HandShake is an innovative collaboration between 12 selected New Zealand jewellery graduates and the heroes that inspire them.

HandShake is an innovative collaboration between 12 selected New Zealand jewellery graduates and the heroes that inspire them.

The invited jewellery graduates have been given the opportunity to make work side by side or by distance, alongside an established maker in a similar role to an apprentice. Sydney is the first city to exhibit the work after the first six months of the collaboration.

Exhibition 1: 9 – 21 August 2011, Studio 20/17, Sydney

Exhibition 2: 9 – 11 September 2011, The New Zealand Jewellery Show, Wellington

Exhibition 3: 8 – 21 December 2011, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland

Exhibition 4: 9 – 19 Feb 2012, Toi Poneke Gallery, Wellington

The project uses new technologies to maximum effect, enabling the graduates to develop and refine work alongside their mentors in a virtual studio space with a website window.

This project is the brainchild of contemporary artist and jeweller Peter Deckers. At the start of 2011 Deckers invited selected graduate jewellers to name the artists that most inspire them. He then approached these distinguished and internationally-established jewellery and art icons, offering them the opportunity to act as mentors in this collaborative two-year project. The response was an enthusiastic ‘yes’ from the 12 idols.

The result? A lively website, touring exhibitions, a catalogue, and an exceptional learning experience for all involved. The works resulting from the beginning phase of this partnership between mentor and apprentice will be shown in the first HandShake exhibition, which runs from 9 to 21 August 2011 at Studio 20/17 in Sydney, as part of Sydney Design 2011.

Other exhibitions in New Zealand locations follow later this year and in 2012 and 2013.

Visit the HandShake website to learn more about the project and keep track of the unfolding leaps of progress achieved by the inspired – and inspiring – apprentices: www.handshakejewellery.com

Apprentices - Mentors: Debbie Adamson - Hanna Hedman, Becky Bliss - Fabrizio Tridenti, Nadene Carr - Lucy Sarneel, Kristin D’agostino - Judy Darragh, Gillian Deery - Estela Saez Vilanova, Sharon Fitness - Lisa Walker, Sam Kelly - Rian De Jong, Jhana Millers - Suska Mackert, Neke Moa - Karl Fritsch, Lynsay Raine - Andrea Wagner, Sarah Read - Iris Eichenberg, Jessica Winchcombe - Warwick Freeman.