Josh Currie is keeping the "dying art" of architectural hand-drawing alive with illustrations of Kiwi homes. Photo: Josh Draws Houses / Supplied
It's not pride that inspires Kiwis to get their homes turned into hand-drawn works of art, says Tauranga house illustrator Josh Currie - it's fondness.
"People start out with saying 'my house is really ugly but I love it. Could you please draw it for me?'" he told RNZ's Nights.
Josh's drawing of a Ponsonby villa with nikau palms on either side. Photo: Josh Currie / @joshdrawshouses
Currie grew up in Kaitaia where, inspired by his architect grandfather, he fell in love with sketching houses and buildings as a kid.
Now living in Tauranga, he developed his highly detailed drawing style at Auckland University's School of Architecture (where he was the only Masters student who didn't use computers for his final work).
Using your hands to draw houses and buildings is now a "dying art", Currie says, but computer illustration - with its linearity and easy self-correction - is for him a less imaginative process.
"When you sit down at a computer, everything's exact and right but when you sit down and draw you kind of get lost in what you're doing."
Josh's drawing of Tanuki Japanese Restaurant on Queen Street, Auckland Photo: Josh Currie / @joshdrawshouses
Currie had his sketchbook at the ready when he first visited Asia and on many travels since.
Living in Taiwan, he fell in love with old tea shops which, after decades of modifications and add-ons, each have their own highly distinctive look.
"I suddenly went from like small-town New Zealand to these massive cities. I thought it was all so amazing and organic so I just sketched it all down.
"I've sat there for hours and drawn something and with my style, I get down into every tiny little detail. You really appreciate the place you are.
"I really got to know [the places] rather than taking a quick photo and then moving on. I kind of sat there and enjoyed these places."
Currie's house illustrations - which he first started doing a few years ago as gifts for friends - are about half the time done from copying Google Street View.
Working from old photos, he has also depicted houses lost in the Christchurch earthquakes and destroyed by fire.
"Those have been a bit more special, to recreate this lost memory."
New Zealand homes built before the 1940s - particularly villas, bungalows and state houses - have a certain recognisable look that Currie loves to capture in ink.
"They kind of have this unique charm to them … Everyone knows what they look like if that makes sense."
Josh's illustration of the wharenui at Makirikiri Marae in Dannevirke. Photo: Josh Currie / @joshdrawshouses
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
