CORRUGATED CREATIONS - Key Persons
Steven Clothier is an artist who uses as a medium that many think of as a roofing material - corrugated iron. Starting with a pair of tin snips and hand riveter, Steven made 'The Dog' in Tirau in 1998 and just kept going. Beside it is now a ram's head, one of his many Creations featured in Tirau, and cementing his home town as the "Corrugated Iron Capital of the World".There are huge kiwis and a pukeko to greet you in Otorohanga, Ted the Rooster in Brisbane, a purple giraffe in Pukekohe, a fish playing a guitar in Matata, a giant pair of jandals in Whatawhata, a pukeko in Alaska and many many more Corrugated Creations throughout New Zealand and around the world.The Tirau 'Dog' I-site was a community project and the first time Steven had done anything artistic with iron. "You couldn't say I lacked for feedback," Steven said with a grin. "A lot of people were involved in the project so there were a lot of opinions flying around." With the help of local dairy farmer Tom Langlands, the facade was built with tin sips and a hand riveter within two months. The ' Dog' I-Site became a landmark.Since then, orders of all shapes and sizes have been fulfilled. Small, huge, flat, layered, curved and fully three dimensional. People ask for a wide range of things, for a wide range of reasons. That's what keeps it interesting. A Corrugated Creation is not restricted by shape or size - only by our imagination. Each one is unique. They become icons. Steven Clothier and his can-do attitude will tackle anything and over the years has pushed the boundaries of corrugated iron to new limits. The skill is in visualising the finished piece while engineering a supporting structure. "It's not like working with stone that leads you or clay which you can mould as you go," Steven said. "I have to work from the inside out."