Manaia Breastplate

This piece was a custom order from a client who wanted to represent her family in a taonga that could be passed down for generations to come.

It was important for us to represent her whanau and life story accurately, so our head carver sat down with the client to understand what was important to her.

This korero resulted in these sketches which, incorporate traditional Maori symbols and whakapapa from past, present and future.

This is the stone that was carefully selected and cut for the breastplate. We used NZ Pounamu from a registered 3000lb boulder that was from the Arahura river in the South Island. Here you can see the outline of the design sketched onto the stone before our carver begins working on it.