About us
From + For Nature
We create original designs, representing a broad spectrum of NZ’s biodiversity, on ethical, low impact products. Printed to order - we are low waste and anti ‘fast fashion’. Our conservation partnerships and funding innovation help to celebrate and protect the nature that inspires us.
With a background in biology and geology, we have turned our understanding and love of the natural world into a t-shirt business. We produce unique screen printed artwork, clothing as well as stationery and gifts. We pride ourselves on our designs - “a nod to scientific illustrations of the past”. All of our design and print work is done by us in house - from rough sketches through to finished art work, transferring the art to silk screens and printing. We print using environmentally friendly, water based ink. We are extremely proud of the fundraising partnerships we have formed with conservation projects around New Zealand, donating $5 of each adult t-shirt sold to specific conservation groups.
See our social responsibility page here.
Design & Artwork
Kimberly Andrews is our lead designer here at Tumbleweed Tees and is also an award-winning and best selling creator of picture books.
She studied as a biologist and geologist and grew up in the Canadian Rockies. She has lived and worked in New Zealand, Borneo and the UK. In London, she worked for The House of Illustration, whose main ambassador is Quentin Blake. She also worked at the Natural History Museum, both in the live Butterfly House and also behind the scenes, assisting the curation of mammal specimens in the dry stores.
Kimberly's picture books have been widely acclaimed and the first story which she both wrote and illustrated, Puffin the Architect (2018), won the Russell Clark Award for Illustration and was a finalist for Best Picture Book in the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. It also won a Storylines Notable Picture Book Award as well as the NZ Booklovers Award for Best Children’s Book.
Kimberly lives with her husband and two young daughters in a small shipping-container house near Wellington, where she illustrates and writes, and runs her business Tumbleweed Tees, screen-printed clothing featuring her illustrations of New Zealand plants and wildlife.
Signed and dedicated books are for sale on her website.