profile
showcases the creative forces and passions of two talented New Zealand
artists and designers. Merryn Jones creates beautiful vessels, wall installations
and sculptures in kiln-fired cast glass. Justin Reichs uses jade and gemstones
to create jewellery with fibre or gold and silver and creates sculptures
of presence using a variety of delicately worked stone, metals and wood.
'Marama' is the Maori word for natural light, for clarity. It also is the name given to the Moon, Moonlight, and the prefix to each named month in Maori - the new month signifying one cycle of the moon. In celebration of light, translucency, and natural wonder, Marama Studios was named.
Both Merryn and Justin sculpt their chosen media exploring different densities to create colour, opacity, translucency, weight, solidity of fragility, and form.
Justin says working with stone also requires consideration of the natural qualities within the rock such as fissures, flakes, seams, inclusion and variations of colour which are carefully utilised when exploring the form of a piece of jewellery or small sculpture.
Merryn and Justin's work is highly sought after both in New Zealand and overseas, Justin having won some major NZ sculpture prizes in the past few years, and two of Merryn's glassworks are now part of the permanent glass collection at the Ebeltoft International Contemporary Glass Museum, in Denmark.