Specs with SoulSit for a moment with creative genius Dick Frizzell to get a rare insight into how the iconic Kiwi artist sees the world and how his efforts are directly helping others to as well.

“I’m about transparency” says Dick when asked about his new charitable design collaboration with Specsavers and The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ .

The man behind infamous ‘Mickey the Tiki’ and Foodstuffs ‘winking Charlie’, two of his best known signature designs, has contributed his ‘wood grain’ print to be used for the first time on glasses.

Every limited edition Frizzell frame sold contributes $25 to the foundation that Dick says regularly perform “miracle operations” in the Pacific.

He believes it’s the most cost effective charity he could possibly ever imagine being part of. “They make an insane difference to people’s lives.”

Candid in reflection, the 73 year old reveals what inspired the woodgrain design which he admits is one of his best grabbed out of “his bag of tricks.”

The seed was planted twenty seven years ago near the Waitākeres at Crown Lynn. Part of a group of seven artists, he was invited to decorate dinner sets for auction.

“In my usual way I went for a little pun and thought it would be fun if all the china looked like wood – cartoon wood.”

It proved a popular hit, years later in the Hawkes Bay after he got his “design mojo” back, woodgrain was resurrected in fabric form.

“So it became one of my recognisable troves – like my lettering and vegetable signs.”

Thinking about the print, part of Dick’s creative DNA now enmeshed in eyewear triggers a recollection about what he’s figured out over time.

“When you’re young it all pours out of you – you then need to know how to put it all back in again” he says smiling about one of his first blackboard creations for his teacher showing “Santa Claus and a sledge with all the reindeer in the distance going over the moon”.

He quotes Oscar Wilde “when you get to middle age you have to learn to do deliberately what you used to do by accident” to make a point about the benefits of being deliberate.

A middle aged meltdown turned out to be a blessing, he says discovering it was “probably the best idea I’ve had in my life” leading to painting landscapes as a political act that got him back on track.

We traverse tips on how to get into the flow artistically, the wisdom of Lou Reed and wriggling out of self-doubt if you’re blocked – “trust yourself and relax” he says.

So the specs with soul actually do offer a rare opportunity to look at the world through the arty eyes of a master and it looked thoughtful, beautiful and noble.

—Words: Sarah Sparks