New Zealand Art and Craft Resources
Materials like paua, punamou and harakeke are distinctive to the land rounded up by inspiration and material of the New Zealand forest and bush paired with Maori tradition and the innovation of a multi cultural population. These are the ingredients to a New Zealand unique gift idea: To find out more about the wood used as craft resources, go to New Zealand trees.
Jewellery Gift Ideas - paua shells have a most wonderful iridescent property in shades of blue, green, violet and pink. Feeding the imagination of many artists and craftsmen and women beautiful jewellery and decorative accessories are created. This secured an important place for Pauas in New Zealand’s gift industry. Find examples here... Carved Bone Jewellery - Bone carvings originated from a purely functional use the fish hook. Thanks to the richness of fish the fish hooks turned out to be more little pieces of art. High ritual and personal worth was the result. This link leads to a broad range of bone pendants that to this day still carry symbolic meanings. Maori and their connection to whales - A strong spiritual meaning is mirrored in legends telling that whales guided and protected their ancestor’s journey to Aotearoa. Others refer to individuals that rode whales back to the mainland when trapped on an island or going overboard on a fishing trip. A bone carving of whales or dolphins commemorates this spiritual connection. Greenstone Jewellery - Greenstone jewellery has a long tradition in New Zealand. Pounamu is the name given by Maoris. The stone was a prized possession with values above gold to the traditional Maori people. An item was used for trading, a measure of richness and a valuable heirloom. Find here a perfect gift with a wide variety of designs modern and or traditional. New Zealand Flax - The three ketes of knowledge connect flax to the beginning of Maori legends. The first one was filled with the knowledge of memory, prayer, and ritual. The second kept the knowing that that is evil and harmful to mankind. The third asks to help mankind. Today flax weaving takes a central position in Maori cultural identity. Sheep - The first flock of sheep came with European settlers to Lake Wairarapa in the Wellington area in 1844. By the early 1980’s more than 70 million sheep grazed on New Zealand’s farm land. The sheep stock declined to about 40 million in 2008. In 2007 New Zealand still covered 86 % of sheep meat import in Europe. See for yourself what products are made from sheep skin. Possums - In 1837 the Australian brush tailed possum arrived at New Zealand’s shore to launch possum fur trade. Soon after the plan was abandoned the freed possums conquered New Zealand’s forest. Without natural predator a secure life with plentiful food supply lay ahead that threatens the ecological balance. This led to craft resources of possum fibre used in New Zealand gifts. The Lord of the Rings- The English writer J.R.R. Tolkien published this fantasy novel in three volumes between 1954 and 1955. In 1997, New Zealand born, Peter Jackson began to work on a film script adaptation. The entire scenes were filed in his home country. Realising the movie over eight years with a total budget of $280 million is considered the biggest project ever that resulted in a fantastic success. View samples of the Lord of the rings jewelry. Find more out about greenstone jewelry.
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