I have grown increasingly curious about the subtle eloquence and delicacies found in the natural world.

  • An image of The Float House

    A Stirling Silver Brooch frames a Pohutukawa silhouette. The mountains and rocks are hand-formed in silver and secured by hand-made rivets.

  • A Stirling Silver necklace embellished with Imprints of leaves from my garden. Cyclamen, Oregano, Sage, Nasturtium, Pineapple Sage, Apple mint and Genko leaves.

  • Stirling Silver earrings with Moss Agate stones are set to hang with tiny leaves textured with imprints of dried skeletal leaves I found in my garden.

  • Stirling Silver earrings have been created with textures of lemon balm and secured from a hand-formed stem.

  • Stirling Silver earrings are textured with grasses which grow wild in my field. Natural sapphires hang from the base of the earrings.

  • An image of The Float House

    Stirling Silver earrings are hand-carved and textured into hollow shapes. These pod-like forms hang from asymmetrical silver wires.

  • A Stirling Silver pendant has been formed from the iconic soya sauce bottle and hangs from a handmade chain. It features a gold accent applied using Keum-Boo, an ancient Korean gilding technique.

  • A Stirling Silver pendant features an evening photograph taken at Hahei Beach. The image is framed and secured by handmade rivets.

  • A Stirling Silver pendant formed and carved to create my vision of an exploding seed pod.

  • A Stirling Silver brooch frames an image of a tree silhouette on a misty hill, which is framed and secured with handmade rivets.

A Stirling Silver hinged locket reveals an image through a window designed to resemble a tree.

TRACEY WALKER BIO

Following many years of painting months-long commissions, often involving harsh chemicals and gas masks, I decided it was time to find my next medium for expressing my ideas and perceptions.

I’ve often drawn upon the movement of people and their interaction with the land as the inspiration for my work; however, I’ve grown increasingly curious about the subtle eloquence and delicacies found in the natural world.

Feeling a growing disparity between my curiosities and medium of work, I trialled and experimented, finding my way to the jewellery craft to forge reflections of my observations in nature.

Starting at Minturn Jewellery, I eventually went to Workshop 6 in Auckland. This was an invaluable time, during which I was exposed to many different techniques, from traditional metalsmithing, working with natural gemstones and a variety of other mixed media. With the advent of lockdown, I took my studies online with the English Jewellers Academy, earning two diplomas. During this latter half, spanning two years, I was fortunate to work alongside professionals in the craft, being guided by tutors and mentors providing in-depth tutorials, further refining the skills previously learned and gaining exposure to new techniques and possibilities.

Taking these lessons with me and the many new friends I’ve made along the way, I now work from my studio in the Coromandel, nestled between kauri trees and garden beds, with my beloved Saint Bernard dog by my side, who frequently commands most of the floor space.

Each piece I create is unique, handmade in my studio without the use of outsourced multi-casts. Where I have used moulds, I have often created them by hand, by directly pressing metal clay onto the surface of an object such as a seed pod to capture the intricacies of the item at that moment in time. Whilst I work predominantly with sterling silver, I enjoy including accents of gold, kiln-fired enamel/metal clay, and where appropriate, my favourite gemstones: rubies and sapphires. When a particular piece has been inspired by a much larger landscape, I’ll include tiny images from my own photography to provide the context in which the initial idea for the work originated.

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