Piwakawaka Rua

This is a special story. These two taonga were made for two beautiful twin. Their Grandmother contacted me with the commision. She told me a story of two gorgeous twin babes born 12 weeks premature, they were lucky to survive. Their first birthday was coming up and she wanted to gift them something to commemorate the significant event.

Nga Piwakawaka – Fantails were hanging out a lot around the final stages of the pregnancy. This is remembered as a special time and a special symbol for the family of being cared for and protected.

The goal was to create something using the symbolism of the piwakawaka that would be special for the twins.

We spent a lot of time going back and forth with designs and ideas. The finished product was these two birdlike pendants with a symbolic piwakawaka tail. They nestle into each other as if to say ‘I will always have your back’.

The stone is from Kaniere on the west coast of the South Island – Te Wai Pounamu. This is where their Grandfather grew up so has a special connection for them. The piece of stone was cut down the line of the backs of the pendants so when you place them together this is actually the positioning that these two pieces of pounamu have been locked in for the ages since formation.

One is slightly smaller and more feminine and is for the girl, the slightly larger, stockier one is for the boy.

I love that this pieces have had so much care and thought put into them to bring them into being. I am stoked that they will be cared for as special taonga by a family that understands the significance and importance of Pounamu.

Here is some of the work that went into the design and creation of these taonga.

The first design was more lifelike and authentic to what a Piwakawaka looks like.

We decided to go more symbolic.

Here I was just focusing on the tail.

And now with a beak too

Then the final concept was developed.

This was contributed by the Granparents

So then I did these.

They suggested we do a large and a small one for some individuality in the pieces, a great idea. And we settled on this design for the twins.

The next step was doing some sculpting in clay to see what these would look like in three dimensions. This is where I developed the final shape of the beaks, wings, and tail.