Neil Finn

Meet the Designer Part 1: Neil Finn

Photography and video by Stephen Tilley Video edit by Jacket Productions

Meet the Designer Part 2: How Neil Finn is Great Full

On living in Aotearoa…

It’s like winning the lottery really to be born in New Zealand. I don't say that lightly because I know there are people in New Zealand born into not good circumstances. It's not a paradise for all, certainly not, but I was lucky in being brought up in a loving family and New Zealand has just an incredible environment for kids generally to be able to interact with nature. We are insulated a little bit slightly in an unreal way. I think the world is suffering from a lot of ailments that in New Zealand you can easily forget, which is a blessing and a curse.

On what having a sense of community means…

It's like an eco-system that you're part of and you can contribute to. Every part of it is valuable and the good health of the weakest parts of the community actually is really important for the overall good health of the community. I think when people look after the weakest members of the community, it's good for the whole community.

On buying Made in NZ...

I absolutely support shopping locally in the sense that over and above things being made in countries where people are on starvation wages and kids are drafted in to [child labour], there's a lot of irresponsibility in that whole system. So when you know that something's coming from New Zealand, you know that certain rules of fairness are being applied to the production, which is always comforting and good for the community.

On being grateful...

I'm grateful for my family. That is probably the uppermost thing. I've got lucky enough to have a couple of grandchildren. Once you commit and you love people  you suffer the whole gamut of human experience. Sometimes it's really painful and there are difficult and frustrating moments interacting with every aspect of life.  [Your family] is the greatest joy, and also worry. My mother used to say [kids] are a worry from the day they're born. You never stop worrying about them but I'm super grateful for this experience as a human being. I know it's not the only way to experience life because a lot of people have incredible lives without that experience of having children.

On my most valued aspects of life...

Apart from family, music for me has been a lifelong compulsion that is no dimmer now than it ever was. And, I guess, a sense of trying to be aware enough to see opportunities for kindness around me. Keep your eyes open... it might be as simple as smiling at the homeless person sitting on the street rather than walking by and ignoring them. That sounds simplistic, but it is a fact that, just by acknowledging people around you, can make a difference as well. But otherwise, music and family and swimming in the ocean is kind of all I really feel I need in terms of being fed.

On the positives of the pandemic lockdowns...

In a strange way, I was kind of grateful for the lockdown, I was able to narrow my field of focus at a time when I had a lot of things going on that were making me kind of feeling quite anxious.  say this being fully aware that for a lot of people that was a terrible time, so I don't want to be glib about it. We were fortunate to be in a good place, we had the family down the road and I was able to look out at trees,  there was more nature around than normal and no distractions whatsoever. I just buried myself in writing songs. 

I think I'm now much more focused on the valuable things in my life than on the stuff that might have been distracting - some of it's been put into stark relief by not being able to do it anymore. I'll now be more mindful of how I organise my day and concentrate, and make sure there's room and time for the important things.

On looking towards the future...

I'm really looking forward to touring. [Also] I'm really looking forward to the world getting beyond the restlessness and unease of a pandemic and actually addressing the much larger issue of how to restore the planet - and its people - to good health.

On the inspiration behind the Ted’s Ready For Bed artwork...

The drawings I did for the jams are a repetitive pattern with these little characters. I found a bit of language to apply to a little kid holding a teddy bear and then gave the characters different characteristics, embracing different types of personalities. I call it ‘Ted’s Ready For Bed’. Hopefully the characters all have their own little stories and the teddy bears make a great companion for them. It’s nice to think that kids will feel comfortable in them.

On collaborating with Great Full on ‘Jams’ to support Cure Kids...

Doing this is me being part of a community. If my role is to do some fun drawings and be part of making some cool pyjamas that my grandkids could wear and other kids might enjoy, it's an easy, enjoyable way to participate. I always recognise that a lot of the people who are doing the most important work are tucked away and out of view. So whatever public face I put on things, it's never that comfortable to be given too much credit for it because it feels like it's the easy part of the equation. But yeah, I just hope it helps to build the general goodwill and focus of people on what is a great cause: Cure Kids.