There was an uncanny connection to New Zealand this week. Maybe it’s the amazing news they have no new cases of Covide-19 and appear to have controlled it. Some hope for the rest of us?

Rob contacted me a few weeks into Lockdown Life and asked me to design a bracelet for his wife Anya.  They live in America and have just received their visas to allow them to live in New Zealand. They would like the design to incorporate the New Zealand Silver Fern whilst staying in keeping with the design of the platinum necklace I made Anya a few years ago to commemorate their 5^th wedding anniversary.

The New Zealand Silver Fern:

Fifth wedding anniversary Necklace

Over the past few weeks I’ve been collating inspiration and mulling ideas over in my head, and this week I’ve started to bring it all together. 

The fern has been a symbol of New Zealand’s nationality since the 1880’s. To Maori, it symbolises strength, stubborn resistance, and enduring power. To Pakeha it symbolises their sense of attachment to their homeland.

After the queens VE day address last week I started to researching the symbolism behind her brooches (a possible theme for a future blog!) and I came across her fern brooch given to the Queen by the Auckland mayor's wife, Lady Allum, in the 1950's.

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