native birds

The tale of one artist and her thirty-seven furred, feathered, and woolly friends

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Waihi artist Sarah Potton of Mousewhisker Studio had a childhood dream to become an artist and live a self sufficient life in the country, surrounded by as many animals as possible. While that dream (much to her amazement) actually came true, she does find that trying to combine an artistic career with the demands of a large vege garden and thirty-seven furred, feathered and woolly residents has been a bit more challenging than she imagined! Sarah’s creature-inspired artistry manifests on paper and beautiful pebble miniatures, all available in her Felt shop.

Bringing out the best in sustainable native timbers

Joe Wright of Bearwood Workshop handcrafts his beautiful wooden homewares and sculpture – all made from sustainable and recycled New Zealand native timber – from a little tractor shed in Glendhu Bay overlooking Lake Wanaka. After years of working as a designer in many different disciplines, running his own consultancy and clocking up the air miles with large corporations as clients, he decided to shed it all and go back to his roots.

Creative gold: how Auckland designer Marigold Janezic found inspiration in collaboration

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Marigold Janezic of Gold Creative is a South Islander born and raised, but has also lived in Western Samoa, Brazil and Ireland. After travelling and exploring, she returned home to Aotearoa to settle in Auckland near the beautiful Waitakere ranges. The beauty of the New Zealand bush and bird life are an ongoing inspiration for her – and she challenges herself to try and put her stamp on this popular design theme. For Marigold, the creative way to meet this challenge has been collaboration, and she has found a fruitful creative partnership with Ronja Schipper of Re:purpose. Together they produce the beautiful Birds of a Feather card range.

Found things, natural things, lovely things: the locally-inspired jewellery Hana made

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Hana Makin began her jewellery-making journey in England, but now produces her pieces from her home beside beautiful Petone Beach. Inspired by this and the nearby Zealandia Sanctuary, her work features our fauna and landscape prominently (and in the case of the landscape, literally – small found items often make their way into her work). She’s inspired by found things, natural things and old things, and she loves handcrafting her Hana Made Jewellery in her workshop by the sea.