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Papamoa t-shirt designer Totaea Rendell is capitalising on his frustrations about the Rena disaster.
The independent clothing producer has designed a range of t-shirts as a way to vent his anger about the damage done to the Bay of Plenty environment by the Rena wreck.
Papamoa teeshirt designer Totaea Rendell with the teeshirt he has designed about Rena.
The tees, designed and printed from his home-based studio in Papamoa, feature explicit images reflecting Rena, including penguins dripping in oil and the words ‘F*** You Rena’.
“They are definitely controversial and pretty edgy, but at the same time they are playful,” says Totaea.
“There is one called ‘unhappy feet’, others that have a lot of detail and can be funny.”
The tees are available for purchase in four Mount Maunganui clothing stores, Tay Street dairy, and online.
Totaea says since the Rena ship grounded on Astrolabe Reef on October 5, his business, and the businesses he supplies, have taken a big hit.
“We look forward to trade during the summer time, especially in this area, and it hasn’t been nearly as good as it has been in the past, directly because of the Rena – there is not as many people coming to this area.”
Totaea began designing the new range of tees after the ship broke up during a storm on January 8.
“It was totally a spur of the moment thing, the designs just came out.
“When the Rena split it got a lot worse so I started creating new designs that have really hit a nerve with people.”
Retailing under the brand name Paua Fritter, the tees are available in men’s and women’s sizes, selling for about $50 in stores.
Totaea says he has received a mixed reaction from the public.
“They have been reasonably popular, perhaps if they weren’t so harsh in tone I may have sold some more – they are pretty out there.
“The tees have been put up in windows and people have stopped to take pictures of them, some were closing the eyes of their children as they walked past the window.”
As a surfer and beach lover, Totaea found it hard to take in the devastation caused by Rena, and found designing was an outlet for frustration.
“It really is just a lot of angst and frustration and that came through via the art work.”
Totaea has been designing and printing t-shirts from Papamoa for the last five years.
Posted on 07-02-2012 17:19 | By Jack the Lad
right with you, laugh a little, rminds me of an old adage "Smile at the world, and the world will smile with you, moan and you moan alone". There are more things to worry about, than some guy trying to make a buck, and have a little fun at the same time, I for one, am all for taking the pssss, so to speak.