Mark Fry’s small desk is an interesting stop on a tour of the Wētā Workshop in Wellington, New Zealand. Here, he makes models, conceptual ideas for many of the projects Weta works on. He passes around a tower from Warhammer, one he made out of an old yogurt container. Others are built from discarded construction materials.

“Creation doesn’t have to be expensive,” he says to my tour group, smiling through a magnificent white beard. “But creation is needed, or we will lose the ability to do so.”

Mark has been doing this at Wētā for 17 years now, his work featured in projects we have all seen. But if you ask him, his mission – and that of Wētā – is so much more than that. The true mission is inspiring creation, and sharing the power of that simple act.

‘Be creative and make cool stuff.’ That is the official motto of the Wētā Workshop. And it is what this place has been doing since its founding in 1987 by Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger. From models to makeup, costumes to props, Wētā – named for a local insect of all things – has been involved in more than 150 films and dozens of television shows, plus other projects and exhibitions.

Of course, for most people here, Wētā (the accents in what Americans would spell Weta aren’t used in American English, but I have been requested to for this article) is on the map due to The Lord of the Rings. The founders had been working with director Peter Jackson for some time, and the company had grown to about 30 employees when Jackson approached them to take part in the film trilogy. By the time shooting was done, Wētā would create more than 48,000 items for the acclaimed movies, and would take home an Academy Award in the process.

My tour guide, Miriam, is from Montreal originally, and it is exactly The Lord of the Rings that drew her to New Zealand and a job at Wētā. That is true both from a fan standpoint – she is always excited but especially when she is talking about that franchise – and a professional one. With the success of the films and Wētā’s involvement, the studio has grown immensely, now employing roughly 150 artists and another couple hundred on the corporate and tourism side of the ledger. Her tour, which takes about 90 minutes, traces the history of the company, its artistic processes, and of course some of the most iconic “cool stuff” Wētā has created.

Tours begin outside next to three cave trolls, then progress through a series of rooms dedicated to various aspects of creation. (Photos aren’t allowed in the majority, unfortunately.) We learn the process of creating prosthetics, a tedious dozen step teamwork-required project that ends up with single-use silicon face masks, so a character like Gimli from The Lord of the Rings would need one for every day of shooting plus extras. We are introduced to the process of making costumes and weapons – Wētā currently employs three people just to make swords! – and get up close and personal with some of the most impressive specimens, like Sauron’s armor.

But the focus of the tour isn’t on how great Wētā has been – and still is, obviously – but rather on the act of creation itself. It is the opposite of what one would expect a place with Wētā’s accolades to do, but one that makes a visit so much more meaningful.

Kim Beaton is from Montana, and like Mark, she has been at Wētā for 17 years now. Her role? She creates models out of aluminum foil, which are then coated in concrete. She demonstrates, and then each of us is given a piece of foil to try our own artistic luck with. (My rose is nothing to write home about, but I enjoy the experience.)

“This (foil) isn’t just for the kitchen,” she tells the group. She explains, similarly to Mark, that most people don’t have the money to just experiment with creation. Foil allows for that to be done on the cheap. “Just make sure to put the dull side outwards,” she says before demonstrating using a spoon to add texture.

After getting our photos taken in mock sword fights, the tour ends. But my contemplation doesn’t.

What does it mean to create? Does it need to be something physical, something artistic? I believe that everybody – truly, everybody – has some sort of creative side to them. Some paint or draw. Some write. Others cook or bake, sing, dance, play music. Some knit or crochet; others do any number of things. Mark makes models. Kim sculpts with aluminum foil.

But by that act of creating, via whatever outlet one chooses with whatever passion or skill one has, the world gains a bit more color, a bit more beauty. That is the takeaway from a visit to the Wētā Workshop, so much more than just looking at – and geeking out over – stuff from some of my favorite movies.

Wētā exists not because of what it actually makes, but because of what the stuff it makes inspires in the wider world. It exists because people like Mark and Kim are all around us, and because the wildly awesome creativity of people like them needs an outlet. And it exists so that people like me can come visit, and can leave rededicated to our own acts of creation.

‘Be creative and make cool stuff.’ But it could just as easily be: marvel at creation and be inspired. It doesn’t matter who you are or what brings you to the Wētā Workshop in Wellington, New Zealand. You will leave inspired. You will leave wanting to create. You will leave amazed at what human ingenuity and creativity can do.

Thank you to the Wētā Workshop for hosting my visit and tour. More importantly, thank you for rekindling my desire to create.

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