Popular host of the Grand Designs New Zealand TV show, Tom Webster is our Celebrity Choice Award Judge for The Queenstown Art Show. Tom has spent a lot of time digging deep into some of New Zealand’s most amazing building projects- many of which feature spectacular art as the finishing touch on their celebrated architecturally-designed walls.
In the lead up to our inaugural show in Queenstown, we couldn’t resist asking Tom a few questions!
Can you tell us about your journey as a creative?
Where to start? My journey has had a few different directions. As a kid I often drew at home, mostly pencil drawings of cars and buildings. My dad was an architect and maybe also a frustrated artist. He would always take a sketch pad, pencil set and watercolours with us on holiday....that must have seemed to me a thing that Dad's did, the norm. In fact, there are quite a few creatives in my extended family. Three artist aunties; a furniture designer uncle; a graphic designer cousin, whose daughter is turning out to be a great ceramicist; another cousin who is a film director and a whole bunch of musician relatives who put my own attempts to shame (grade 2 piano was as good as I could manage). So, I've never been not short of creative role models.
I had thoughts of going to art college after school, having found art and ceramics in particular, a great freedom in an otherwise very academic high school education. However, when the time came to choose a career path, architecture beckoned. It seemed to be a great combination of artist expression and technical problem solving, which appealed to my scientific/mathematical side. I guess you could also say that my Dad had made being an architect another norm for me.
I studied architecture in Cardiff for 3 years, but left after finishing the undergraduate degree to study for a masters degree in car design. Which in turn led to a stint as a computer games artist, creating vehicle content for racing games. Following this, during a year living and working in New Zealand as part of a trip around the world, I was offered a job at Cheshire Architects in Auckland. A place of inspiring characters and inventive work and quite different from the larger, more commercially driven UK practices I had experienced previously. My architectural ambitions were re-lit.
Back in the UK, I returned to architecture school and then worked and completed my architectural registration with a new focus and a family on the way. By 2016 I had found a way back to New Zealand and to Cheshire Architects again. Things may have stayed that way if it weren't for a cold call from a person who turned out to be the Grand Designs New Zealand series producer. I now combine Grand Designs with running my own architectural practice alongside my wife, Webster Harding Architects.
What is it about design that you most enjoy?
The scope of design and the variety of disciplines that it contains really appeals. For example I enjoy the point in an architectural project where you get a combination of creative inputs from the architect, engineers, consultants, the client and other stakeholders. So you get this melting pot of influence that extends your own thoughts and experience, and ideally pushes the project to greater heights. Of course there are other influences, mostly budget limitations, that can do the opposite, but I also enjoy the challenge of designing around these.
What inspires you?
People. I love listening to a talented musician, standing in front of a piece of dazzling art, experiencing a building that is truly awesome. In that it creates an emotional response in you. Or, listening to people talking about a subject with knowledge and passion. Other people's creativity and talent always inspires me to want to know more, and do more.
What creative projects do you do on your own time for your own personal
satisfaction?
A large part of my own time and energy goes into family at the moment, and the projects that my boys get involved with. Currently they have a few 3D printing projects on the go, a 1/3 scale WW2 tank being built in the garden and my youngest son's plant nursery beginning to grow in the front yard. There are a few big practical home projects we have been planning, including converting the garden shed into an art/craft studio for my wife and an electronics workshop for my eldest.
What creative projects have you most enjoyed being involved in – either professionally or personally?
Anna and I designed a pop-up Christmas shop for World Vision in Auckland a little while ago. We were given a big white-painted, empty shop unit and designed an interior constructed from wave formations of giant recycled cardboard tubing. It felt good to be using our creative skills for a really worthwhile cause.
The Celebrity Choice Judging takes place during our VIP Preview on Friday, the 25th of October at The Queenstown Events Centre. Enjoy an evening of amazing art and find out which artist Tom selects as his Celebrity Choice Winner!
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