Kia ora guys, welcome to another Wētā Workshop blog. This time Jono and I came back for the “Behind the Seams: An insight into our world of costuming” experience. As we learned in the Wētā Workshop Tour Experience, Wētā Workshop is an award-winning concept design and manufacturing facility founded by Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger.
Wētā Workshop has been designing and building countless costumes, from fantasy armour to monsters and superheroes, and all manner of outrageous props and make-up effects for creative industries across the world is part of our everyday for over 25 years.
Their talented crew of experts have worked on movies such as The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies to Avatar, Thor, Ghost in the Shell, and many more. This is an opportunity to come and see some of their work in person with a rare behind-the-scenes costume show & tell at Wētā Workshop in Wellington.
The reason why we decided to book the Wētā Workshop Tour Experience to begin with was because of an ad I saw of this Behind the Seams experience. After going through the regular tour, we thought this would be a similar tour experience as the normal tour, just focusing on the consuming areas of Wētā Workshop. Instead, it was a talk and presentation hosted by Flo Foxworthy, the head of Costume, who has been in the Wētā whanau for 15 years.
With limited capacity, this proved to be a rare opportunity. Although, I must say: I thought this was a one off experience but I think, these Behind the Seams talks do come up at times. The chat was particularly referring to their most recent works with Avatar the way of water. So it’s still a one off opportunity regarding to what was shown and talked about.
In detail, Flo and Sarah talked about a display of different costumes, outfits and designs they have worked on the last couple of years. In particular, Avatar the way of water. A lot of attendees were crafts and costuming people so it was a very special time to have the Wētā staff on hand for questions, offering some behind-the-scenes insights on the techniques used for different movie props and costumes.
Similarly to the Wētā Workshop Experience Tour, because of Copy Right reasons, we weren’t able to take our own pictures of what was shown at the Behind the Seams talk. There was a photographer from Wētā taking pictures for media so if I see them around, I’ll add them here.
We did get to explore a new Private Group Tour Space of Wētā Workshop that we hadn’t been before where they displayed some more of the iconic Lord of the Rings character sculptures. Of course, we had to take some pictures.
Remember to have a look at the Wētā Workshop Tour Experience blog if you’re planning your visit!
From The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to District 9: learn about the making of props, costumes and creatures created for your favourite films. Interact with cool stuff from our creative departments and, if you’re lucky, catch an artist at work on our tour stage.
Tours, Wētā Workshop
Happy spooky season!
This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission should you choose to sign up for a program or make a purchase using my links. It’s ok, I will only recommend products that I have personally used or care for – I love all of these products, and you will too! Learn more on my Private Policy page.
