The F1 Times sits down with massive Petrolhead Motorsport Artist extraordinaire, Nicolas Hunziker. It became more and more apparent that his artwork is only one of his expressive outlets to a passion that runs far deeper than paint on canvas.
Q: Nic, your work has received blessings from Porsche AG, Le Mans Gulf etc… You produce licensed prints of such greats as James Hunt, Steve McQueen and Jim Clark among others. Is it safe to assume that speed is your inspiration?
Speed is a great inspiration. But there’s more to it than just the speed: There’s also the romance of the ‘golden era’ of motorsports that I try to capture in my work. I don’t know why, but a lot of people yearn for the past when “racing used to be great”. I do watch current motorsport events but somehow the past is more interesting to me. This sentiment has always existed. Just the other day I was reading an Autosport magazine from the 1960s and one of the comments was how motor racing used to be so much more exiting in the 1930s… so I think this is something that affects every generation: The past is always more exciting.
Q: Is getting the licensing sorted one of your biggest challenges? Do you have a lot of people trying to rip off your work as unlicensed merchandise and how difficult is it to find and stop the counterfeit products from being distributed?
The licensing issues aren’t that difficult. There are a lot of artists who never bother with it but from the beginning I always wanted to do it right. I think it gives my work authenticity and relevance. Naturally, some licenses are harder to obtain than others but I wouldn’t consider this area to be a big challenge.
We protect ourselves to the best of our capabilities: We own all the trademarks for our brand, my name, my signature etc. When we use some else’s IP rights, we get the official approval/licensing. My actual artwork is protected by copyright law and all of my limited edition prints come with official certificates of authenticity. But there will always be people and companies who copy my style or designs, I think that’s unavoidable. I’ve seen other artist copy my work, I’ve seen fake prints being sold, there’s even an entire line of look-alike t-shirts that’s out. But retailers tell us that the original Hunziker products sell better than the fakey-doos so we will prevail.
Q: Take us through your creative process. How does your work go from a thought to a masterpiece?
Every project starts out with a research phase. During this phase I familiarize myself with the subject matter. This could include visiting a certain venue or event, meeting with certain people, viewing a car, driving a car, reading a book or old magazine or visiting a museum. Usually at some point during this process an idea starts to take hold. The next step is to start sketching. This phase could take hours, days or months. Sometimes it looks right immediately and sometimes I go through many different drafts. I bounce ideas off my partner, Heather Norwood; sometimes four eyes see more than two. Once I have a sketch that I (and the client) like the painting phase starts.
Q: What made you go from murals and canvas to apparel and furniture?
I started out as a fine artist. That’s what I knew: I’m the 4th generation fine artist in my family. The whole apparel idea came from my better half, Heather, she suggested to make a couple of t-shirts with my artwork on it. At first I wasn’t too enthused about it because I thought it would cheapen my artwork. So in 2009 we started with three T-shirts, from there it just snowballed into a complete T-shirt line, a shoe line and so on. All the merchandise has actually elevated the value of the original paintings: A t-shirt or computer mouse pad is just another canvas.
Q: Automotive and Motorsports have long had a place in home decor but you’ve really taken it to another level with some of your ideas. What’s next in this segment for Hunziker?
We actually just had an internal conversation about this last week and we are exploring some new avenues in this area. I can’t say too much at this point but it’s just a natural extension of my artwork and of the work of our companies.
Q: You’re based in Las Vegas; does sin city offer much Motorsport inspiration? Do you do much travelling to the UK or Europe in general?
Being in Vegas is really more a result of the current housing market, unfortunately we bought a house before things started going crazy here. I’m in L.A. a lot because of all of our US apparel is being manufactured there. L.A. and California has a great car culture. California also has better driving roads and race tracks than Nevada. So to answer your question, Vegas doesn’t really offer me much regarding Motorsport inspiration.
We have a sister company in Vienna so I travel back and forth a bit. Last year I also attended 24h Le Mans, Le Mans Classic, Monterey, Goodwood and so on.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Interview where we talk about F1 Legend James Hunt and more!
1. Which car is featured in Hunziker’s Canvas LeMans print with Steve McQueen?
2. What car did Steve McQueen help make famous in the 1968 film Bullitt?
3. Which team did Jim Clark race for in Formula One?
4. What caused Jim Clark’s retirement from the 1960 Dutch GP?
5. In which year did James Hunt win his Formula One title?
Just email your answers to competition@f1times.co.uk with the subject ‘Hunziker Competition’ and we’ll choose a winner at random.
