-
Richard Taylor holds World Class NZ supreme award - Source: ONE News -
Related
The force behind Wellington's Weta Workshop, Richard Taylor, has won the supreme award at the World Class New Zealand awards.
The awards, presented on Wednesday night, honour New Zealand's tall poppies who are successful on an international level.
For the last 15 years Weta Workshop - a special effects facility of which Taylor co-founded and is the creative director - has created models, makeup and monsters for movies like the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong.
"He's internationally recognised, he's won five Oscars, so he's hugely famous. He's done such a fantastic job for New Zealand and really put New Zealand on the map," says KEA's global chairman Stephen Tindall.
The supreme award from the Kiwi Expats Association (KEA), a network of New Zealand business leaders excelling on the world stage, is extra special for Taylor.
"Being part of that worldwide New Zealand group now is an amazing feeling. To win the award is very special for our whole team," he said.
Ironically, the supreme award statuette won by Taylor is actually his own creation.
"It's a truly bizarre situation because we actually design and make the statue, and I said to the workshop supervisor 'wow, I wonder who wins these things?', and now we are here tonight collecting one," he said.
Taylor says he still loves getting hands-on in the workshop, 15 years on from its beginnings.
