The jewellery and art of contemporary New Zealand jeweller Lisa Walker

Text originally published in A Children’s Guide to the Jewellery (and Art) of Lisa Walker by Isaac du Toit and Megan du Toit (2019).

Jewellery need not be valuable in monetary terms to be precious to the owner. Jewellery can be 'valuable' for sentimental reasons i.e. your friend made it, it reminds you of a happy occasion or holiday or perhaps it just makes you happy to wear it.

Lisa Walker has talked about always being interested in the tension between oddness and beauty and "what her own interpretation of what something beautiful is"

Her pendant made from a rubber inner sole (pictured right) is a good example of oddness vs beauty. The organic curvy shape is pleasing to the eye - almost a classic pendant shape pulled slightly askew. The thick, extruded blobs of paint make you wonder what it would feel like to the touch. The interesting colour and texture combinations that you wouldn't think would work well together but somehow do.