Inspired by 2024 winner Andrew Blythe and other Toi Ora artists, Zet had fun designing this year’s winning design, which features the Toi Ora façade with a big planet, Matariki stars and alien-like creatures.
Learn more about Zet, their design, and their inspiration. And a big congratulations from the Toi Ora team – we love it!
What inspired you to enter the t-shirt competition?
I entered the T-Shirt competition last year, and the whole process was super fun. I liked working on ideas and picturing them on shirts, and I loved going through everyone’s ideas and voting for my favourites. I loved the community aspect of getting to celebrate our art and working on a common goal together. This year I wanted to go all out and enjoy the process again.
What motivated the design?
I was inspired by last year’s winner, Andrew Blythe with his beautiful artwork of one of our classes, as well as an artwork that Felix Crozier did of the Toi Ora building. I’ve always loved the facade, and as I became more and more part of the community of Toi Ora, the sight of the building developed a deeper meaning for me.
The characters were inspired by the people I’ve met during my time at Toi Ora, who have become my friends, collaborators and inspiration. We all feel like aliens in our own different ways, but at Toi Ora our differences are what brings us together.
Buy the 2025 Toi Ora t-shirt in our shop.
What emotions were going through your body when you found out you won?
When I found out I won I was so excited, mixed with a decent sprinkling of nerves. Even as a child I loved a good competition, not for the sake of winning, but just for the fun of competing. I entered every competition I could growing up! It’s a real honour to have my work seen by so many people as part of a t-shirt. It’s also scary to have something that means so much to me be so visible!
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey?
I grew up drawing and painting anywhere and everywhere, including the walls of my childhood home (much to my parents dismay). They tried to curb this by offering me bigger and bigger paper, but nothing is as appealing as a massive white wall. A big part of my story is moving from small-town South Africa to Auckland when I was 15. I struggled a lot, adapting to a world that was so completely foreign to me. I think that was the first point where art became a way to cope with life by expressing the difficult and celebrating the beautiful. I used my art in school to work through the melding of my two cultures, figuring out what life means to me, and more personal crises that I can count.
I took it [art] very seriously though, and often would stop doing anything creative for a long period of time due to it never feeling good enough. Toi Ora changed that completely, as my art has become my therapy. My way to learn about my own perfectionism and to overcome it. The regularity of classes and the consistent and gentle encouragement from staff flipped it all for me.
How has your time been at Toi Ora so far?
Toi Ora has been an interesting journey through my recovery. When I first started coming I was in a class almost every day. I wasn’t well enough to work, and I was losing myself in a strange timeless existence, so I leapt at the opportunity to have some structure in my life. At first I just needed somewhere to go every day to get me out. It slowly melded into a core part of my recovery. A place where I feel safe, I get a feeling of progress, and a decent chunk of fun.
What inspires you?
It’s the little things in life that gives us that spark that inspires me. For me it’s often things I find beautiful. Lines, forms and shades that create images and moments that inspire awe. Sometimes they’re the human figure. I love faces, expressions and moments shared with those faces and expressions. My friends and colleagues would also tell me off if I don’t at least mention my love for bicycles.
What advice would you give to anyone just starting out in a creative pursuit?
My number one advice is to do it badly. Leave behind the idea of doing anything well, because it kills the soul of creativity. Make a mess, scribble, doodle and focus on what is fun about creating. We are all so intimidated by good art that we lose what we love about creating.
What hopes do you have for the future?
My hopes for the future have become simpler over the years. I yearn for consistency and stability. My hope is that I can keep creating art like I do now, and keep following this journey of curiosity and exploration. My hope is that there’s always something interesting around the corner. My experience so far is that there always is, so that is cool.
