That flash of electric blue lifting off an old wooden post is always inspiring down on the South Brighton estuary walk. I love how the digital watercolour painting wraps around the side so half of the post continues onto the back.
Available now on pure cotton tees in four coastal colours tuned to show off the kingfisher’s plumage!
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Living in a small New Zealand country town, my friend and client, a Freezing Worker with a passion for restoring classic American muscle cars, especially those from American Motors, approached me with a unique commission. His project was to immortalise his cherished 1970 Rambler Rebel SST on apparel, inspired by an advertisement from the April 1970 issue of New Zealand’s Reader’s Digest.
The brief was clear—to recreate the black and white ad of the Rambler Rebel SST in colour, but with a modern twist suitable for today’s fashion. The first step was understanding the nostalgia and the essence of the car’s era. The brief to maintain the advertisement’s simplicity yet enhance it with a contemporary touch to resonate with both car enthusiasts and fashion aficionados.
In the modern world of digital design, where every line can be perfected with a click, there’s something uniquely captivating about the traditional methods of graphic design. Today, I want to take you back to the early ‘80s, to the Graphic Design School at Auckland Technical Institute, where I spent over four years mastering an art form that’s as meticulous as it is magical—hand-separating colours for screen printing. Rendering shading, texture, and detail to achieve a realistic depiction of New Zealand native animals and plants.
Don’t say “ooh!”, say “aah!!” for this design is one of the best-looking wetas you’ll see. This print celebrates the recent rediscovery of the Bluff weta, New Zealand’s insect dinosaur that can be found in scree and on rocky bluffs of the Kaikoura ranges, Mt Somers in mid-Canterbury and on both sides of this t-shirt.
This design features a twice life-size pixel painted portrait of the Bluff weta on the front with the option of another print on the back. The Bluff weta was until recently thought to be lost to history, but it turns that it roams free in the scree and rocky bluffs of the Kaikouras and Mt Somers. The grey marle fabric of the shirt is the rocky texture of a mountain bluff for a comfortable fit. The design is also available on a range of colours, short and longsleeve tees for women and kids.
Because the colours of this design are earth toned and the weta is casting a shadow, the best colours for the shirt are on greys and earth-toned hues. The lighter toned backgrounds help create the 3D effect, the illusion the weta is in three dimensions standing on the surface of a t-shirt.
Shop by ordering here to have it locally printed in Christchurch and DTF heat-pressed right here by the designer, Shaun Waugh, in New Brighton, or shop online at our NZ based and international DTG printing partners. (Use code: “PERFEC” for 5% off your international store purchase.)
International customers will be charged the actual shipping cost based on the weight and the destination of their order. As a guide a Large Surface Active 185 gsm t-shirt weighs 130–150 grams.
Alternatively our t-shirts are available for purchase at our stall at New Brighton Seaside Market on Saturdays, and at Brighton Gallery and The Creatives Edit in New Brighton Mall.
Our wildlife art print of this rare and beautiful native lizard is so animated it looks likes it’s going to scamper right off the shirt! In this case a crew neck, mid-weight (185gsm) women’s t-shirt.
New Zealand is ground zero for geckos, with more native lizards found on these islands from north to south than in any other temperate place in the world, they thrive in forests, dunes, grasslands, rocky alpine areas, even under the odd stack of corrugated iron roofing. The Jewelled gecko is a species found only on the South Island of New Zealand, particularly the southeastern regions of Canterbury and Otago from Banks Peninsula southwards.
This design pairs best with white, kelly green, forest green, and black for maximum contrast.
Level up your black t-shirt with our vivid jewelled gecko print. The intricate details are printed directly onto the fabric, while the black in the print is knocked-out, this allows the colours of the print to pop more against black of the shirt.
The Jewelled Gecko design is available from our online stores, our local store that supplies our New Brighton Seaside Market stall, Saturdays 10 a.m.–2 p.m., and from our two retail outlets in New Brighton Mall; Brighton Gallery and The Creatives Edit.
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Our eye-catching kiwi design features a bold, two-colour roundel illustration on the front showcasing the most famous New Zealand native bird on a crew neck, mid-weight (185gsm) kids’ t-shirt. A playful mini kiwi icon graces the back for a touch of whimsy. This design pairs best with white, pastels, lights, and brights for maximum contrast. Can be customised with the large art printed on the back and the mini kiwi badge on the front left chest at no extra charge.
Shop for this flightless bird design across our Surface Active stores:
Or you can shop at either:
Show off your love for these tuxedoed Antarctic cuties with this fun t-shirt. Featuring a colony of Adelie penguins in a comical waddle on the front, and their speedy escape from a leopard seal that suddenly hauled up on the edge of the sea ice on in front of them on the back, this shirt is sure to turn heads.
Because the colours of snow and ice is white and the penguins are in Antarctica waddling across that surface, the only colour for the shirt is white, with the two colour black and blue print creating a 3D effect. Clever shading with cool sky blue and perspective tricks the viewer into thinking that the Adelie penguin group is really waddling towards you on the front and dashing away on the back. The Adelie penguin design is also available on white longsleeve tees.
By ordering here to have it locally printed in Christchurch and DTF heat-pressed right here by the designer, Shaun Waugh, in New Brighton, or shop online at our NZ based and international DTG printing partners. (Use code: “PERFEC” for 5% off your international store purchase.)
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This eye-catching Surface Active t-shirt features four three dimensional pixel-painted Bluff weta scattered around the garment. A unique way to show your love for these giant New Zealand insect dinosaurs. Shop now by using the order form here, for your shirt to be printed in New Brighton by the graphic designer.
The Bluff weta shirt is also available from our stall at New Brighton Seaside Market, Brighton Gallery, and The Creatives Edit.. Hat-tip also to our new print provider Merch Kings who are doing a fantastic job of reproducing our work for us.
For the Kiwi who dares to dream big, this Kiwi Space Shuttle tee is a must-have. This black Surface Active tee showcases the beloved Kiwi icon of a classic MkII Zephyr transformed into a NASA spaceship, manned by three Kiwis soaring through space, bound for a drive on the moon.
The clever design incorporates the rocket science of the black fabric of the shirt as deep space for a comfortable fit. The design is also available on garments for women and kids.
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You can order your very own New Zealand nature t-shirts from our brand new exhibition at Brighton Gallery, open until January 8th. All works, t-shirts & original prints, are designed & printed in New Brighton. To order contact: www.surfaceactive.digitees.co.nz/contact
November 2021
Dear Surface Dweller,
We’re excited to announce our two online retail stores, the Surface Active global store and the brand new New Zealand-based store! To celebrate this significant stage in the development of our clothing brand we are rewarding our customers with a discount offer.
🛍 NZ-based store
🛍 Global store: Use code: “PERFEC” for 5% off your purchase, storewide.
Global store links: Adelie penguins, Jewelled gecko, and Kiwi iconic, light colour variant and the Treefern t-shirt, all-over printed.
NZ-based store links: Adelie penguins, Jewelled gecko, and Dolphins leaping, Kaikoura.
Actively yours,
Shaun Waugh (boss),
Chrissie Terpstra (bossier)
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ORANA WILDLIFE PARK, MCLEANS ISLAND, CHRISTCHURCH
WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY IS THE GENRE of photography concerned with the documenting of wildlife in their natural habitat, Orana Wildlife Park in Christchurch, is New Zealand’s only open range zoo. Visiting Orana Park therefore offers a unique opportunity for the self-assignment of exercising your photography skills because in the wild animals are difficult to approach, predicting their actions is hit and miss, whereas the animals at Orana Park are not perturbed when viewed from quite close up and because there are mostly no bars or cages capturing great images of them in interesting situations just takes a little patience to be in the right place at the right time.
Keep on reading!
MagentaDot Brands 