New Zealand’s favourite painting and wine nights are launching in the UK.
Self-funded from day one, Kiwi business Paintvine has been running its highly-popular art classes across New Zealand since 2017.
Attendees are given the tools and taught the skills to recreate famous art pieces in a laid back setting, over a few glasses of wine and some food.
In two years, Paintvine has taught almost 20,000 New Zealanders how to paint, over more than 570 events in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington, Queenstown, Napier, Dunedin, and Christchurch.
It’s now offering the magic of Paintvine to Londoners with the first UK Paintvine night to be held on the 18th of November, where attendees will paint their own version of Hokusai’s famous masterpiece The Great Wave.
Paintvine has really resonated with New Zealanders and the paint and wine combo has proven to be a winner,” Paintvine co-founder Denym Bird says.
“London and the old word like to think of themselves of the cultural capitals of the world, but we’re proud to bring it back to them with our own unique Kiwi twist.
“Painting is so much more fun with a glass of wine and a glass of wine tastes so much better when you’re painting. We know Londoners will agree and take to it like New Zealanders have.”
The business was co-founded by friends Denym Bird, Alex Hamilton, and Euan Lockie almost two years ago.
The goal was to create something social for young people to do which didn’t revolve purely around drinking, and combined the founders’ love of art.
The London launch coincides with Paintvine launching a revamped website and the founders have plans to launch in around 40 cities across the UK over the next 24-36 months. Plans are also in place to launch Paintvine in Australia around the middle of next year.
Lockie is on the ground in the UK for launch with Bird and Hamilton set to move over from Auckland next year to help build out the team.
Main photo: The Paintvine team, from left: Euan Lockie (co-founder), Alex Hamilton (co-founder), Brogan Scott (ops manager) and Denym Bird (co-founder). Paintvine was a finalist in the 2019 David Awards.