Arriving at the Workshop with a particular interest in robotics and animatronics, she pitched an idea to our robotics team and asked for tutorials and online resources to help her build foundational skills so she could return ready to learn the next steps. And she did. Bertram created early prototypes from cardboard, tested motors, learned to code and continuously trialled different ways of working with the guidance and support of the team.  

“I have always been an artist that is driven primarily by storytelling,” says Bertram. “What Wētā Workshop enabled me to do was to overcome the fear I had in entering fields I had always wanted to explore but didn't have the technical skill or confidence to develop. Working with electronics and servo motors was completely foreign to me, but an area that I desperately wanted to upskill in.” 

She then moved into silicone casting, spending hours creating moulds and casts before taking them to the paint room to experiment with airbrushing and layering techniques. She learnt to paint skin and tried foiling armour. “I even had a cast made of my own face, although it didn’t make it to the celebrity wall,” she jests, referring to the Workshop’s collection of actor life casts. 

What Bertram valued most of all was the creative exchange among artists. “Every department within Wētā Workshop specialises in its own set of highly technical skills, and yet each individual also possesses a wonderful range of interdisciplinary ideas and talents beyond their own Workshop area,” she observes. “Some of the most rewarding conversations were those where I shared ideas about what I was doing and had others comment and build on those ideas, and take me to new perspectives and new questions.” 

For Cushla O’Connell, the 2025 winner of the newly named Wētā Workshop Outstanding Design Award, who is poised to begin her internship at the Workshop this year, Betram offers a wellspring of advice: “Be prepared to explore, to trial techniques, to fail, to make a mess and find something you didn't expect. Ask as many questions as you can. Be bold in exploring new Workshop spaces, absorb everything on the walls and talk to as many people as possible. Wear comfortable shoes, get dirty and learn how to use the coffee machine. Don’t give back your security pass if you can; you won’t want to leave.” 

For anyone thinking about entering the World of Wearable Art competition, she has only one instruction: “Apply.” 

For more information about the World of Wearable Art, visit worldofwearableart.com.