Nesting Hei Matau – Flower Jade
This is a gorgeous set of Hei Matau made from Marsden Flower Jade, or Putiputi.
The yellow and orange patterning in the ‘flowers’ in the pounamu that it is named for. It come from one place in New Zealand, Marsden.
This set was made for a couple. It symbolises their eternal love and connectedness. They are very close to the ocean, the Hei Matau is rooted in the lore of Te Moana. As a couple should be these are two halves of a whole.
The journey of a pounamu taonga is always fascinating for me. The first part of this set was painstaking, drilling many holes and then cutting between them to separate the two Hei Matau from where they had lain connected since their creation.
The next steps were shaping, sanding and smoothing, and carving the tops to accept the lashing, then polishing. Then just the lashing and we are all done.
