Inanga Toki
Traditional inganga toki, about 8cm long. I really like the character the seams and healed fractures add to this piece. They look really good with the honey coloured lashing too. It is always interesting to see the transformation from a rough block of pounamu into the finished toki.
Contemporary | Hei Toki | Koru | Sets
Mauri – Kawakawa Toki
I named this set Mauri for all the story it has to tell. Mauri is the word for life force or our vital essence. This set does capture the mauri of the couple that is made for. This set was made for a Mother and Father, from their 5 adult children. It all starts with…
Toki Raranga Weaving
This is a combination of a toki form with a pattern to represent the weaving or raranga of harakeke/flax. Raranga can represent many things. It represents a variety of facets being woven together to create something more than the individual parts. In this way it can be used to represent a whanau, or community, or…
Hei Toki – Hei Matau – Kawakawa Totoweka
This combination piece was inspired by a carving already in existence. The idea was to create a pendant with both symbols integrated into the design. The pounamu is kawakawa totoweka from the Arahura River. Totoweka is a rare colouring found in kawakawa, it is muddy red brown that shows up really well under a light….
Toki Pikorua
This is what is sounds like, a toki with a pikorua carved into it. The pikorua is on the back. The 5 notches on the sides are to represent whanau members. It is interesting to see some of the process to carve the pikorua into this toki.
Nga Tamariki
This is a set made for the 5 children. 3 kohine and 2 tama. The three roimata are for the kohine/girls, and the two toki are for the tama/boys, who are actually twins. What I didn’t know when I started this set was that the twins had not been born yet! Originally these were going…
Whanau Toru
This is a set for a whanau of three, Mum, Dad, and Son. Each piece came from the same piece of pounamu, they lay side by side connected until the recent carving process. This is how they started out as rough blanks, chosen specifically for this set, all from the same piece. Each pendant has…
Taku Whanau
This set is for a husband and wife. It is to connect them with each other and with their three children. They are carved from the same slice of pounamu. They lay side by side, literally connected, for a very long time until they were separated for this set. The three spiraling korus on each…
Toki Rangatira
I am proud of this toki, it is unique, has a meaningful kaupapa, and it will be highly valued. This is a stunning piece of Marsden Flower Jade, with the characteristic deep greens and the orange ‘flower’ at the end. The rough that was decided to be left on give a hint of what this…