We turned 10 this year and threw a party to celebrate the milestone with close clients, partners, family and friends. The theme for the party was ‘Special Editions’ — everything from the music to the food were new: custom, never-made-before cocktails by Black Pineapple and unique, never-eaten-before canapes by Hercules Noble.
It was only fitting that the invitation was therefore too, a special edition.
The team worked with Tim Melville Gallery to commission a Salome Tanuvasa painting on canvas for the studio, and the opportunity to be able to collaboratively re-create and reproduce the finished artwork as a limited edition print for the invitation.
The PU team has long admired Tanuvasa’s work.
They had already purchased 2 previous artworks of Tanuvasa’s in the past which hang proudly within the studio. Tanuvasa’s warm, gestural mark making and vibrant painting style embraces the creative energy and entrepreneurial spirit of PU. A feeling that they want others to soak in as they enter the studio, and a piece other’s can now own themselves and experience in their unique spaces.
The goal was for invitation to the party to be less ephemeral and something truly memorable, precious and one-of-a-kind that people couldn’t just buy off the shelf. Something that represented PU’s spirit — both in the craft and execution and importantly in the idea of the invite itself.
The team worked with Dave at Logick Printing to craft and produce the invitation. The goal was to emulate the texture of the white and red paint strokes so that the print lived up to the real thing (to carry through the value of the artwork).
Previously Unavailable have a growing art collection and a commitment to collecting art by artists from, or residing in, Aotearoa.
PU’s affinity for art is something the company wants everyone to experience in the studio — a vibrant, warm and creative space for the team to work within and welcoming for clients and friends who visit the space.
Salome Tanuvasa Bio (copied from The Chartwell Project website):
Salome Tanuvasa is a Samoan-Tongan artist based in Auckland. She completed her Masters in Fine Arts at Elam in 2014, followed by a Diploma in Secondary Teaching. Her work crosses a variety of mediums including moving image, drawing, photography and sculpture. It is about her immediate surroundings and often reflects the environments she is in at that time, drawing attention to wider issues among New Zealand-based Pacific people. Her work is held in the Chartwell Collection and the Wallace Art Trust Collection and she has had three solo exhibitions at Tim Melville Gallery in Auckland. She has made shows in Auckland, Wellington, Sydney and Shanghai, where in 2018 she was awarded the YAF Creative Award by the China Academy of Art.
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