Each year the Hagley adult jewellery class explores ideas around originality and development of designs. This year it was decided to focus on the concept of ‘sharing’ design ideas and working collaboratively.

Jewellery teachers Katrina Brehaut and Monique Connell also wanted to utilise the insights gained from the ‘Taonga’ talk that Hagley kaiako Regan Stokes gave the class in Term 2. Regan introduced students to elements of te reo Māori and also gave them an understanding of some spiritual aspects of Māori culture, creativity and design.

The students were then randomly divided into small groups and given the task of choosing a person or charity to design and make a taonga for, including packaging and presentation. They were given a budget for materials and were asked to keep a journal of their progress.

After the agreed deadline, the teams presented their completed piece of jewellery to the class. In their presentations they identified who they chose to make their taonga for and why, and explained the conceptual ideas behind the design. They described how the collaboration had really enhanced the process for them as they assessed individual skills in their groups, assigned tasks and solved problems along the way to completing the piece.

The taonga were designed and made by the following teams:

Team Lyttelton: created a silver and lapis lazuli brooch for a local person who has made a significant contribution to the Lyttelton community.

Bee Team: created a silver and brass bee bracelet for the Diabetes Society for fundraising.

Maude Team: created a silver and copper brooch for Nurse Maude to be auctioned for Hospice funds.

Team Dynamics: created a silver chain necklace for fundraising for teacher aides at Rudolph Steiner School.

Jewellery design teachers Katrina and Monique commented on how impressed they were by the commitment and determination of the teams to combine their strengths and work together to make a meaningful finely crafted taonga. “This challenge brought the class together in ways we hadn’t expected, and encouraged a lot of spirited conversations and sharing of ideas.”

Monique Connell & Katrina Brehaut