Crissie Rodda
‘Making is my happy place’
Textile designer Crissie Rodda waited anxiously by the gate for the first cushions she has ever designed to arrive by rural delivery. It took days, so much so that she drove herself mad.
‘‘I was stalking the cars along the road. I love it when my fabric samples arrive, so this was a new level of excitement,’’ she said.
The Waikato designer won Bolt of Cloth’s annual textile design awards for
2018. Her prize included seeing her designs become reality – her cushion covers can now be bought from Bolt of Cloth.
Despite the slow mail, there are benefits of living remotely: the vast green landscapes around her twohectare property are a source of inspiration for the 36-year-old artist.
When she walks along the river with her three daughters – Nina, 2, Libby, 4, and Carys, 7 – the textile designer photographs plants and flowers and draws up the images when she returns home.
Nature feeds many of her patterns and ideas. Rodda joked that she struggled to keep pot plants alive and doesn’t have a green thumb even though lushgreen house plants and urban jungles inspired her winning collection, entitled Tender Loving Care.
‘‘I did these playful illustrations featuring pot plants, using vintage and retro colours. They’re a bit garish but they work together,’’ she said.
The cushions’ colour palette was one feature that won the judges over.
They also liked the collection’s bold shapes and cohesive approach, commenting that the cushions would make a statement in Kiwi living rooms.
Judge and designer Evie Kemp said Rodda’s ‘‘fun and cohesive’’ collection was a clear winner. ‘‘I love that they’re stand-alone pieces, but also work so well as a group,’’ Kemp said.
Homed editor Colleen O’Hanlon said Rodda’s entry was a standout. ‘‘It’s tough going making a living in textile design here in New Zealand and what really set Crissie’s entry apart from other finalists was that she created original designs with the market in mind,’’ O’Hanlon said.
To create the collection, Rodda started at her workbench, doodling with coloured pencils and paint pots to create narratives and stories.
With an eye on her mood board, the designs were then digitised, coloured and refined. ‘‘Making is my happy place. I like to make things happy and beautiful,’’ she said.
As well as patterns inspired by nature, Rodda is drawn to mid-century designs, drawing whimsical, nostalgic images in a muddy, 1950s colour palette. Iconic New Zealand images also feature in her work – birds fly on her fabrics near vibrant green ferns.
‘‘I find that a lot of New Zealandbased patterns can be a bit tacky, so I try to create something a bit different.
‘‘But I also find inspiration in the oddest everyday places. Like my favourite teapot, an old oven, my girls’ dress-up jewellery or a funky piece of embroidery from a secondhand shop.’’
Rodda grew up in Whangarei and was always drawing, illustrating, and creating fairy gardens.
At 5, she told her mother her dream was to be an artist. She loved colour, and creating art works out of it.
‘‘My favourite shoes were these fluorescent boat shoes,’’ Rodda said.
After she left school, Rodda studied photography and visual arts, spending her prechild career working as a freelance photographer and graphic designer here and in London.
‘‘I ended up taking lots of wedding photos but I’m an introvert so that was an effort.’’
After her second daughter was born and the family were living in Waikato, she wondered what
she might do next. She has always been drawn to fabrics and followed a number of designers, including Orla Kiely and Kiwi Alex Fulton.
One day, while her baby was asleep, she found a surface pattern design course online in the United States, applied for a scholarship to study it, and the rest is part of her history.
Rodda would love to fill her home with colour but her husband Laith is more conservative. They built the house two years ago, painting the walls white. ‘‘He lets me loose on the soft furnishings.
‘‘We’ve got splashes and pops of colour there.
‘‘Making is my happy place. I like to make things happy and beautiful.’’
Crissie Rodda
People are always surprised when they visit, though, as they expect the house to be really colourful,’’ she said.
Rodda has started pitching her patterns to fabric companies – one in the United States wants her to design a collection of juvenile prints – and has licensed two patterns. An Australian toy company is also using one of her patterns on its packaging.
‘‘My kids are like my mood board, too. One day, I’d love them to be wearing my designs. I am always thinking about the colours they can be wearing.’’