The Story Behind Nothing for Granted — Shop Sam Leitch's Limited Edition Screenprint

Every collection starts somewhere. For Nothing for Granted, it started on a trip through the South Island, where I first learned the revival story of the tīeke — the saddleback — and found myself unable to stop thinking about it long after I'd come home.

I'm Sam Leitch, a contemporary New Zealand artist based in Auckland, working in narrative-driven surrealist printmaking. My work sits at the intersection of storytelling and technical precision, and Nothing for Granted is the clearest expression of that intersection to date — a 29-colour hand-pulled screenprint, released in 9 colourways, and the most technically complex piece I've produced.

Nothing for Granted - Deception

 

A Bird That Shouldn't Still Be Here

Bird conservation is challenging. The tieke for example is a bird that was pushed to the edge — driven off mainland New Zealand entirely by introduced predators, surviving only on a handful of offshore islands where conservation programmes could keep it protected.

What exists today is the result of decades of deliberate, painstaking human effort: translocations, predator-free sanctuaries, and a lot of patient, unglamorous work by people who don't get much recognition for it.

"The tīeke isn't just a conservation success — it's a living reminder of how easily something can be lost, and how much deliberate care it takes to bring it back."

When I learned that story on the South Island trip that shaped this collection, it reframed something for me. That's not a story about a bird. That's a story about attention, and about what happens when we stop paying it.

Gold and dark blue infinity symbol with two tieke birds perched on it. Black background with white frame

Devotion - The Deep

 

From a Conservation Story to a Creative Reckoning

I didn't set out to make a piece about birds. I set out, after that trip, to make a piece about gratitude. More specifically, the kind of gratitude that comes from realising how close something came to not existing at all.

The tīeke's revival became the visual and emotional anchor for that idea, but the theme underneath it is broader: taking nothing for granted, and noticing the small, ordinary moments that are easy to walk past.

That's where the title comes from, and it's also why Nothing for Granted reads differently once you know the story behind it. The imagery isn't decorative. It's built around the idea that appreciation has to be practiced, not assumed — and that idea needed a process complex enough to match it.

Why This Piece Demanded 29 Colours

I then brought this senses of gratitude and reference towards birds to a New Zealand icon: the tui.

A concept this layered couldn't be resolved in a simple palette. Every one of those 29 colours is a separate hand-pulled layer, printed by Artrite Screen Printing on museum-grade Fabriano Artistico cotton rag paper. This is the same standard I hold across all of my limited edition screenprint work, because if a piece is going to sit in someone's home for decades, the materials need to earn that.

The 9 colourways aren't variations for variation's sake. Each one shifts the emotional register of the same image — different colourways sit differently in a room, which is part of why collectors and interior designers alike often gravitate toward different versions of the same piece depending on the space it's going into.

A Continuation, Not a Departure

Nothing for Granted follows two collections that laid the groundwork for it. In Two Minds, a limited edition screenprint, sold out, with only one remaining editions left across the broader series of 1 of 1s — proof of how quickly a hand-pulled, genuinely limited piece moves once collectors understand what they're looking at.

A round screen print artwork featuring two stylized birds in an orange and yellow gradient background.In Two Minds - Breaksea Orange

Devotion, also a limited edition screen print offers collectors rare access to a narrative-driven contemporary artwork rooted in Aotearoa’s conservation story.

Nothing for Granted sits alongside both as an evolution rather than a break — the same reverence for the living world, the same interest in dreamlike imagery and bold composition, pushed into the most complex hand-pulled process I've attempted.

If this story resonates with you, the full collection is worth spending time with. 

View the Nothing for Granted Collection

Explore Collection

 

Bringing It to Allpress Studio

The collection debuted at Allpress Studio in Freeman's Bay, Auckland, running from 8 July through 20 July 2026, with a feature wall created in partnership with Aalto Paint and live screen printing demonstrations from the Artrite team throughout the run.

Watching visitors stand in front of the piece and then watch the Artrite team pull a print live, layer by layer, made something clear to me: the craft is as much a part of this story as the conservation theme is. Neither one makes sense without the other.

Why Craft and Conservation Belong in the Same Piece

It would have been easy to treat the tīeke's story as subject matter and stop there. But the more time I spent with Artrite on this collection, the more the parallel became obvious — a 29-colour hand-pulled screenprint takes the same kind of patience, precision, and slow accumulation of care that a species revival does.

Nothing about either happens quickly, and nothing about either happens by accident.

"A bird that came back because people refused to take its survival for granted, and a print that exists because a small team of craftspeople refused to rush a process that doesn't reward shortcuts."

Frequently Asked Questions

What inspired the Nothing for Granted collection? The collection was inspired by a trip through the South Island, where Sam Leitch learned the revival story of the tīeke (saddleback) — one of New Zealand's most treasured and endangered native birds — which shaped the collection's themes of gratitude and appreciation.

How many colours are used in the Nothing for Granted screenprint? It's a 29-colour hand-pulled screenprint, making it the most technically complex work Sam Leitch has released to date.

How many colourways does Nothing for Granted come in? The collection is released in 9 unique colourways, each produced by Artrite Screen Printing on archival Fabriano Artistico cotton rag paper.

How does Nothing for Granted relate to In Two Minds and Devotion? It follows both collections as a continuation of the same artistic vision. In Two Minds is a 1-of-1 unique screenprint that has sold out, with one edition remaining across the wider series. Devotion is a singular edition which offers collectors rare access to a narrative-driven contemporary artwork rooted in Aotearoa’s conservation story.

Where was Nothing for Granted exhibited? The collection debuted at Allpress Studio, 8 Drake Street, Freeman's Bay, Auckland, running from 8 July to 20 July 2026, with a feature wall by Aalto Paint and live demonstrations from Artrite Screen Printing.

See the Collection

Explore all 9 colourways of Nothing for Granted.

 

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