Q&A WITH VICTORIA McKENZIE
Benny: Hi Vic, firstly... can you please give us a brief overview of your career?
Victoria: I studied Craft Design in Nelson, New Zealand in the early 90’s which lead to a lovely few years of part time jobs as a textile printing tutor, textile technician, landscape gardener, underwear designer and an artist working in bronze. I jumped into the Film and TV Industry full time after moving to Auckland, NZ, in the mid 90s, scoring my very first job as an art dept runner on the longest running NZ soap opera, Shortland Street. A marvellous training ground also my secret fav show many years before. Cut to only a few years later and I was re-locating to Wellington, NZ to be the C0-Head Set Dresser on Lord of the Rings for all 3 films.I now work in the Film and TV industry in Melbourne as a Set Decorator.
BC: Tell us about the set you’ve built...
VM: The set is a distilled version of my home. I have an expanding collection of handcrafted mid-century wooden and woven objects. The shell necklaces are part of a thirty year assemblage that has reached over 350 that line the walls of my sunroom. As an acknowledgment to my Kiwi heritage I have included a table lamp whose base is carved from Ponga. I am a mad keen gardener and my plant love extends indoors to the forest of plants I am surrounded by.
BC: You have a bit of an island life aesthetic with your shells, tiki’s and woven basket.. Where do you draw your cultural inspiration from?
VM: The Pacific Island culture in New Zealand had deeply influenced my aesthetic.
BC: What’s your favourite piece?
VM: My fav piece is the mid-century brass cat.
BC: What was your process creating this set and did your initial idea translate through to the finished set?
VM: The process of creating this set was to photograph my collections separately then I lay the images onto black card and kept ones that resonated the most for me. There was very little deviation from my initial idea to the finished set.
BC: Tell us about your colour pallet choices.
VM: I have a passion for the colour orange. It is such a gorgeous bold warm colour that lets the shell necklaces shine and also defines the black standard lamp and 60’s vinyl cocktail chair, and my frock.
BC: How do you like being in front of the camera?
VM: I much prefer to create behind the scenes and hand the set over to the actors and director and run away.
BC: Anything else?
VM: I am so lucky to have found a job that uses all my skills and that I love.
