We created ‘The Curve Crusher’ artwork and campaign in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown. In two weeks, we raised $146,410 for Women’s Refuge New Zealand.

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and a nationwide lockdown, we were given the opportunity by our friends at The Print Room to sell some company merch to help our business during tough and uncertain times. We decided to instead use this opportunity to help Women’s Refuge NZ, an incredibly important organisation who support women and children experiencing family violence.

The concept itself - The Curve Crusher - was inspired by media coverage about how well New Zealand was doing in response to the pandemic, and how we might not just “flatten the curve”, but completely squash it.

We were aware this was the work of many people, but at the time it was hard to look past the admiration our nation had built for the person fronting our response, Dr. Ashley Bloomfield. In times when uncertainty occupied most of our thoughts, this incredible cool, calm and collected character, gave us scientific knowledge mixed with empathy but most importantly, he entitled us to trust the system. We decided such a man deserved to be immortalised and celebrated as a kiwi icon of the time, so we coined him “The Curve Crusher” and designed this artwork to feature on tote bags, tees, and hoodies for people to buy and wear proudly.

This merchandise was printed and sold by The Print Room, who need a special mention at this point for their role in making the campaign happen and for doing the hard yards in printing and fulfilling thousands of orders. Thanks guys!

As creative ideas (combined with a bit of goodwill) sometimes do, the campaign went viral. Andy, our co-founder and designer of the illustration, was fronting media and featured on TV1 news and various newspapers. Word quickly got around, and after three weeks we had sold nearly 10,000 items and raised $146,410 for Women’s Refuge New Zealand. It was no Captain Tom, but we were thrilled to be able to help an organisation during difficult (unprecedented) times with such a meaningful sum of money.

The campaign has now officially ended, and sales are no longer available (sorry).