Costume designer Charlotte Kelleher is cooking up some weird new creatures at her Wellington costume and art department studio, CKFilmDesign. She's working on costumes for a theatre adaptation of Patricia Grace's classic kids' book The Kuia and the Spider, adapted for the stage by writer and actor Jamie McCaskill and produced by Tanemahuta Grey at Taki Rua. After that, Charlotte will be making costumes and creatures for some UK-based indie features, and a new horror attraction coming to Wellington in the middle of the year.
Charlotte formed CKFilmDesign on returning to New Zealand following time spent in Saudi Arabia with husband Matt, the CK Film Design commercial manager. Living in the Middle East allowed Charlotte to pursue her love of costume design and she designed for feature films in the UK and also studied costume at the London School of the Arts. While she was away, she gave World of Wearable Arts a try, and was selected as a finalist in the Weta Workshop Section. Now Charlotte and the CK team of experienced designers and technicians provide art department services (costumes, props, creatures, set design, wardrobe standby etc) to the film and wider entertainment industries with a particular focus on costume/wardrobe. For examples of their work, check out the website ckfilmdesign.com or instagram.com/ckfilmdesign.
The CK team work in a 250sqm design and build workshop in Newlands, about 10 minutes from Wellington City. As well as designing and constructing their own original costumes for various productions, they have a huge range of existing costumes available. They've recently taken over management of the Avalon Studios wardrobe, and that partnership has increased the range of wardrobe available to the industry (they don't hire to the public). CK also has a fully fitted out hair and makeup trailer available for hire which can also be used as an actor retreat for downtime between shooting. The CK team also provides breakdown and wardrobe standby services for productions.While the team works primarily in film around New Zealand and internationally, they're also involved in a number of community initiatives, including the recent Armistice Centenary National Ceremony in Wellington where CKFilmDesign constructed the costumes designed by Auckland designer Elizabeth Whiting. They've also designed the World War I costumes for Dean O'Gorman's Passchendaele exhibition at the National War Museum, and are carrying out their own 'Sunday School' initiative where they teach interested designers and students new skills at the CK studio at weekends.
If you have production plans that need some costume input, or if you'd just like to visit, get in touch with Charlotte on 022 583 9163, or email mattkelleher72@gmail.com