Manufacture

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A family of makers

Our workshop floor is alive with activity. With seventeen manufacturing departments housed in one facility, we have the technology, techniques, and talented crew to tackle almost any creative brief.

Over more than thirty years we’ve crafted hundreds of thousands of weapons; microscopically detailed miniatures; immersive attractions with Instagram-worthy centerpieces; bespoke specialty costumes; life-size animatronics; and plenty more besides.

Engineering to woodwork. Textiles to paint. Mold-making to model-making. 3D milling and casting, to sword-smithing and sculpture. For our manufacture crew, traditional handcraft walks hand in hand with innovative technology.

Wētā Workshop Co-founder and Creative Director Richard Taylor is on the workshop floor every day, sleeves rolled, leading our passionate team of artisans, technicians, and craftspeople to achieve creative excellence.

Manufacture Projects

Film & TV

2023 The Tank

The Tank

Creature

2023 Weta Workshop M3gan

M3GAN

Design and manufacture

Film & TV

2022 Black Panther Wakanda Forever

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Specialty costumes

Film & TV

2022 Pearl

Pearl

Prosthetics

Film and TV

2022 Samaratin

Samaritan

Specialty suits and hammer

Film & TV

2022 Avatar: The Way Of Water

Avatar: The Way of Water

Costumes, props, weapons, vehicles

Film & TV

2022 The Lord of the Rings The Rings of Power

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Design and manufacture

Film & TV

2022 Thor Love and Thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder

Costume

Film & TV

2022 X

X

Prosthetics and gore gags

LBE

Unleashed Website Poster

Wētā Workshop Unleashed

Complete build of location-based experience

Film & TV

2021 Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat

Specialty weapon

Film & TV

2020 Mulan

Mulan

Armour & weapons

Film & TV

2023 Cocaine Bear

Cocaine Bear

Bust for lighting reference & gore prosthetics

LBE

Expo Dubai 2020 Giants Landscape Behind the Scenes

Expo 2020 Dubai

Large-scale figures

Film & TV

2023 Wandering Earth 2

Wandering Earth 2

Specialty costume

Film & TV

2019 I am Mother

I Am Mother

Specialty robot suit

Film & TV

2017 Thor3

Thor: Rangnarok

Specialty costumes

Film & TV

2017 Bladerunner 2049

Blade Runner 2049

Miniatures

Film & TV

2017 Ghost in shell

Ghost in the Shell

Props, weapons, specialty costumes, miniatures, specialty make-up FX

LBE

2015 Gallilpoi Te Papa

Gallipoli: The scale of our war

Exhibition manufacture

Awards

All Awards 01
awards 01

Across our 30 years of operation, we have been privileged to be recognised for our contribution to the creative industries and to our community. Each award is the result of a phenomenal team effort, won through working alongside and collaborating with all sorts of clever people, all over the world. Among our proudest achievements are five Academy Awards® and four BAFTAs.

Manufacture for film & TV

Flo themsuit

We love to help our clients and collaborators tell their stories. For more than three decades, we’ve had the great fortune of working with many talented filmmakers on deliciously dark horror tales, cybernetic sci-fi futures, epic fantasies laced with magic, and almost everything in between.

Our manufacturing departments include paint, textiles, costume, props, hair and makeup FX, molding, casting, model-making, metalwork, leatherwork, costume, woodworking, 3D modelling, 3D printing, sculpting, prosthetics, engineering, and more.

Moose

Together, we’ve manufactured hundreds of thousands of prosthetics, suits of armor, weapons, vehicles, massive shooting miniatures, physical creatures, and costumes, and delivered them to sets all over the world.

We’ve built massive miniatures for Blade Runner 2049. We’ve suited up superheroes for Saban’s Power Rangers and yuletide ghouls for the Christmas horror Krampus. Our animatronics have wreaked havoc on screen in local horror Black Sheep. The armies of Middle-earth, Narnia, and Azeroth bear Wētā Workshop armor.

Our crew strive each day to push the boundaries of what can be achieved with physical effects.

Manufacture for location-based experiences

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At the heart of any themed entertainment experience, visitor attraction, or exhibition, lies a compelling story. Applying our cinematic thinking to location-based experiences, we’ve been privileged to contribute to awe-inspiring projects that speak to audiences on an emotional level.

Our crew employ the same processes used in crafting physical film effects to bring LBEs to life in extraordinary vividness. We collaborate with wonderful partners as well as designing and building unique Wētā Workshop experiences featuring our own IP.

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Since 2015, we’ve built a legacy of crafting hyper-real figures of monumental size, scale, and detail. In 2018 we received a Thea Award for Gallipoli: The scale of our war, a record-breaking collaboration with New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa.

Develop games

Weta Workshop Interactive
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It’s not all angle grinders, sawdust, and paint at Wētā Workshop. Our crew build cool digital stuff too, drawing on a suite of software engineers, programmers, game designers, audio specialists, and artists. Together we’ve applied our interactive capabilities to the experiential realm; from mixed, augmented and virtual realities to PC games, apps and beyond.

Includes:

  • Game development
  • Game design
  • Native & web apps
  • Mixed reality experiences
  • VR & AR
  • Audio design

Sculpt for collectibles

TombRaider
Jayne

Distilling our creativity and craftsmanship into bite-sized versions, we offer a huge and diverse catalogue of high-quality collectibles from film, gaming, and beyond.

All of our collectibles are prototyped here in the Workshop. We then work with trusted manufacturing partners to make our prototypes a reality. We are equally skilled in producing collectibles for mass production as we are at high-end, highly limited edition runs. Our collectibles are available online and in stores all over the world.

Includes:

  • Highly realistic polystone statues
  • Mixed-media collectibles
  • Stylised vinyl figures
  • Prop replicas
  • Jewellery
  • Apparel

Manufacture for public art sculptures

Gollum Rg
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Our work is not confined to the screen. We’re fortunate to have had the privilege of being invited to design and manufacture many wonderful works of public art. We have crafted the UK War Memorial in Wellington’s Pukeahu Park; “The Tripod,” opposite the iconic Embassy Theatre; massive Middle-earth sculptures for international airports; and many others. We have also created large-scale sculptures for display further afield, such as the monumental bronze Warcraft statue at Blizzard HQ in Irvine, California.

Our design studio and manufacturing departments collaborate to conceptualise these monumental sculptures and bring them to life.

Manufacture for private commissions

Weta Workshop Richard Taylor Moa and Eagle
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Exciting projects can come from anywhere. We take on private commissions that stir our creative blood. Each brief is tackled by our design studio and manufacturing departments, working closely and collaboratively with our clients to create one-of-a-kind works of art. From sculptures and monuments to beautiful murals and intricate display swords, we love to bring our clients along on the journey.

Manufacture Team Leaders

Brad Cunningham 1

Brad Cunningham

Project Supervisor

Lans Hansen

Lans Hansen

Art Director

Alistar McDougal

Alistair McDougall

Team Leader, Specialty Costume Props

Andrew Durno

Andrew Durno

Workshop 2IC

Flo Foxworthy

Flo Foxworthy

Team Leader, Costume

Marco Wuest

Marco Wuest

Team Leader, Props

Brian Stendebach

Brian Stendebach

Project Supervisor

Zoilo Abad

Zoilo Abad

Team Leader, Animatronics

Daniel Cockersel

Daniel Cockersell

Team Leader, Sculpting

Kim McAuslin

Kim McAuslin

Team Leader, Woodwork

Antje Mcconnon

Antje McConnon

Team Leader, Hair

Joel Ahie Drought

Joel Ahie-Drought

Team Leader, Engineering

Leonard Ellis

Leonard Ellis

Team Leader, Collectibles

Get in touch

If you’re looking for a multi-service workshop for your next project, we’d love to chat.

  • 17+ creative departments
  • Over 30 years’ experience
  • Highly awarded
  • Design to manufacture
  • Innovation and creativity
  • Government incentives may apply