1

New Zealand Jewellery Timeline:

Prepared by Warwick Freeman and Damian Skinner, February 2015

1956:
Dutch jeweller Ida Hudig arrives in New Zealand in 1956. A graduate
of the Amsterdam School of Arts and Crafts, Hudig becomes known
for her silver and pua shell jewellery, receiving a Designmark from
the New Zealand Industrial Design Council in 1976.
1957:
Dutch immigrants Kees and Tina Hos open the New Vision Craft shop
in suburban Auckland in 1957, which quickly becomes a leading
retail outlet for New Zealand craft, including jewellery. In 1965 they
open the New Vision Gallery in the central city; the craft shop is
downstairs, and a new gallery space is added upstairs.
1961:
Swiss jeweller Kobi Bosshard arrives in New Zealand in 1961. Having
completed an apprenticeship with Meinrad Burch-Korrodi in Zurich,
Bosshard begins working full-time as a jeweller in 1967, introducing
New Zealand audiences to the possibilities of Swiss modernism.
1962:
German jeweller Gnter Taemmler arrives in New Zealand in 1962.
Having completed an apprenticeship in East Germany, he moves
first to West Berlin, then Canada, and finally New Zealand, where he
begins working full-time as a jeweller in 1966.
1963:
British silversmith and jeweller Tanya Ashken arrives in New Zealand
in 1963. Having graduated from the Central School of Arts and
Crafts in London, and studied sculpture in Paris, Ashken becomes
well-known for her jewellery in semi-precious materials, but
considers her sculpture to be her main focus as an artist.
1965:
Danish jeweller Jens Hansen settles in New Zealand in 1965. Arriving
as a child in 1952, he returns to Denmark in 1962 to work with
Danish jewellers and undertake further study. The Jens Hansen
workshop opens in Nelson in 1968, and becomes an important
training ground for subsequent generations of New Zealand
jewellers.

1968:
Browns Mill market is established in an old flour mill in downtown
Auckland in 1968, and is New Zealands first craft cooperative.
Members include furniture makers, glass artists, ceramists, fabric
artists and jewellers. It opens in the weekends.
Late 1960s:
In the late 1960s a group of New Zealand artists living on the West
Coast of the South Island begin to carve the local jade, known as
pounamu. Looking to both Chinese jade and local Mori carving,
these makers start a new tradition of stone and bone carving that
has a significant impact on New Zealand jewellery in the 1970s and
1980s.
1970:
New Vision Gallery in Auckland holds an exhibition called Silver,
Gold, Greenstone in 1970, which is the first group show of
contemporary jewellery in New Zealand. Involving sculptors as well
as jewellers, the exhibition is based on the model of the
International Exhibition of Modern Jewellery, 1890-1961, held at the
Goldsmiths Hall in London in 1961.
1972:
The School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland, known as
Elam, establishes a jewellery course under the direction of Peter
Haythornthwaite, senior lecturer in design in 1972. With limited
space, the course is restricted to five students. The course runs for
eight years, five under Haythornthwaite, who is replaced by jeweller
and stone carver Paul Mason.
1974:
Fingers co-operative jewellery gallery opens in Auckland in 1974.
The first retail outlet dedicated to selling New Zealand jewellery,
rather than New Zealand craft, Fingers establishes a reputation for
innovative work using natural materials and local cultural themes
through a series of theme shows in the late 1970s and 1980s.
1975:
Lapis Lazuli workshop and jewellery school is established by jeweller
Daniel Clasby in Auckland in 1975. Clasby, who had studied at
Montana State University in the United States before coming to New
Zealand, funds Lapis Lazuli through student and workshop fees.

1979:
The New Zealand Crafts Council is established in 1979, taking over
the government funding of New Zealand jewellery (and craft) from
the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council. The Crafts Council funds
exhibitions, publications and other events, as well as providing
grants to makers.
1982:
The Wellington City Art Gallery holds an exhibition called Skin
Sculpture in 1982. Organised by jeweller Gillian Snadden, the show
includes New Zealand and Australian jewellers who are making
wearable art in tune with the experimental approach to
contemporary jewellery during the 1980s.
German jeweller Hermann Jnger holds a workshop in Nelson in
1982. Funded by the Goethe Institut, who paid for Jnger to visit
New Zealand after his tour to various cities in Australia, the
workshop was followed by an exhibition called Impulse &
Responses: An Exhibition of Contemporary Jewellery in 1983,
seeking to show the effect that Jngers visit had on those New
Zealand jewellers who attended the workshop.
1983:
Jewellers Kobi Bosshard and Stephen Mulqueen open Fluxus gallery
in Dunedin in 1983. Featuring a small retail space with a workshop
separated by a glass barrier, Fluxus sells work by New Zealand
jewellers from around the country, as well as producing a small
production line sold under the Fluxus name. The gallery closes in
2006.
Japanese jeweller Aya Nakayama attends the third New Zealand
Crafts Council conference at Lincoln University near Christchurch in
1983.
Jeweller Andrew Venter establishes Hungry Creek Art & Craft School
in Puhoi, north of Auckland, in 1983. Initially the school teaches
jewellery, metalwork and ceramics as part of government work
programmes, and in 1990 the school becomes registered as the first
private provider of jewellery and art courses in New Zealand. A
campus in Auckland is established in 2007.
1984:
Gillian Snadden opens Eutectic jewellery gallery in Wellington in
1984. A jewellery-only space occupying a room of the Bowen

4
Galleries, run by art dealer Jenny Neligan, it shows the work of a
small group of New Zealand jewellers.
A group of six New Zealand jewellers attend the Jewellers and
Metalsmiths Group of Australia conference in Melbourne in 1984,
and on their return form the Details group, an association of New
Zealand jewellers, bone and stone carvers that publishes a
newsletter, organises exhibitions and provides a focus for the
jewellery community in New Zealand.
The Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt organises an exhibition called
Pacific Adornment in 1984, which shows New Zealand contemporary
jewellery alongside Mori and Pacific Island objects of adornment.
Australian silversmith Hendrik Forster runs a silversmithing
workshop in Nelson in 1984.
An exhibition of the Langsfeld collection called Contemporary
German Jewellery tours a number of New Zealand museums in
1984.
1985:
Fingers jewellery gallery is featured on an episode of the television
arts programme Kaleidoscope in 1985.
Stone carver and jeweller John Edgar curates an exhibition called
Pakohe at the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt in 1985. Pakohe is
the Mori name for argillite, and this exhibition seeks to invest this
common and underappreciated stone with a sense of preciousness.
The Details group of New Zealand jewellers organizes an exhibition
called New Zealand Contemporary Jewellery at the Auckland
Museum in 1985.
American jeweller David la Plantz holds a jewellery workshop in
Auckland in 1985.
1986:
Dutch jeweller Onno Boekhoudt holds a jewellery workshop in
Auckland in 1986; his visit is sponsored by Fingers jewellery gallery.
The first of the two-year Craft Design Courses are established in
polytechnics around New Zealand, with jewellery being taught
alongside of studio craft practices such as ceramics, furniture, glass
and textiles. A generation of tertiary-trained jewellers, quite
different to the mostly self-taught generation that preceded them,
begin to make an impact on New Zealand jewellery in the 1990s.

5
The jewellery department at Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin, the
jewellery department at Whitireia Polytechnic in Porirua, and the
jewellery course at Manukau Institute of Technology, which were all
part of the Craft Design scheme in the 1980s, are still producing
jewellery graduates.
Sara Sadd and Annie Porter open Masterworks Gallery in Auckland in
1986. The gallery represents contemporary jewellery along with
other studio craft practices.
1987:
An exhibition of international jewellery called Cross Currents:
Jewellery from Australia Britain Germany Holland, organized by the
Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia, tours a number of New
Zealand museums in 1987.
1988:
The 33 1/3 Gallery in Wellington, run by Lindsay Parkes, begins to
hold jewellery exhibitions in March 1988. A designated exhibition
space of cabinets on the wall, and a moveable cabinet, features
jewellery exhibitions organized with the support of Linda Ewart. The
gallery closes in 1993.
An exhibition called Bone Stone Shell: New Jewellery New Zealand is
organised by the New Zealand Craft Council for the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, and tours New Zealand, Australia and Asia,
beginning in 1988. Celebrating what has become known as the Bone
Stone Shell movement, because of the use of these natural
materials in New Zealand jewellery, this exhibition showcases the
work of twelve jewellers, and bone and stone carvers. It is the first
exhibition of New Zealand jewellery (as opposed to New Zealand
craft) to travel internationally.
Jewellery Unlimited, a workshop and exhibition collective of
Auckland-based jewellers, is established by jeweller Daniel Clasby,
to create exhibition opportunities at galleries throughout New
Zealand.
Patricia Andersons Contemporary Jewellery: The Australian
Experience, 1977-1987, a survey of Australian jewellery that also
includes some New Zealand jewellers, is published by Millennium in
1988.
1989:
Jewellers Kate Ewing, Zoya Beri and Blade open Lynx Contemporary
Jewellery Gallery in Christchurch in 1989. Featuring three small

6
rooms of gallery space, and two rooms of workshops, Lynx hosted
regular solo and group shows from jewellers throughout New
Zealand. The gallery closes in 1996.
1990:
Swiss-born and German-based jeweller Otto Knzli runs a workshop
in Dunedin in 1990. An exhibition called 18 Months Later, held in
1992, showcases the work made by the jewellers who attended.
1992:
Caryl McKirdy opens Avid gallery in Wellington in 1992. The gallery
represents contemporary jewellery along with other studio craft
practices.
1993:
Four jewellers, all graduates of the Craft Design courses set up in
the 1980s, establish Workshop 6 in Auckland in 1993. As well as
providing a shared studio space, Workshop 6 organises exhibitions
and encourages conversations about contemporary jewellery.
The first New Zealand Jewellery Biennial exhibition, called Open
Heart: Contemporary New Zealand Jewellery, opens at the Dowse
Art Museum in Lower Hutt in 1993.
Jeweller Koji Miyazaki opens Form Gallery in Christchurch in 1993.
Representing ceramics and glass as well as jewellery, the gallery
hosts solo shows and group shows, as well as keeping work in stock.
After the Christchurch earthquakes in 2011, the gallery moved to a
new space on the edge of the central city, which includes gallery
space and a jewellery workshop.
1994:
Jeweller Ann Culy opens Lure jewellery gallery and workshop in
Dunedin in 1994. Providing studio space for Culy and jeweller Rainer
Beneke, the gallery represents contemporary jewellers from around
New Zealand.
1996:
The second New Zealand Jewellery Biennial exhibition, called Same
But Different, opens at the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt in
1996.
1998:

7
Jeweller Belinda Hager opens Quoil jewellery gallery in Wellington in
1998. The gallery represented a younger generation of New Zealand
jewellers, providing exhibition and retail space for their work in
Wellington.
Jeweller Benjamin Flynn opens Royal Jewellery Studio in Auckland in
1998. The gallery showcases a wide range of contemporary
jewellery made by Flynn and his colleagues.
The third New Zealand Jewellery Biennial exhibition, called
Turangawaewae, opens at the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt in
1998.
Workshop 6 organises the exhibition Pretty: Current Work from
Twelve Jewellers at Herzog, an Auckland nightclub. A catalogue
accompanies an animated video of the jewellery, while the jewellery
itself is worn by the audience attending the event.
Patricia Andersons Contemporary Jewellery in Australia and New
Zealand, a survey of Australian and New Zealand jewellery, is
published by Craftsman House in 1998.
1999:
JAM, an acronym of Jewellery Aotearoa Month, is held in Auckland in
October and November 1999. A series of exhibitions and events to
celebrate New Zealand contemporary jewellery take place in venues
around Auckland, in what is intended to be a jewellery jamming
session.
2000:
JIM, an acronym for Jewellery International Meeting, brings Paul
Derrez from Galerie Ra in Amsterdam, and Mari Funaki from Funaki
Gallery in Melbourne, to Auckland in 2000. Both speakers talk about
the presentation of contemporary jewellery, both within and outside
the gallery.
2001:
The fourth and final New Zealand Jewellery Biennial, called
Grammar: Subjects and Objects, opens at the Dowse Art Museum in
Lower Hutt in 2001.
2003:
JOT, a three-letter name following in the tradition of JAM and JIM,
and also referring to the question contemporary jewellery: who
gives a jot?, brings Otto Knzli to Auckland in 2003.

2004:
Caroline Billing and Koji Miyazaki open Inform jewellery gallery in
Christchurch in 2004. In 2009 the gallery, owned by Billing since
2006, changes its name to The National, and continues to present
solo and group shows of New Zealand jewellers, as well as stock.
After the gallery is destroyed by the Christchurch earthquakes in
2011, The National moves to a new location in Christchurch, and
begins to show selected craft and fine art alongside jewellery.
Objectspace opens in Auckland in 2004. Funded by Creative New
Zealand, the government arts funding agency, it exists to support
contemporary New Zealand craft and design, including jewellery.
Curated solo and group exhibitions, mostly accompanied by
publications, survey historical and contemporary jewellery practice.
2007:
The Permit jewellery symposium in Auckland in 2007 brings
jewellery historian Liesbeth den Besten and craft curator Love
Jonsson to New Zealand as observers and participants in discussions
about contemporary jewellery in New Zealand.
The exhibition Jewellery Out of Context, featuring the work of 31
New Zealand artists and jewellers, is shown at the JMGA Conference
in 2007, and then travels to the Netherlands.
2010:
The See Hear window space opens in Wellington in 2010. It provides
a public forum for experimental jewellery practice.
The exhibition Pocket Guide to New Zealand Jewelry, featuring the
work of sixteen New Zealand jewellers, is shown at Velvet Da Vinci
Gallery in San Francisco and the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston
in 2010.
The exhibition Touch, Pause, Engage, featuring the work of fifteen
young New Zealand jewellers, is shown at the Keeper Gallery, GAFFA
Art Complex in Sydney in 2010.
2011:
The Handshake Project, established by jeweller Peter Deckers in
2011, brings together young New Zealand jewellers and the
international jewellery practitioners that they respect and admire, in
a mentoring programme that develops new work for a series of
national and international exhibitions. Handshake 1 begins in

9
February 2011 and continues until September 2013, with exhibitions
in New Zealand, Australia and Germany, communicated through a
blog, brochures and a book. Handshake 2 (2014-15) is an
accumulative two-year mentoring scheme for selected New Zealand
makers, linked to a series of national and international exhibitions
and professional development, communicated through a blog and
publications, with exhibitions in New Zealand and Australia. The
project concludes with Handshake 3 in 2016-17, with a series of
exhibitions in Stockholm and Auckland.
The Jewellers Guild of Greater Sandringham publishes the first issue
of their newsletter Overview.
2012:
The JEMposium: Jewellery or What? International jewellery
symposium in Wellington in 2012 brings Marcel van Kan from Atelier
Ted Noten, Manon van Kouswijk, Fabrizio Tridenti, Karl Fritsch and
Liesbeth den Besten to New Zealand for three days of discussion
about contemporary jewellery.
2014:
The exhibition Wunderrma, featuring the work of 75 New Zealand
jewellers and artists, is shown at Galerie Handwerk in Munich in
2014. It travels to two venues in New Zealand.
Damian Skinner and Kevin Murrays A History of Contemporary
Jewellery in Australia and New Zealand: Place and Adornment is
published by David Bateman in 2014.