Trevor in Carterton Street Scene

If you grab the latest Carterton Street Scene, you’ll see the cover features one strikingly handsome individual:

Well, it’s got Trev on it anyway. (Only kidding, mate!)

Read more to catch up with the full text of the article inside…

Cheers,
Minty
Webmaster

Carterton Street Scene, Autumn 2011

The King of Steampunk

The other kids didn’t have a show. Even in kindergarten, Carterton artist Trevor Lamb was wondering why they drew stick figures when there were more creative ways of depicting life.

The creativity has continued, as has Trevor’s ability to stand out as an artist with an eye for the extraordinary. Working from his studio that was once the garage at the family home in Carterton, Trevor creates mainly leather works that embrace a “steampunk” style. They evoke days of art nouveau and the age of steam, with enough punk to make them quirkily contemporary.

“lt’s tomorrow as it used to be- how people in the Victorian era perceived the future to be.” Trevor says.

Although he has completed a diploma in craft design at Southland Polytechnic (now Southern Institute of Technology), Trevor says he is mostly self-taught.

“I tend to work alone with my art, without influence,” he says. “On the downside, working away from other leather people means I can’t bounce ideas and problems off them, but I do this with some other local sculptors.”

Trevor was born and bred in Greytown. When he left school he worked as a spray painter, then did a brief stint as an apprentice sign writer in Porirua. He was later in charge of the AA’s sign production department then joined the police, being posted in Masterton and Southland for 13.5 years.

An injury ended his police career, so he did the Southland Polytechnic course, It was there he was encouraged by tutor Muriel Williams to major in leatherwork.

Back in Greytown, he was a shoe-maker briefly. After he was made redundant, he moved to Carterton- “the most comfortable town I have lived in”-where he became a full-time artist, which he has now done for more than 16 years.

During that time his reputation has grown. He is regularly invited to tutor workshops -some international -and he has received seven international awards. He also lays claim to the leather helmets worn by the pilots in the King Kong movie.

Trevor concedes his unique style comes at a cost for clients, but only to the extent that quality workmanship is paramount.

“Early on I realised there was just no way I could compete with cheap, mass produced goods;’ he says, “I sit more comfortably crafting superb quality work, by hand. To do this I use the best, o most suitable materials I can source, which is often exotic or unusual. It’s not to say that my work is priced high, but it is to say it is priced to be fair.”

Trevor Lamb
30 Wyndham Street Carteron
06 379 6144
www.leatherandart.co.nz