Lucie Blazevska – Born to Create

Lucie is a graphic designer and art tutor, originally from Czech Republic, living in New Zealand. She is a founder/operator of Lucie Blaze custom skateboard decks and creative workshop “Design your own board”. She moved to New Zealand in 2014 and have embraced the culture and art scene over the past few years, further developing her art style from a wide pool of influences and techniques.

She brings a graphic design and art to children in the form of creative workshop “Design your own board”. She encourages creativity and imagination in a fun environment. Lucie’s aim is to introduce graphic design and creativity as a form of self-expression which is a great way to explore and analyse emotions and thoughts. Not mentioning the fact that most kids who designed their skateboards with her wants to ride it as well.

She operates her own brand called Lucie Blaze under which she creates original skateboards focused on female skateboarders. Her recent collection is called Born to Create which celebrates inspirational females all around the world. She currently runs an exhibition across Auckland (the Pullman Hotel, Studio One Toi Tū, Depot Artspace) under the same name, Born to Create, where she explores a digital and hand-embellished collages on canvas and skateboards.

This collection is a celebration of females; specifically putting a spotlight on our local heroines but also worldwide ones. I would like to present these amazing women to inspire communities and youths and to show that you don’t have to be famous in order to make a difference in the world around you.

No matter how long I’ve known them or where they are from, each of these women has inspired me in their own way. They all possess different talents and spread different vibes, and each and every one can be inspiration to you as well. All these women do good in our society by sharing their skills, experiences and knowledge. By doing so, they’re changing our communities and inspiring youths to grow and develop themselves and help others.

I was inspired when I had a catch up with my girl friends and I realized how each one of them is unique in their own way and how they are eager to help and try to make the world a better place. And they don’t just try, they actually actively make it so by being a role model and inspirational seed for future generations. That’s absolutely enough for celebration in my eyes. I then decided to look more closely at the women I’m surrounded by who do good in our society. I’ve created collages on skateboards with photos of women like Amanda Betts (who does Heartspeaks and Bridge the Gap project), Huia O’Sullivan (who is the executive director of Nga Rangatahi Toa), Courtney Sina Meredith (an inspiring poet and author), Klara Kappala (who is a founder of Wakitaka Charity) and some other inspiring ladies from my community. These skateboard collages are all handmade and they’re displayed in the Pullman Hotel until September 2019. What I’m presenting in Depot Artspace are digital illustrations of other inspirational women who are known locally or worldwide.

The reason I chose to interpret women is very simple: I feel there hasn’t been enough acknowledgment and appreciation of what some of them did. I dare to say without the bravery and courage of these women, we wouldn’t have as much freedom we do have now. Of course, there is still a long journey to go but the progress we’ve made so far deserves to be celebrated.