Continuum began as a creative collaboration between a master craftsman and a professional jewellery designer. The early years saw a focus on pure exploration of the medium, resulting in the emergence of a wide spectrum of work ranging from primitive to extravagant works of objet d’art, and eventually – the Continuum range. Whilst many of these pieces are no longer available due to the success of the carved TOUCHSTONE and HEARTWOOD ranges, as a reminder of where it all began they can still be seen throughout this website and in the ARCHIVE below.
The fabulous PAUA PRISM range may re-emerge at some stage in limited edition form.
NZROX.nz carries the spirit of Continuum forward – expressed in every TOUCHSTONE & HEARTWOOD pendant.
We support the protection of Te Roto O Wairewa [Lake Forsyth]
in partnership with the Wairewa Runanga – the Kaitiaki [Guardians] of the Lake.
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THE STORY OF CONTINUUM
A sacred and contemplative place, standing on the gemstone beach at Birdlings Flat is like standing on the edge of the world. Seldom will nature allow you so close to such dramatic force in relative safety. The treacherous seas here rise and fall in perpetual grinding motion, hanging almost stationary as if confronting an invisible barrier.
Within this unrelenting environment these stones have emerged, ground to their beautiful orbital shape by the raw forces of nature over great expanses of time - every rock beginning its journey high in the Southern Alps of New Zealand, travelling for millions of years to where it was found.
Accordingly, the spirit behind CONTINUUM is simple - to retain the subtle but powerful sense of stillness which pervades the ever shifting beach at Birdlings Flat. To always make a feature of each original form - to be led by the stone itself rather than impose our own meaning, so that each stone might continue its journey, not as a full vessel, but as an empty one, waiting to bear the meaning and significance its wearer imparts.
In curious alignment with this, the stone itself will deepen in colour as it acquires a bloom, becoming ever more connected and personal over time.
THE ORIGINS OF CONTINUUM
A visit to Birdlings Flat beach - a place many locals here have strong childhood associations with - marked the origin of the concept which led to the CONTINUUM range. Although world famous for it's sea tumbled agates and other semi precious stones, we were struck by the simple beauty of the greywacke pebbles that form the entire background of the beach, amongst which can be found beautiful examples of natural symmetry.
Stunningly pure, these greywacke pebbles have been forged into ovals, rounds and torpedoes of exceptional form by relentless environmental influences. Although greywacke is one of the principle substrates of New Zealand as a whole, this is the only place where greywacke occurs in these shapes.
The simple architecture and contemplative nature of these pebbles are what led us to elevate them from the beach into wearable items by respectfully punctuating them with precious metals and Paua shell, whilst deliberately retaining the original form of each stone as it was found. In this way every pebble retains its connection to the place it originated.
CONTINUUM displays the harmony possible between found object and technical intervention, each piece remaining a wearable example of those elements that are native to natural New Zealand.
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To learn more about the WHALES living permanently off our shores click here.
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THE STORY OF PAUA - OUR
FLAT PEARL
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COMBINING ALL THE COLOURS OF NATURAL NEW ZEALAND
Abundant in our waters, reflecting the essence of our Islands , Paua embodies the light, the oceans and the landforms of this country.
Luminous, brilliant and complex, Paua becomes our flat pearl - the gemstone of the CONTINUUM range.
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As children we are led for hours along a beach by the tiny shining pieces of Paua winking at us from amongst the rocks and the seaweed. We treasure the fragile, delicate coloured shell of a baby paua where it lies in the sand like an empty sea cradle - in the same way we are enthralled by the glowing, opulent shades of an old blue. We grow up familiar with this shell…no other thing communicates the expanse, the clarity and the potential of this country so beautifully. Paua is the perfect icon of New Zealand.
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STRUCTURAL COLOUR
Like butterfly wings, the colour in Paua shell is structural in nature. A coloured leaf or flower petal will fade over time, but a butterfly wing will not. This is because most naturally occurring pigments are broken down by ultra violet light. The structural colour of Paua,
however, is not the result of pigments in the shell, but is produced by billions of tiny six sided crystalline structures within the surface of the shell. Just like an optical prism which breaks white light into the full visible spectrum of colour, these tiny prisms are actually colourless themselves, but emit a constant and ever-changing display of colour. The size of these tiny crystals is what determines the dominant colour of each individual piece of shell, as well as its unique textural characteristics. The result is the beautiful and always shifting luminosity we see in Paua, which is mostly blue-green, but which - unlike pigment colour - changes constantly with different light conditions and viewpoints of the observer.
GREYWACKE
Intrinsic, enduring and familiar.
To many New Zealanders, it remains a constant connection to
mountain, river and sea. A primary substrate of New Zealands landscape,
Greywacke naturally forms the cornerstone of the CONTINUUM range...
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