Arty import loves it
Nick Teare has made furniture auctioned at Christie’s, acted in UK television shows and in theatre with Michael Crawford – but was happy to walk away and ‘‘start again’’ in Cannons Creek.
He has been living in Porirua for six years, married with a family. Although being a builder ‘‘ pays the bills’’, he writes and makes furniture when he can.
Mr Teare’s impressive ‘‘ storytelling chair’’ can be found in the children’s section at Porirua Library, something he crafted with the city’s landscape at the forefront of his mind.
A keen walker, he has come to know Porirua’s walkways and hills well.
‘‘It’s fantastic, I absolutely love living here,’’ the former Warrington and London native says.
‘‘Wellington’s nice but I breathe a sigh of relief when I come back out, the hills and trees and other parts of this area give it a real fairytale quality. It’s so varied, you’re close to the coast or Battle Hill or Belmont Regional Park. We’re really blessed and the exercise I’m doing is amazing when it comes to stimulating creativity.’’
After drama school in London, it was theatre work, commercials and TV that kept Teare busy. There was a few lines in The Bill and an appearance in an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, but being on stage gave him the happiest memories.
‘‘ I was a successful clown in Barnum, with Michael Crawford. Amazing bloke, real perfectionist. A group of us also had a theatre group, where we made all the props, wrote our own plays, all non-profit.’’
London is ‘‘an extraordinary place’’ and where he met his wife, but ‘‘you can get lost there’’, Teare says.
Though making furniture is just a side business, a Gothic-style chair he made sold at Christie’s in 1989.
With his short stories receiving few bites from publishers, Mr Terse would like to do more in his community.
‘‘I’d love to open an art centre in Cannons Creek, there’s so much talent around here,’’ he says.