Qi Huang of Coast Craft started teaching herself the art of making beautiful, durable wallets and cardholders in 2018, working at her kitchen table in Franz Josef. Her leather goods are built with care to be accessible, functional, and long-lasting essentials that age gracefully and uniquely to every owner. These days she does have a dedicated workspace, which she describes as “my spaceship in the universe.”
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.
Yeong Kyung is an Auckland-based illustrator and artist, originally from South Korea. Yeong creates vibrant images with stunning precision and attention to detail, which she then transforms into beautiful stationery and publications. She studied art in Korea and now finds her inspiration in the flora and fauna of Aotearoa and the the daily life of people and places.
A small but dedicated salvage team based in Christchurch, The Silvan started out life as an art gallery and café. When their building was lost in the 2011 earthquakes, the team came back fighting, shifting their focus to saving and repurposing beautiful timbers, hand salvaged from damaged buildings. Founders Debra and GT believe in minimising waste and reusing everything they can to make pieces that are practical, beautiful, and full of soul.
Motueka-based sculptor Nicholas Duval-Smith makes eye-catching bronze sculptures from Oamaru stone originals. His work reflects his love of clean lines, textural contrasts, narrative, and art that can be played with. He has also recently returned to working with ceramics, producing a range of unique, personality-filled porcelain portrait brooches.
Sally Herbert of HerbertandWilks Jewellery is a designer and maker of contemporary mixed metal jewellery. While first being captivated by the sculptural properties of cast glass and the lost wax process, she fell in love with jewellery making early on. She considers the medium similar – only on a smaller scale. Her pieces are modern and sculptural, with an emphasis on surface and texture.
Frances O’brien, also known as The Stitchy Kiwi, lives on Auckland’s North Shore with her husband and two young children. She makes modern and contemporary embroidered hoops, inspired by the world around her. When she isn’t sewing, she can be found at one of the … Read more »
Swimming strongly against the tide of fast fashion, Wainui maker Rachel Hindley of OneMe makes one of a kind, eco-friendly children’s clothing and soft toys from beautiful, high quality vintage and rescued fabrics and notions. She says she loves to make things that make you smile, and evoke a bit of nostalgia – and her sweet products certainly achieve that aim!
Jewellery maker Anna Quartly of Pigeon Thomas says that the inspiration for her work comes from living off-grid and self sufficiently. With the beautiful natural vista of Kahurangi National Park visible from her Golden Bay/Mohua home, she finds she is able to stay focused on what is important. She loves to create pieces that are special – one of a kind – working with natural materials that are simple, pure, and renewable.
Eiko Kawaguchi of Studio A & Co lives and works in Waikuku, North Canterbury, her home for the last seventeen years. From her studio in a heritage mill complex she creates stunning, ethereal jewellery and tablewares in heat resistant borosilicate glass. Her love of glass as a material, and the lampworking method, shines through in her unique, delicate creations.