He’s finally here! Meet “Kingfisher Rising”—my new favourite from the estuary birds series

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.

Kingfisher fans, by popular demand—this one’s for you! That heart-stopping moment when they explode into the air… now wearable.

Available now on pure cotton tees in four coastal colours tuned to show off the kingfisher’s plumage!
https://magentadotbrands.com/shop/

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Little girl in a pale blue Adelie Penguin t-shirt beside New Brighton Pier.

Snow Marle, Pale Blue, and Penguins Too: Unveiling the New Adelie Kids’ T-Shirt Design

Let your little explorer waddle into fun with this all-over Adelie Penguins t-shirt! The front shows a group of cheeky penguins marching toward the Ross Sea. Meanwhile, the back reveals their hilarious retreat from a sneaky leopard seal lurking on the Antarctic sea ice. Crafted on a white, snow marle, or pale blue t-shirt, to mimic the icy Antarctic landscape, and so that the black, white, and blue design pops with a 3D effect. The perfect tee for kids who love wildlife tales. Celebrate New Zealand’s nature-inspired artwear and grab yours today.

Shop Your Way: Locally Printed in Christchurch or Online

Choose how to get your kids’ Adelie Penguins t-shirt:

Back view of a young girl in a light blue Adelie Penguin t-shirt beside New Brighton Pier, showing penguins fleeing a leopard seal in black, white, and blue.
Run, penguins, run! The back of this pale blue Adelie Penguin t-shirt, modeled at New Brighton Pier, brings Antarctic drama to life with a clever three-colour design.
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A man wearing a clay-coloured t-shirt with a karearea (New Zealand falcon) in flight print, seated next to New Brighton Pier.

Introducing Our New Karearea in Flight T-Shirt

I’m thrilled to unveil my latest wildlife artwork. It is a t-shirt that captures the majestic flight of the Karearea. This is New Zealand’a species of native falcon.

The karearea, or the New Zealand falcon, (Falco novaeseelandiae, also known as the sparrow hawk) holds significant ecological and cultural importance in New Zealand. It is the only endemic bird of prey left. This fierce predator symbolises the resilience of native wildlife, offering a powerful representation of the country‘s bird life. Interestingly, it is most closely related to the Aplomado falcon of South America. The karearea might resemble the Australasian swamp harrier or Kahu and occupy a similar ecological niche. However, these two bird species are not closely related. This highlights the karearea’s unique evolutionary path and its critical role as an apex predator.


Check out the karearea design in action in our new YouTube Shorts video:

New karearea soaring across the chest of a t-shirt.
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A smiling boy wearing an orange Surface Active Iconic Kiwi t-shirt beside New Brighton Pier.

Kiwi T-shirt: Unique New Zealand Native Bird Design for Kids

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 Across our Stores

Shop for this flightless bird design across our Surface Active stores:

  • by ordering here to have it locally printed and DTF heat pressed right here in New Brighton.
  • Price: $30 plus shipping via Courier Post. Shipping starts at $8 (varies by quantity).
  • 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.

Or you can shop at either:

Front and back view of happy twin girls wearing red and blue Surface Active Kiwi t-shirts at a park.
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Five Surface Active art prints on a sunlit gallery wall.

The New Zealand wildlife art prints of Surface Active

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.

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