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.
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 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:
Don’t say “ooh!”, say “aah!!” for this is one of the best-looking wetas you’ll see. The recently rediscovered Bluff weta can be found in scree and on rocky bluffs at Kaikoura, Mt Somers in mid-Canterbury and all over this artful t-shirt. These ancient insects endemic the Kaikoura ranges and Mt Somers, are insect dinosaurs that you can wear with pride on this unique pixel painted weta t-shirt.
The all-over design features four lively life-size pixel painted portraits of the Bluff weta, once thought lost to history, that roams free in the scree and rocky bluffs of the Kaikouras and Mt Somers in mid-Canterbury. The reference for the pixel paintings are a pair of lively photographs by renowned New Zealand wildlife photographer, Rod Morris, which inspired the idea of having the weta all-over a rock colour and textured t-shirt. 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 garments in a range of colours for women and kids.
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Since Chrissie and I were a kids we have been enthusiasts of the natural world and as design pARTners since 1985 our New Zealand nature wildlife art designs are an expression of this.
I finished four years of study in Graphic Design at Auckland Technical Institute in 1983. After a five year career as an advertising art director in Auckland, Christchurch, Hong Kong and Reykjavik I was equipped through illustration, graphic design, drawing and painting to achieve our aim of creating a variety of stimulating visual images that originate from the experiences and knowledge of the natural world that Chrissie and I bring to our collaborations. We create wildlife art of native birds, reptiles, mammals, insects, trees, plants and landscapes at locations all over New Zealand that I photograph, and we research the image libraries of renowned New Zealand wildlife photographers in search of reference for iconic imagery.
The Surface Active New Zealand Nature T-shirt Company range of t-shirt designs has been developed since the year 1986 when we first started screenprinting on the kitchen table in our flat, with frequent updates of new designs between 1988 to the present. We display our latest limited edition wildlife art prints using specialist room mock-up software. Please revisit every few weeks, I’m sure there will be some fresh images for you to look at. As full-time professionals 1988–2003 Chrissie and I designed over 100 original wildlife art designs with New Zealand, Antarctica and African “big five” megafauna themes. Since 2003 we have continued creating new designs and during lockdown 2020 and 2021 we created a new design every few weeks.
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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South Brighton, Christchurch, September 2021
Pleased to announce Chrissie Terpstra and Shaun Waugh, the design pARTners behind Surface Active—The New Zealand Nature T-shirt Company—have opened their second, New Zealand based online store.
Global store: Use Code “PERFEC” for 5% off.
New Zealand store
Feel like a walk in the forest downunder? It’s hard to avoid the familiar sight of tree ferns, or punga, no matter where you go in New Zealand. Cool and bushy, this attractively umbrellarific all-over printed t-shirt design is repeated on the shirt back. Available in adult sizes XS–3XL on forest green or black shirts.
Shop using this link to the treefern design in our global store to receive a 5% discount, use promo code: “PERFEC”.
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Celebrate your love for nature and wildlife with this art print featuring New Zealand’s largest native insect, the weta. Don’t say “oooh!”, say “aaah!” for this is one of the best-looking weta you’ll ever see. The recently rediscovered Bluff weta can be found in scree and on rocky bluffs at Mt Somers in North Canterbury, and all over this t-shirt.
Designed by Chrissie and I and printed in the USA and Europe. Available as an ‘all-over’ teeshirt design for adults, and a two-sided placement print design version for adults and kids.
All purchases storewide made using this link to the weta design will receive a 5% discount that is applied automatically at checkout. Promo code: “PERFEC”.
For our New Zealand customers we have established this Digitees Surface Active store so your weta t-shirts can be printed in New Zealand, with a fast turnaround, shipping in 3–5 days + courier. Sale price: The NZ-based store prices are 10% discounted storewide.
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Designed by Chrissie and I and printed in the USA and Europe. My new absolute fav dolphin watercolour ‘all-over’ teeshirt print. All purchases made using this link to the global store will receive a 5% discount, use promo code: “PERFEC”.
Or shop at our New Zealand-based store: Sale price, the price of all the goods in the NZ store are 10% discounted.
The colourful print of four common dolphins leaping is brought to life with a watercolour splash. Common dolphins (Delphinus delphus) are seen in Kaikoura mainly in the summer time. Kaikoura is one of the best places in New Zealand to view marine wildlife and rated as one of the best in the world to swim with dolphins.
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This t-shirt wildlife art print features a trio of Banks Peninsula spotted shags during breeding season, when nature gets heavy-handed with blue-green makeup and punk hair-dos. It is a multimedia design featuring a woodcut portrait of the birds and an airbrushed sky.
With their distinctive spotted feathers, bright blue-green colouring and tufted crests, these spotted shags/parekareka are thinking of romance (and fish.) What else does a shag do in it’s pre-nuptial plumage?
You can choose between having the large art printed on the front or the back of the shirt. This design looks great on grey marle, royal blue and deep royal. Email Shaun at mailto:hello@surfaceactive.nz to order direct from the graphic artist.
Shop for the double-sided version at our international store here with the big print on the back, and the single-sided version here with the big print on the front. Or shop at our Tauranga New Zealand-based online store here.
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