By Laura Frykberg
Avatar is the second-highest earning film of all time, raking in $1.5 billion at the box office so far.
A Nelson woman, who left school at 13, is among the 900 Weta Workshop staff who have helped sew up the film's success.
Claire Prebble always dreamed of seeing her creations on the big screen, so when New Zealand's top special effects company offered her work on Avatar., she couldn't turn it down.
"When I first heard about the film I was so excited, and thought it was such a good idea and such a wonderful concept."
Prebble created costumes for the Na'vi people, the film's resident aliens.
The 24-year-old is comfortable with designing out-of-the-ordinary pieces. She was the supreme winner of the World of Wearable Arts in 2004 with her feathered creation 'Eos', but this time the biggest challenge was keeping her work under wraps.
"There were times when it was hard to keep it a secret, but that's what's expected of us when you work in the film industry," says Prebble.
She found inspiration from tribal cultures, including traditional Maori weaving, feathers and possum fur. Her talent and skill impressed head of Weta Workshop Richard Taylor, who says she's an artistic inspiration.
"Claire has been building her craft, the artistry she wields, since she was a young person, and what she's achieved in such a short time, it evokes incredible possibilities going on in to the future," says Mr Taylor.
And those possibilities are already a reality.
Prebble says she's working on a new film, but like Avatar she has to keep it a secret, so audiences here will have to keep their eyes on the big screen to find out what it is.
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