About Steven
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When someone lists their occupation as an artist, it conjures up images of a beret-clad bohemian sitting in front of an easel. Steven Clothier is anything but. Steven sports a number two haircut and wears steel cap boots. His studio is a 216m2 round barn complete with air compressor, rivet gun, drills, nibbler and a roller that crouches in the corner like a prehistoric monster.
Steven uses as a medium what most of us regard 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, just the last of many of his 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 Pukohe, a fish playing a guitar in Matata, a pink Cadillac in Turangi, 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 wry 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 in 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 Creations is not restricted by shape or size - only by our imagination. Each one is unique. They become icons." Steven with his kiwi-bloke 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." 180 years ago, corrugated iron was invented to make cheap and transportable roofs and water tanks for the colonies. Now fashionable, funky and stylish, Steven has taken it to new levels with his practical, durable and impressive Corrugated Creations. |
The Corrugated Creations' team
• Steven Clothier •
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• Russell Keay •
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Click here to see the Country Calendar program about us
Click here to listen to Radio NZ story on the Tin Man of Tirau.
Click here to read North and South's 'Travel in Tirau' story.
Follow our facebook page for the latest Creations as they go up around the world.
Click here to listen to Radio NZ story on the Tin Man of Tirau.
Click here to read North and South's 'Travel in Tirau' story.
Follow our facebook page for the latest Creations as they go up around the world.
