Foliaceous Jewellery New Zealand

Huruhuruwhenua 2025

Shining Spleenwort

Formed, chasing & repoussé, pierced spore lines, sawn magnified leaf margins, enamelled, forged, soldered, leather, copper, sterling silver

Huruhuruwhenua 2025 and it’s inspiration

Huruhuruwhenua
Magnified edges as shown on outer rim of piece
Magnified spore lines as pierced in design
Spore lines
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THE PROCESS

New Zealand Artisan Jewellery

Starting with New Zealand’s unique flora and locally sourced recycled copper, I begin my journey.

Each piece evolves, often through many, many processes…Studying and research – in real life, books, under magnification and just spending time observing, touching, enquiring, discussing – all inform my work. Showing the essence of the subject, botanical features (perhaps exploded in detail), the stages, blemishes, effects of the environment, all have their own beauty and I try to incorporate that in my botanical jewellery.

My pieces are thoughtfully made, using age old techniques such as chasing and repoussé , foldforming, sawing, piercing, hand sanding and filing ~ complemented with various enamelling and patination methods, along with modern finishing techniques.

You will see my explorations in form, texture, colour and perhaps the mark of the artisan where it looks appropriate. I find leaving signs of the object being handmade is valued and understood more and more, connecting the maker to the piece. I’ve watched enough Time Team episodes to also see how this really resonates and am keen to somehow make this a unique part of my work. I also look to work with the character of the metal, some recycled metal has wonderful blemishes, rolled edges or folds from a previous life, which can then be incorporated into a new form.

I hope you enjoy wearing my pieces and understanding some of the process – to find out more about Foliaceous jewellery and it’s ethos see About