CMUA: What is your earliest memory of creativity?
Karen: My grandmother was a great knitter. She was fast, she was consistent, she made beautiful things. She didn't come across as a creative woman until she was on the knitting needles or in the garden.
I wanted to learn how to knit, and she taught me how. There was just something about taking one thing and turning it into another that drew me in. I can execute something onto paper to communicate an idea, but pencil and paper isn't my natural place. It's making something, like turning a ball of wool into a Peggy Square.
I like embroidery, I like tapestry, I like knitting, I like stitching. Hands are the oldest creative tool, right? Things that have been made clearly by hand probably connect with us as humans in a way that's different to things that have been made without hands.
I always feel drawn to things where you can see the hand in it and you can see the imperfection. All creativity should be imperfect, otherwise you can see the machine’s made it.
"All creativity should be imperfect, otherwise you can see the machine’s made it."
CMUA: What was the first thing you remember making for yourself?
Karen: I knitted this little batwing kind of cropped sweater. God, if we could have these in the store now. It was fantastic.
It was a sort of soft apricot with a little creamy and sparkly thing going through it. It was the 80s, and I knitted it to wear to the school social. I don’t know if it was a hit or not, but I was pleased with it. It was probably quite warm.
CMUA: What’s a creative moment that made us?
Karen: There's creativity in every corner, in every moment in our history as a nation with human beings in every household, in every school, in every business, in every brain. There's not one. It's just a tapestry over 800 and something years that we've been here, informing what that looks like as a national identity. It's different for everybody who's observing it.
Some people go,"the national identity is Flying Nun.” Yeah, and a million other things. But Flying Nun’s great.
CMUA: What’s a creative moment that made you?
Karen: My grandmother showed me how to make a circular skirt for my Barbie when I was four. I can see it so vividly. I can see the fabric, I can feel it. I can see the colours, the patterns, everything. She just looked fucking awesome. If you saw that on a Prada runway, you’d go “I believe it.” It was that good.
For a four-year-old, that was like, “okay, what else can I do, what else can these things do, and this thing?”
It amazed me that 45, 50 years later Barbie made a Karen Walker doll, which was just kind of full circle.
CMUA: Have you had an unforgettable creative experience?
Karen: For the Commonwealth Fashion Exchange a few years ago. Buckingham Palace rang us up and said, "Would you make a dress or garment with an artisan from another country?”.
I said,”I want to do something with tīvaevae. I want to work with the Cook Islands Māmās right here in Auckland.”
With Māmā Tukua Turia and her team of incredible artisans, we made this incredible dress together. Māmā Tukua and I went to Buckingham Palace to this party, and there it was, along with work by Stella McCartney and other designers. It was just one of those magical things where it made no sense, but it was incredible. It’s now in the vaults at Te Papa.
You never know where creativity’s going to lead you, kids!
CMUA: What do you feel when you’re being creative?
Karen: I think the euphoria hits when it's a 10 out of 10, when everything comes together. It’s just, “oh my god, look what we did.”
Creativity can be a grind until you get to that final moment. But if you can get those few small wins, if you can just get a little bit closer, whether you're applying paint to canvas or whatever it is that your creativity is, it's enough to keep you coming back.
"If you’re a human being, you're creative. You have no choice in the matter, let it come out in a guilt-free way."
CMUA: How can New Zealanders get more creativity into their lives?
Karen: Even if you've got a career that requires you to be completely unquestioning and uncreative, and follow the steps. It’s absolutely fine. We definitely need those jobs as well, but come home and knock yourself out on the sewing machine, or icing the cake, or planting your spring bulbs, or whatever it is that you do. Just find something.
I’ve heard people go, "Oh, I'm not creative.” Bullshit. You're a human being, of course you're creative. That might come out in the form of problem solving, or it might come out in the form of painting, or it might come out in the form of singing in the shower. I don't care. If you’re a human being, you're creative.
You have no choice in the matter, let it come out in a guilt-free way. “Oh, I'm wasting time decorating this cake,” whatever. You're not. You’re letting an important part of you, as a human being, have its moment.