytelling in every possible place you could find it yeah the term I use and it might be a little bit clumsy but with her services the world's creative industries because we're an artisan studio we're not filmmakers we don't make movies Peter Jackson makes the movies we work on James Cameron does Andrew Adamson does etc etc we've contributors to them and we love to be an integral part of them and on something like ghosts in the show you find yourself being an incredibly integral part and others you may be just a passing moment in the making of the film but what we're trying to be is an artisan studio servicing the creative industries of the world what is the prerequisite for us accepting a job first and foremost is will it deliver creative enjoyment and worth to us as a group that's before profitability that's before kudos whether we get a credit etc etc so we'll take on projects that so richly creatively rewarding but none may even know that we work on them some of the private Commission's that we do for people around the world for private individuals are some of the most exciting work but no one knows that we do their work there remember when I first got to Industrial Light & Magic in the late 90s and up my resume so that people started just giving me work without having to see my portfolio and that was great but I also it was very useful because as a model maker in film it's a boom and bust business as you know and as a freelancer you're always thinking what's next what's next what's next so I would do toy prototyping and I would do a mechanical problem something and it's exactly the same thing that's what this is the thing is taco can you talk a little bit about the difficulties of bringing in work for this large group of people and keeping them going yeah well is everyone listening to this can appreciate where we're the last model making workshop arguably there may be in the South Island of New Zealand and maybe there's some people in the lower part of South Africa or there may be more self than us but we're a long way from the epicenter of the world and especially the world's film industry and keeping our team busy is an incredible challenge and we do fall quiet for periods of time but we we are focused Tania and myself made a decision a very very long time ago that our primary calling and our business was to retain our core staff and that's a core staff of about 150 to 180 people so it's a lot of people right now we've got 320 people in the on the workshop floor and then the company he had just that with a workshop but our core staff we want to retain and we want to retain them on full wage weather we've got work or not God works so that that requires a process of making sure that you look after them well enough you facilitate the workflow successfully enough and you try and keep consistency of work because another thing that a skilled creator of artisan doesn't want to be doing is being paid for doing nothing right as well so you have to generate creative ideas that give them worthy work that you can then commercialize and a lot of our tourism offering our traveling art exhibitions our publishing arm to some degree even our collectables business has been born out of that aspiration to keep people and worthy work when you have no work and then figure out a way for that work to make the money that keeps you going as it company and that doesn't just benefit the people that are working for you Johnnie Fraser Alan told us the story of years ago there being some downtime and you keeping him on the books to learn sculpting during the downtime and he has become the most amazing sculptor you-you-you fomented that by providing him the space and time and and money to do that no a fundamental is that you're only as good your staff I worry sometimes that maybe business owners don't stop to understand that they think they're only as good as their own self intelligence and drive and entrepreneurialism and and cash and the bank and so on those things are important but nowhere near as important because you're just one individual the the power in a skilled group of artisans is extraordinary so the the relative inexpensive cost of hosting someone in the workshop and allowing them to learn from the people around them in a new craft - what it gains in the future for now that person may leave and and someone listening to us who may be of the previous school of thought may go we'll see there you got caught out they live you can't think about just your own company of course you've got to think about the community of art and you've got to think about the world of that there are far too few artisan this fad far too few artisans in the world and it's critical that you know I talked to you a little while ago about the critical importance of tactility in our world when a world is interfacing with the world through glass interface computer screens tactility that touch the sense of squishiness through your fingers of dirt under your toes of stepping off their tarmac roads and concrete pavements of the urban centres of the world and allowing the people of the world to touch the have connectivity with the earth that stuff's actually important it all starts with craftsmanship you mentioned there are 11 departments here didn't start out that way and some of that necessity comes from the technology that's coming you know the sculpting it's just types of sculpting and digital sculpting so how do you keep apprised of what's new in terms of technology well that that comes down to you you know the answer to that because you live it and breathe it you specifically Norman probably more than on to anyone that's in the public arena in the world and that's just a fascination just a deep fascination I have an unquenchable fascination for what is happening and I want to be part of it I want to have part of it now if you can't afford it and often is the case we can't afford it we can't go and buy the latest piece of technology although I'm proud to the things I'm proud of is that maybe a staff member way back in the past could catch me out on the statement but I believe that Tania and I have never turned down a request for a piece of equipment or technology because it enables ya it may be expensive work but often the cost can't be met by going and buying it prepackaged so we build it the great fortune of our company is that we have incredibly innovative people and you see this every day that you walk around here and should we need a specific piece of equipment and we can't buy it we'll build it because in the building of it we enable new technology in the workshop and we advance ourselves that little bit more that little bit yeah well you seem so fearless about the you know there are some shops I know in Los Angeles where everyone builds everything by hand and it's hand sculpted and you guys are doing that but you're also using the latest scanning equipment the latest photogrammetry the latest 3d printing rapid prototyping techniques I saw the titanium sintered fingers on the armor of a robot yesterday that I had never you know a level of precision and tightness to an actor that was impossible five years ago it's really great how fearless you guys are yeah what we want to never do is the audience do not want to see yesterday yesterday tomorrow yeah they always want to see something new and and the the level of it's a funny word sophistication because sophistication must not doesn't mean high-tech manufacturing it's more about a mind sit the way you think differently but there is a reality that some things just cannot be created physically to the degree that your client or you aspire to it yeah and that requires technology a very quick and good example when we started the Gallipoli exhibition we couldn't find a 3d printer that would print clear material there may have been in the world but flies have a very specifically a wing yeah so eight months out from the deadline we started designing and building a 3d printer to print the wings seven months out from the deadline it worked and in the last month we had already printed non translucent wings in case we didn't pull it off but the technology was designed and built to achieve the results we really really wanted Wow and there that's very much the mindset that goes into these things I we were visited the the scale of our war this morning oh did you walk oh yeah that's great I'm pleased about that it's overwhelming in every possible way and I'll even add in addition to the ways in which it's purposefully overwhelming I'm overwhelmed by every tiny detail that you guys had to scale up from the the the the coarseness of the fabric and the canvas and the leather to the buttons yeah these scabs on them and the healed scabs on the arms and the skin of the of the soldiers I'm very glad that you acknowledged the fabric and I wouldn't expect anything listen yeah because most people look at the figures and they enjoy the hyper realism of the flesh and here punching and the corneal bulges on the eyes and the cracking a little upset cetera and the broken fingernails and but that was challenging of course but nothing compared to the challenge that our costume department went about the brief I gave Alastair our head of costume was should a world expert on military costuming from the First World War see these figures they would never question that weren't exact one-to-one scale Kosh uniforms from the original federal law so they're that that's a gauntlet you throw down and of course an Alistar as any of our team leaders will pick that up and guarantee so the trying to match stitch for stitch the authorized military stitch count are they denier of the wool that was used to weave the fabric at the time that had to be blown up to enough time there's no end of story not just located but skilled up not just cutting a largest no no no no it's not scaling up is we learned so clearly on Lord of the Rings when we did the hobbits cuz of course Gandalf the large-scale Gandalf could not just be put in the same fabric he couldn't be dressed his hair gonna be the same thickness as human here it had to be at one point for eight times larger there same with these guys because it's 2.5 times larger that's why we use yak here because yak here has a larger D near the thickness of the hair than normal here so all those things are gonna be thought about when when one of the things I do when I see things that I'm encountering for the first time as I often walk through in my head its manufacturing process I've been doing this for a decade yeah I'm just sitting in a room and just think about how the ceiling tiles were made exactly the same and I was looking at those exhibits at Te Papa and just thinking of the lists of you know how many dozens of different kinds of fabrics how many buttons how many badges and all the little bits of militaria and not just military but the detritus of its being used and muddied and bloodied and damaged then I started picturing these lists and I was I couldn't conceive of how many places you guys were we're looking for it for to to achieve what ends up being a completely seamless experience it's accurate to the hair follicles on the fly's legs accuracy so a seam at an accurate level is a fairly easy thing to achieve when you're trying to get extra seeing on the Flies leaks hair follicles you know it it's hard to express to people but maybe it would be like you guys getting a phone call and saying could you please do an exhibition about the war of independence what Appaji MA or Pearl Harbor it's as this this war is a seminal campaign in New Zealand's history it transformed New Zealand arguably from a a colony of England to a nation and its own right because of the reaction to the British rule at the time that forced that cause the Anzac forces to be so it to end up in such a difficult place and the subject matter of Gallipoli is such a critical and important subject matter here so I've been bold enough to say even though Lord of the Rings as a pivotal moment in my career that this exhibition is the seminal thing thus far in my life that I've had the opportunity to do and the fact that we were given the chance to oversee it and because normally we work for a client right although he had a client mt popa they allowed us to be our own clients and conceive of an idea work with them would be Brad the designer at Te Papa and make the exhibition as we saw fit and that was a very gracious client to allow you to do that do you think that New Zealand itself being a small country four million people do you think there's something about New Zealand that makes Wetty possible undoubtedly absolutely undoubtedly I this is something I can even lecture it's hard to actually give you a quick sound bite about bite on it but the sort of the as people maybe out across reference to other interviews that have been done with me on this subject the way I put it if you're growing up in New Zealand as a child and you have fantasies in your head and you can't buy a blister pack from the corner store you're going to invent it with your hands or you're going to go without that fancy and course if you're living at the last island before the South Pole away from the heart or in the in the early years England multiple month ship sailing ship journey you're not going to buy a piece of equipment that's going to break down and then you gotta wait for spare parts or you're not going to buy the piece of equipment at all you're going to build it with your own hands you know there there is a lovely metaphor of that which I'll mention the Wright brothers undoubtedly pioneered powered flight in the world and they and they are worthy of the celebration of it but there is an argument that maybe a month before maybe a month after a New Zealand person took to the air it is almost irrelevant whether he flew before or after the fact that he actually was who he was living where he was and thought to build an aeroplane farmer's son wakes up one day decides to build a plane and over the next few months does and then arguably is successful and invents things like wind wing warping which are still used today invents ways to build a plane there as innovative as the Wright brothers the story is about the fact that he had the innovative aspiration to do it in isolation and that is the source of our very being in the workshop for a very long time we had a large proportion of our staff from South of Christchurch there's four million people in New Zealand at the moment there were three million at the time that that statistic was correct of which a million and a half live in Auckland another million and the rest of the country in a million in the whole of the South Island so maybe only half a million south of Christchurch end a large proportion of our company came from Salford Christchurch because it's coming from the heartland of based innovation of of just mucking and get it done there's a there's a saying in New Zealand she'll be right right she'll be right because you'll just fix it with your own two hands you'll notice that when you enter our company downstairs there's a model of a Witter the Witter is made out of number eight fencing wire it's specifically made out a number eight fencing wire because in New Zealand there's a saying if you can't if you can't buy a part or if you can't get it fixed fix it with number eight fencing why it's what you twist the tractor together with you hold the gate up with you repair your car worth you shove it in for an eery all you you know even if your child needs a tourniquet you probably use a piece of number okay anyway that the point being that it's that mentality and that is it certainly would has allowed me because I've done no training and what I do in the workshop I did train and graphic design but I don't use that for what I do here I use everything that I learned on the farm growing up before I got to my training in the workshop and that's what most people bring to their careers if you know that run the company which of the eleven departments where would you spend your that's really tricky Norman I think about that myself sometimes because I'm really scattergun you mentioned at the beginning of this interview or Norman said you've got a living Department it wasn't always like that I understand what you were actually angling at you were trying to draw in the other new technology departments but from the day that my wife and I started our company we were firing in every possible direction we could prosthetic smaadahl making creatures puppets and everything else in between so we I think miniatures I think miniatures because I love the interaction with the actors which is what procedure to I love animatronics because it brings life to inanimate objects but miniatures the opportunity to build the architectural II impossible and realize places that you can never go on your own planet and there's something super special about there yeah you know I I am deeply envious of the people working on Thunderbirds because those miniatures every day yeah and imagine that as a glorious existence for those few short years so yeah we're surrounded by you know essentially miniature characters and collectibles and it allows people that have a piece of that yeah this is this is a very special part of my career as my office can contester you've both seen my office I am a huge collector of garage kits I've been clicked in my whole professional life I love making them I love putting them on the Shelf at the end of the day if some were to see them they're just trinkets they're silly trinkets to me they're a captured moment of dynamic sculpture you know what would you collect otherwise you'd have to be wealthy enough to collect marble statuary or beautiful bronzers but the garage kit industry offers a way for young people doing beautiful sculpture to distribute their art and a small number of people in the world like me like you guys collect that art well when we got the opportunity I wanted to continue that on and the our film work we enjoy and we're very proud of and we can pour immense artistry into our film work but these sculptures really offer our our creative staff the chance to realize something so special so so intrinsic to who they are and and then share it with the world and that that's a that's a great thing to be doing it's why when we're at comic-con at your booth it's not just the movie work it's also some of the the work that you're doing a pendant Lee their passion project sir our projects are equally as phenomenal as any a commercial project and the the Johnny Fraser Ellen's and you know the hubby is and Max pates and our the list is endless everyone's got their own little thing that they're doing you Guerry hunts gaming figures and Jamie best Warwick's zoological creatures I mean it's just so rich what people do outside of the hours that they work here you've talked about tactility and yeah we've both walked through many different model shops and special effects studios and there's always models and things that were built by the studio on the walls but this is the one place where not only do I want to touch absolutely everything it seems like that's encouraged yes we've even got wrecks where we haven't screwed the weapon to the wall we want people to take the sword off the wall and the the stuff on our walls you may notice that almost all of the art on the walls especially in the design studio is not our art I every time I go to places like comic-con I try and buy one or two special pieces of art and I hang it on the wall of our workshop because I want other people's art from around the world to be inspirational to us it's one thing it's great to hang your own art but boy it's really inspiring to have other people's art you talk about going to come and kinda by somebody else's art and you told us a couple stories this weekend one of the things that I find really impressive and is that when you're traveling when you travel a tremendous amount you are not just travelling to a place to go do a job or meet a client or deliver something but you are also taking the opportunity while you're in that part of the world to go look at other people's Studios other shops we've met people here who you just reached out and said I'm in town I like your work I'd like to come by your studio and that developed a relationship you're always looking for the thing you haven't heard about that you don't know about always yeah I think that's a result of living in a place such as well into New Zealand this is a beautiful place to live I wouldn't live anywhere else but it is not rich with we have a rich indigenous culture but it is not rich with a creative culture of the things I love public art sculpture figurative work collectibles pop culture so and so I have as my assistant Ari could contest you because it drives here mad we're supposed to be in a meeting but there is another texture to photographing boy there's another amazing thing to see and I love cataloging the world and because I love observing the world and I'd love to what would I always hope I can do with when I talk to young people or try and inspire people here is is remind them that to observe the world is the greatest gift you can give yourself for free you know you may want to go and buy a material item from the store but in walking to the store you gain far more material items through observation than ever you'll get out of the thing you've bought and I worry that some people forget that sometimes yeah they definitely do that is a wonderful place to stop thank you so much heard that was my assistant calling thank you so much for the podcast and thanks so much for opening your doors to us we love coming here we will keep coming quickly as you possibly can and start thinking about bringing your wife with you I will doesn't feel envious get here up in that plane and riding trains and automobiles as always thank you\n"