Metal Bird - Pīwakawaka, XL

Using its fanned tail to complete impressive aerial acrobatics, the fantail is inquisitive and friendly – to the point of tameness.

With its cheery ‘cheet cheet’, Pīwakawaka can be seen flitting about the heads of gardeners, catching the tiny bugs thrown up from the soil.

Slightly larger than real life, this bird comes in two sizes. At 280mm high this Metalbird will attract its curious real-life counterparts to your garden. Made from 3mm Corten® steel its designed to rust and change with the seasons.

Metal Bird

Metalbird is the brainchild of Phil Walters, an industrial designer and lover of street art and New Zealand’s native flora and fauna.

His handcrafted artworks bring together his passions: the tough, 3mm Corten® steel and stencil design, a nod to his urban art roots. The birds are inspired by the mysterious, satirical street artist Banksy – the stencils look as if street art has turned 3D.

Metalbird started as a guerrilla street art project. All over New Zealand’s North Island, more than 40 life-sized, Metalbird stencils appeared. In parks, in fences and on power poles – anywhere you’d least expect. And people loved them.

"Our designs represent some of New Zealand’s most precious birdlife. Art isn’t just something you see on a gallery wall – it can be the way the light shines through a coloured window or the splash of spray-paint on a city overpass. Art can be something you see, hear, taste or touch. But most of all, it’s something you experience – bringing with it memories and emotions"