Good People
Lisa Vanin’s stunning award-winning World of WearableArt entry Kaitiaki is part of a special exhibition currently showing at Te Papa.
Understanding the work of WOW designer Lisa Vanin
Lisa Vanin was looking for a creative outlet beyond her busy life as a mother of four when she entered WOW more than six years ago. Her first entry was a challenge she and her sister, Sacha, and sister-in-law, Jenny, set themselves after they headed to Wellington to watch the show for the first time. Cambridge-based Vanin created a garment, ‘Belle of the Ball’, for the 2014 children’s section out of 196 yellow tennis balls. “My eldest was nine at the time and I wanted to show my family that I wasn’t just a mum, and I could do something and finish it,’’ she says. Her daughter, Olivia, now 16, modelled it and tried it on for size while Vanin made it in the garage. That garment was a finalist, and Vanin laughs: “I got the WOW bug.’’
Since then, the part-time art technician at a Cambridge high school has entered WOW each year, and always won a place in the awards. Her most recent garment, 'Kaitiaki', 2019, came second in the Aotearoa section and won the New Zealand Design Award. Kaitiaki was inspired by the native tūī, and is one of 35 WOW garments currently on show at
“I’ve tried to reflect our beautiful clean environment by using natural, raw and sustainable materials.”
Te Papa, as part of World of WearableArt – Up Close (Ao KākahuToi – Kia Tata) – a bespoke exhibition of selected garments from over the years. WOW’s mouth-dropping stage show had to be cancelled in 2020 because of Covid, and she’s had to leave her entry in the garage for another year.
Over the years, her entries have become more purposeful. She has been using bamboo veneer as her chosen material since her 2015 entry, ‘She Dreams In Colours', which featured 300-plus coloured pencils and was a finalist in the children’s section.
More recently, Vanin has been exploring and featuring native birds – her 2017 entry, 'The Cloak of Pīwakawaka', was an artistic interpretation of the friendly chatty fantail and came second in the Aotearoa section.
Vanin and her family live near a reserve that is alive with bird life. “We’re really lucky in New Zealand. But we need to make sure we look after what we have,’’ she says.
In what way does ‘Kaitiaki’ reflect your concerns about nature and our environment?
I’ve tried to reflect our beautiful clean environment by using natural, raw and sustainable materials. For this garment, I handmade more than 700 feathers from bamboo and copper. To retain the integrity of the design I also intentionally handmade everything rather than using modern technology like a laser cutter.
What other messages do you get across in this piece?
The wingspan of the cloak is symbolic of the tūī as a guardian angel who looks over our land. The ‘river’ of copper feathers cascading down the front represent the water that surrounds us, which is an essential part of our ecosystem and existence. I wanted the copper stitching to symbolise our communities being pulled together and the patience and understanding that is required when such diversity is present. The Māori cloak is solid and sturdy, just like the warmth of our people and of our communities coming together as one.
How much time do you spend on each garment, and have there been any hairy moments?
That’s varied, although they all took much longer to complete than I anticipated. Kaitiaki took about three months all up. I usually work on my entries at night, once everyone is in bed, as that’s often the only time I can work around my other commitments. There are always challenges during the design and construction process, and a lot of trial and error, which forces me to think outside the box. Some of my ideas keep me awake at night.
Kaitiaki’s headpiece caused me a bit of grief as it was particularly fiddly. I also had to come up with a solution to counterweight the copper feathers down the front. Individually the feathers were light, but collectively they were very heavy and caused the cloak to tip forward and drag on the floor, so I balanced it with fishing sinkers equivalent in weight to the copper. Unfortunately it meant the WOW model had to carry more weight, but she glided across the stage in the ensemble.
What’s it like to watch your garment finally on stage?
It’s quite magical seeing it come to life on stage, and being a small part of a show that is truly unique and spectacular. There’s that moment when I hold my breath, and hope it will all work. Thankfully nothing has yet fallen apart on stage.
In what ways do you live sustainably?
I don’t profess to be an ecowarrior but I work on little things like turning the lights off when we’re not using them, turning off the tap when cleaning teeth, and using the clothes line instead of the dryer. We grow veges and plant flowers to attract the bees, we recycle and sometimes we repurpose. We hold onto appliances forever. I’m very excited about the new vacuum cleaner my husband bought recently which will replace our 20-year-old-one that just blew up, smoke and all.
World of WearableArt – Up Close is on at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa, Wellington until 14 February 2021.