THEIR PLACE KRISTY BEDI
Artfull, a new online art sales platform for New Zealand art invites you to collect from the comfort of your couch, discovers Nadine Rubin Nathan.
Kristy Bedi is a designer and founder of Aho Creative. Of Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe and Pākehā descent, Bedi lives in Ōtautahi/Christchurch, with her husband, Achan, and their three young children.
KRISTY: We spend a lot of time at home together – creating, cooking. It’s the centre of our orbit.
We’ve lived here a little more than a year, and for us it was about finding a home that could be part of our whānau life. When we moved in it was a very neutral shell, so I thought, I’ll have to bring the personality.
verything I make is solving some kind of problem. The window frosting I made, I was looking for something with character to cover the window.
Our living room is a very high-traffic space with three kids. The lampshade is a prototype, sort of half made. The wooden platter is a collaboration with one of my brothers, using salvaged wood.
The big basket with the toys is made of flax. My mum is an ama ing weaver and I needed somewhere to put toys, so we made it together. It took us a couple of hours.
I grew up in ew lymouth and we didn’t speak te reo at home. owever, I always had this curiosity about my whakapapa and my mum had done a lot of her own work in understanding our history in the context of things Māori. She has immersed herself in customary cultural practices such as raranga weaving as a way of reconnecting with cultural values.
or me, te reo emerged as a vital element for unlocking and understanding kaupapa Māori and a Māori worldview. I started studying te reo at high school and carried on through university Massey
niversity in almerston orth where I studied political science and Māori visual arts.
The more deeply I’ve learned about my own flock and our connections, there’s a very common sense of my ancestry. That is where I come from and that is who I am regardless of how I look, as a blue-eyed, blonde Māori woman.
After graduating I went to India where I volunteered for an O, and I met my husband then too.
While I was there I was struck by how people were wearing garments that talked a lot about where they were from, their culture. The fabrics, how they wore them – they told their story.
So cultural identity is all around you – in clothes, furniture, decor, homes. There is no disconnect between your culture and your surroundings – it is reinforced in small, invisible ways on the daily.
When I was pregnant, back in ew ealand, with our eldest daughter I wanted to have a baby in an environment that really kind of reflected back who she is and her whakapapa, her identity. So, I was looking for clothing, I was looking for decor, I was looking for blankets and I just couldn’t find them. There was nothing that really resonated with me as being of our culture and also sustainable in how it was made. So I decided to make my own.
It’s about drawing on te reo Māori and Māori
design that is reflective of kaupapa Māori – those ideas of connection and belonging.
Many of my creative projects are also inspired by connections in India. Like the blue and white drawers in my daughter’s room. I had seen beautiful inlay furniture in India, they’re inlaid by artisans with mother of pearl, but the budget for a 1-year-old doesn’t extend to that: so I got some second-hand drawers and two tins of paint, some hand cut stencils, some free hand design and a lot of patience.
Between Covid and small children at one point I thought “well I won’t be leaving the house again”. Now we have converted our garage into a studio. It means I can be creative in the business and fix it around family life, be here for my family. I do have someone who comes and helps me with all the shipping and admin twice a week.
And that frees me up to do more of the creative stuff that I really enjoy. There is such a big appetite for these type of designs and in the years that we’ve been operating we’ve seen a lot of other businesses popping up and doing similar things. I think that’s responding to a growing desire for things that reflect and represent our culture.
But with the business there is also a lot of trying to actually suppress growth. And for me a lot of the enjoyment of being creative is that it doesn’t always have to be for a product. Although, there’s always something simmering away. At the moment I am building ideas around Matariki and how we create traditions.
I still consider myself a beginner in te reo even though I am conversationally capable. The hardest part for me is pushing through the discomfort of getting things wrong over and over again – it’s still something I struggle with. Our children have been a great motivator in that way and seeing them normalise aspects of te reo in their day to day is a joy.
They also understand and speak Hindi at home. So their brains are being wired to understand that there are many different ways of speaking, framing and understanding the same thing.
Covid lockdowns created lasting online shopping habits. ohn arnett NZ spent a lot of his lockdown online, as we all did, but the seasoned film producer wasn’t only streaming movies. e was also looking at art and realising that shopping for New Zealand art online wasn’t as seamless a process as it should be. Over the past four decades, arnett has produced TV dramas and films, including the Oscarnominated Whale Rider. ut long before he ventured into film, his intermediate school art teacher eith atterson, one of the group of artists with olin c ahon, Toss oollaston and other then-young New Zealand creatives, fired up his interest in art. “still en oy the works bought as a university student -plus years ago, he tells me.
ntrigued by the fact so many are apprehensive about going into art galleries and the rapid upsurge in digital commerce, arnett started thinking about enabling people to purchase art from the comfort of their own homes. “The key to success in film and TV, and indeed any business, is to determine who the audience will be, and how to reach them, he says. nter essica Agoston leary. ith a decade of e perienceinadvertising,brandingandnewbusiness development, she returned to university to study postgraduate art history. arnett met her when she was completing a maternity cover as gallery manager at leading Auckland dealer gallery, van Anthony.
he was ready for a new challenge and Artfull was born. “As co-founder, managing director, curator and editor, ’m committed to growing this new model for engaging with art that goes beyond the ‘white cube’ of the traditional gallery space, she says.
The sharply designed yet engaging site, she tells me, takes “a very editorial approach . hich is tosaythatthee perienceisakintoe ploringan interactive online maga ine complete with stories about the artists and videos of them discussing their works in studio only the works are for sale, and they’re developing cool A view-in-room technology. “e want to give people at home looking at and engaging with Artfull a really immersiveandholistice perience,togetpeople e citedaboutart givethemanunderstanding about it demystify it, she says. Artfull’s artists are selected by Agoston leary and her team
“e ask ourselves, ‘ ould we write an essay about this artist and their work oes the work have something to say, or does it evoke feelings or visceral reactions ’ And not having the costs associated with a bricks and mortar dealer gallery, means the commission that Artfull takes is substantially lower.
till, Artfull is planning to work with dealer galleries as they grow their presence. “Our reach will mean we can connect with a broader, wider audience locally and globally than any one dealer galleryalone, e plainsAgoston leary.“ecan present a gallery’s stock room works, new works, and promote current shows.
Artfull’s ultimate goal is a lofty one: to convince iwis to consider that supporting local artists on an ongoingbasisis ustasvalidawaytospendtime and money as going to watch the All lacks or buying designer clothes. ear, hear.
Head to www.artfull.co.nz for more information
Our reach will mean we can connect with a broader, wider audience locally and globally than any one dealer gallery alone.