Profile: James Warrender
Welly-based Fashion student and entrepreneur, James Warrender, sat down with
Massive to chat about his grind of doing a degree in pattern-making while trying to
crack the New Zealand art scene.
Over the summer, James went to stay with his eccentric mentor in Hamilton to paint for
him and get some exposure amongst some elites. The pair hosted a successful
exhibition for his paintings, discovering a whole new world of sales. A threshold that’s
often difficult for the prototypical artist. Fortunately, James is a fucking prodigy.
Hey James! Who the hell are you?
Hey! I’m an artist from Matamata, I like to see myself as a creative director who has a 5-
year plan with a goal of being a full-time creative director whether it be through art,
pattern-making, or design. I am in my last year of studying fashion design – pattern-
making, just learning how to make and manipulate patterns.
Those are very different forms of art, how do you separate your time to do them
all?
I’m still trying to merge them all at the moment because either I dedicate myself to doing
art full-time and I do that whole grind of being an artist, or I spend my time pattern
making and I start making collections. I want to bring art into my [fashion] collection and
combine the two, that’s where I could be a creative director for my own brand.
How did you go about getting exposure and motivation for art in a small town like
Matamata?
I never really got exposure until I moved to Cambridge and met other people who had
similar ideas. When I moved to Welly I thought that I was in New York! I was like, “Woah
this is a big city. This is awesome.” I met all the alty kids and I think just being around
other creative people you feed off each other, you tell them what you want to do, and
that motivates you too.
When you’re starting a new piece, how do you get your inspiration?
I have stages where I don’t know what to paint and then I’ll borrow someone’s ideas and
just put it into my own ideas. I just get into it, and as I go my characters start to appear.
My art’s all real big paintings, I want people to have a statement on their wall, so I will try to create a scene.
Your summer sounds like it has been a paint-drenched monsoon! What have you
been up to?
Yeah! For five weeks I was in a studio space up in Hamilton and had a great mentor
who’s guided me on the what-nots to do in the art industry. For someone who’s not
studying art, I haven’t been exposed to much of the business side of how to actually
make a living off art. At my exhibition, meeting people and being able to talk face-to-face
about my paintings to them and see them enjoy it – those were nice moments. Learning
how to run an exhibition was quite a learning curve.
Do you find that your paintings can inspire your pattern-making?
Weirdly, I’ve found that I love doing more shapes. I’ve always thought that would be
really cool if when I pattern-make to make a real crazy dress with bold shapes like
triangles and intricate patterns. I never thought I’d do fashion, I always thought I would
do fine arts.
What made you decide to sway with the fashion over fine arts?
Someone told me that it was a waste of time and they got stuck in my head. The more
people I saw doing [fine arts] I just got more drawn to fashion which is what’s got me
to put paint on clothes.
Where can we see more of your art?
You can find my work on my Instagram @warrenderjames_skrt and this year I will be
having another exhibition before July in Wellington. Watch this space!