Lights, Paint, Action! This Christchurch Art Studio Gets A Refresh

Heading up this studio refresh is Pinot & Picasso’s studio innovator, Phia.

Phia joined Pinot & Picasso as an artist in Melbourne, then moved into management, and is now responsible for site procurement, lease negotiations, designing the layout of studios and project managing the fit-outs — all while still helping out with local sessions now and then.

“Pinot & Picasso is a great way to spend quality time with others, doing something both creative and interactive, while also getting in touch with our mindfulness,” Phia says.

She managed her first fit out in Victoria, Australia, and has since done a whopping 20 more across both Australia and New Zealand.

As seasonal interest takes off, Phia and the team in Christchurch wanted to appeal to locals by elevating the space and making the studio pop from the outside looking in.

“Our Christchurch studio has been open for just under a year and was already covered in paint on the floors and walls,” Phia says.

“We didn’t want it to look like an old, run down art class, plus, we like to keep all of our studios on-brand, so that people feel the same experience when they visit others.”

With roughly 80 studios in Australia, Phia is familiar with BC’s Australian counterpart, hipages.

So, after doing a quick search online for ‘hipages NZ’, she was happily surprised when she came across BC.

Company budget in mind, she posted her jobs to BC and assessed the tradespeople who immediately expressed interest.

“I looked closely at tradespeople who were good at responding, had given the best quotes, had done similar jobs, and who had great craftsmanship,” Phia says.

“Like Google reviews, the person with the most or best reviews were the ones I looked at more closely.”

Phia sourced four different BC tradespeople for the studio refresh, including:

• A painter — Jason Ward Painter & Decorator
  Job: To remove paint and repaint walls to white ready for a mural.

• An electrician — Woodhouse Electrical
  Job: To install the UV lights.

• A blind installer
  Job: To install large window blinds.

• A floor maintenance specialist
  Job: To remove paint from concrete flooring and polish.

A key part of Phia’s role was liaising with both the tradespeople and local staff at the Christchurch studio — but working remotely from Australia had its difficulties.

“I had to organise the best times with the manager, making sure there were no sessions on and enough time for the jobs to be carried out,” Phia says.

“The timeframes we had to work with were short, and we needed a quick turnaround.

Pinot & Picasso’s latest country-wide experience is ‘Neon Nights’, which uses neon glow-in-the-dark paint – say no more!

“So that’s why we needed to install the blinds and UV lights,” Phia says.

On the day of the electrical fit-out, two UV bars were missing from the order, and that delay threw a spanner in the works for everyone.

Dave from Woodhouse Electrical made a second visit to complete the job. “But, he was really understanding and good about it,” Phia says.

“The first challenge for me was getting rid of the paint splats on the wall individually, which took some time,” Jason says.

“With time constraints and some plastering not being up to scratch I had to use a heat gun to dry things faster.

“Lastly, there was text on the wall so I spent some time fine tuning the paint colour to ensure the match was as close as possible.”

“There were concerns that the missing UV lights had been stolen, but it turned out they were still in the warehouse and weren’t delivered along with the rest,” Dave says

“So for us, the planning stage is crucial.

“Commercial customers tend to hand over the logistics to the professionals to get the best outcome,” Dave says.

Dave and Jason share their expert advice for those looking to refresh their store, studio, office, or home.

By sourcing tradespeople from BC, Phia says she saved a lot of valuable time and resources which she was able to put into other projects, like assisting with the studio fit out in Wellington.

“We felt good once everything was underway and it turned out really well,” Phia says.

“For me, it’s a bit harder to enjoy the end results being in Australia. But everything looks fresh and new.

Phia’s top four things she wish she knew before starting the studio refresh remotely:

A big thank you to Dave Woodhouse, Jason Ward and our other awesome tradespeople for their part in the Pinot & Picasso studio refresh. And, a big thanks to studio innovator, Phia, for sharing her remote renovation experience!