Journal // Cindy Leong

Cindy Leong is the artist behind our beautiful new wrapping paper, her work provokes a sense of calm and has a deep meditative quality, inspired by nature, connection, energy, the passing of time. We visited Cindy in her studio to chat to her about creative practice.

I was born and raised in Tamaki Makaurau by two Malaysian-Chinese migrant parents. Growing up in New Zealand in the pre-internet 90’s with not much stimulation fostered an environment to develop my creativity. 

I learned to entertain myself by creating things with whatever I could find. Whether it was painting faces on rocks, turning a cardboard box into a pretend computer or constructing outfits for my barbie with tissue paper, from the earliest I can remember I enjoyed making something out of nothing.  

I try to paint or do something creative every day if I can, even if it’s just a quick five minute sketch to keep the right side of my brain in motion. The nature of creative work ebbs and flows so some weeks are quiet and I can just focus on my own personal work, other weeks I might have deadlines for a number of projects all due at the same time. In addition to this there’s a never-ending list of things I want to learn and experiment with. Working this way requires fluidity, self-discipline and a whole lot of faith. My life feels a bit all over the place sometimes but at the same time I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Self-expression is a release for your soul. It’s the feeling of having all these ideas and thoughts in your head and you don’t know what to do with it all except channel it into something tangible and put it out there in the world.