Fredd Briggs and his wife Dee had to consider Michael Schumacher when choosing the right townhouse at Ryman’s Patrick Hogan Village in Cambridge.
Fredd Briggs with his amazing painting of Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari, proudly on display in the new townhouse he shares with wife Dee.
Fredd and Dee Briggs may have moved into a village named after a legend of the horse racing world, but it was motor racing great Michael Schumacher that helped them with their decision making process.
Fredd, 80, was once regarded as Australia’s most prolific automotive artist, and was set on bringing a giant canvas painting of Schumacher to take pride of place in the couple’s living room.
“We had to have this townhouse because of the wall. It needed to be big enough to fit the artwork!”
Fredd created the 2.5m by 1.7m piece in 2001 and it is a great example of his illustrative and artistic talents.
It was motor racing and cars that allowed Rotorua-born Fredd, under his freelance business name Frederal Bureau of Illustration (FBI), to carve himself a real niche across the Tasman.
Fredd Briggs with Aussie motor racing legend Peter Brock
Fredd Briggs with Aussie motor racing legend Peter Brock
The self-taught artist had humble beginnings at a small two-man advertising agency in Auckland.
From there he left for London for the traditional OE and it was after a visit to the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch in 1966 that his passion for motor racing was ignited.
Returning to New Zealand and marrying Dee, who hails from Pukekohe, the pair set off for Melbourne where a planned two year stay stretched out to 50 years.
During that time Fredd steadily built up an impressive portfolio, producing thousands of detailed illustrations for clients who couldn’t get enough of his talents. The companies who commissioned his work ranged from Ford to Ferrari, Australia Post to Porsche, and the events included V8 Supercars, Bathurst and Indy Car.
“A brief could come from someone in Adelaide, Queensland, Melbourne… they’d send me all the details and I’d treat it as a hobby – but I’d get paid for it.”
Fredd’s designs made it onto a series of stamps for Australia Post.
In the early days, Fredd says most of his work came from leading Melbourne advertising agencies.
“I would deliver completed artwork only to be given more on the way out,” he says. “I reckon I’ve done over 50,000 individual line and tone illustrations.”
The work would often lead to opportunities to meet all kinds of fascinating people from the world of motorsports, such as Sir Jack Brabham, Bob Jane and Peter Brock.
“I was very lucky and privileged to be invited into many of Melbourne’s private auto collections and garages. I got to meet many interesting, creative people – photographers and designers, and most notably I got to have a 20 minute one on one chat with Lamborghini’s chief test driver Valentino Balboni.”
Often when he was teaching some of his techniques, students would ask, ‘How do you get a job like that?’
“And I’d say, you don’t, I’ve already got it.”
High profile commissions included a set of motor racing stamps for Australia Post, a series of phonecards for Telstra and decorating an ‘art car’ with the theme of Melbourne’s weather for the annual Moomba Parade.
Fredd says his number one client was Porsche Australia.
“They had beautiful cars, friendly staff, and nice coffee!”
The commission that gave Fredd the most pleasure came from the Australian Ferrari Club, who asked him to create a 25m by 2.5m mural to celebrate Ferrari’s 70th anniversary. And he had just five weeks to do it!
An example of one of Fredd’s auto illustrations.
“That one, I didn’t think I could do it and I spent a sleepless night wondering how it could be done. But then I woke up and I knew exactly what I’d do.
“I didn’t use a computer for my illustrating work but I had a great collection of books and magazines to refer to and I did all these fantastic drawings in pencil. I drew them on A3 art paper and positioned them all together. There were 47 separate drawings, using soft pencil featuring different models from the first in 1947 right up to 2017. These would then be printed onto fabric for the final installation at the Ferrari Formula 1 corporate function.”
Fredd’s idea was a huge hit, and being his last big commission, the pencil drawings have great sentimental value: “These are very precious to me. I just loved it,” he says.
The 25m long artwork was later auctioned off for $25,000.
In Melbourne Fredd and Dee lived in an 1880s Victorian terraced seven-bedroom home in Albert Park which doubled as a studio and exhibit space for some of his work.
While they didn’t know it at the time they bought it, the house turned out to be the perfect location for car-mad Fredd, being right opposite Gate 1 of the Melbourne Grand Prix track.
After five decades however, the couple decided to move back to New Zealand to be closer to family and after three years in Ōhope they investigated some retirement living options.
“We liked the fact that there would be no maintenance and we thought because Cambridge is in the middle of everything we can go to Ōhope to stay with my sister or Auckland to visit people up there.”
Now, a few weeks after moving into Patrick Hogan Village, Fredd and Dee are finalising furnishings for their new two bedroom townhouse in the heart of the village and enjoying getting to know all their new neighbours.
With construction on the Village Centre beginning next month, the couple is looking forward to enjoying more happy hours and movies in the new space.
Fredd and Dee Briggs not long after moving into their brand new townhouse at Patrick Hogan Village
