Creative Jade

A shared love of jade has unified a team of independent jewellers, jade carvers and a wood turner to create bespoke artworks.

The seven artists – six from the Bay of Plenty, one from Hokitika – utilise each other’s specific skills to produce original, jade-centred designs.

“Every artist is talented in his own right but when we work together, we find we can achieve extraordinary things,” says the group’s spokesman, Tauranga jeweller and carver Peter Akker. “I might carve a beautiful piece of flower jade and have someone else mount it in 18 carat gold, then our wood turner might make a native timber gift box for it.”

While all members of the Creative Jade collective are New Zealanders, they hail from diverse backgrounds; their particular talents may have been honed in Scotland or South Africa, or on a marae (Maori meeting grounds) in Rotorua.

“What we all have in common is artistic flair and a shared desire to create truly unique, one-off pieces. And we all have huge respect for this marvellous stone Mother Nature has given us.”