Page 54 - Constructing Craft

Another group who established a strong tradition that later craftspeople would build

on were the women who practised jewellery and metal craft largely as a leisure
pursuit or in conjunction with other artistic endeavours such as painting. This group

began to emerge from the beginning of the twentieth century when interest in
handmade jewellery and metal work strengthened. They exhibited their work at

events such as the Christchurch exhibition to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee.
Nina Jones from Nelson, for instance, was better known as a painter, but

nevertheless gained some recognition for her metalwork. Others who exhibited

jewellery and metal work at this exhibition included Eliza Marshall of Wellington.
Further exhibitions followed and craftspeople such as Biddy Waymouth of

Christchurch, who had trained with C. R. Ashbee, a leader in the Arts and Crafts

Movement in England, provided New Zealanders with the opportunity to see work
that compared favourably with craft in the Northern Hemisphere.

Early Studio Craft Jewellers and Metal Craftspeople

Nelson Isaac is an example of many of these influences. He attended Wellington
Technical College (formerly called the School of Design) and the Royal College of

Art in London before returning to New Zealand to take up the position of Head of the

Art School at his old college in 1926. The influence of the Arts and Crafts
Movement was initially strong at Wellington Technical College partly because of the

influence of the first drawing master, Arthur Dewhurst Riley, who had been
appointed in 1885 and had trained at the South Kensington Art School in London –

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known for its close connections with the movement. Isaac specialised in jewellery,
enamelling and metalwork – areas that may have been influenced by his father who

was a metalworker, carver and clockmaker. He retired in 1939 at the age of forty-six

and became self-employed producing jewellery and ecclesiastical commissions. His
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use of kōwhaiwhai designs influenced other jewellers such as Elsie Reeve and
Edith Morris. He was credited with ‘the passion for craft so evident in Wellington in
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the 1930s’.

Elsie Reeve was one of the first women to pursue a career as a professional

jeweller in New Zealand. Tragically, she died at the age of 42. Reeve was born in

Constructing Craft