Tania Patterson
Tania Patterson graduated from Unitec in 1989 with a Diploma in Craft Design majoring in jewellery.
"I am sure it is fairly obvious that it is encounters with nature that inform much of my work, be it exploring rock pools, gathering leaves of different shapes, or watching the native birds in my garden. About a zillion years ago, I was in America at an artist’s talk. She showed us slides of a work where she had seen an old house with the cladding removed and all the black building paper exposed. She had spent weeks cutting patterns into the building paper. A neighbor came and asked her why she was doing it, and she replied, “to see what it looks like.” He said, “That’s a whole lotta work for just looking.” This has stuck with me, as I sometimes feel I am a bit mad and self indulgent in the compulsion to make something that may consume lots of time (and may very well not work out) just to see what it will look like. But, there seems no other way."
From 2025
Object KERERU BELL - Brass, bronze, sterling silver, nylon cord. 75 x 46mm $980
Object TUI BELL - Brass, bronze, sterling silver, nylon cord. 77 x 43mm $980
Object PIWAKAWAKA BELL - Brass, bronze, sterling silver, nylon cord. 72 x 41mm $980
Pendant PIWAKAWAKA - 61x38mm, sterling silver, bronze (bird), enamel paint, nylon cord $790
Pendant PIWAKAWAKA (closed tail) - 54 x 28mm, silver, bronze (bird), enamel paint, nylon $790
Pendant KERERU - 50 x 32mm, sterling silver, bronze (bird), enamel paint, nylon cord $790
Pendant PIED SHAG - 62 x 27mm, sterling silver, bronze (bird), enamel paint, nylon cord $790
'Back to Nature' April 2025
" I can't remember when I first came across Beethoven's hearing trumpets. These odd archaic devices - reminiscent of musical instruments - are strangely poignant. I'm not exactly sure what compelled me to make my miniature versions - perhaps just the technical challenge and the pleasure of crafting.
As I hammered flanges and bent tubes and pondered the increasingly mad world: of megaphone diplomacy, communal deafness, they became symbols of dysfunctional communication.
I was irritated, agitated - not just by politics and humans but my normal solace in nature was a battle ground.
Even the smallest creatures harbour expansionist ambitions. Ants had suddenly amassed an army for the unlikely prize of a half-eaten roll of Quick-Eze on the bathroom shelf. The mason bees insisted/ persisted on building clay prisons beneath the dining table and deep in the folds of the curtains. Paper wasps, so many paper wasps!
In the midst of this, I discovered a beautiful haiku by Buson:
"On the one-ton temple bell,
a moon moth, folded into sleep,
sits still."
I love this image: the heavy bell, the utter stillness of the moth. I cannot replicate this in a small jewellery piece, but I make bells to remind myself to be still and present.
I retreat into making moths, losing myself in the meditative repetition of pattern and form. In this, I am calm.
Perhaps I will ring my bell and whisper this poem into your hearing trumpet and you will feel the weight of the bell and the fragility of the moth. And the mason bee will hover, ever ready to fill your trumpet with clay and paralyzed spiders.
Ha! I like that thought.
Nature is tenacious
In the end, everything will return - back to nature."
Tania Patterson
1. Hearing Trumpet Pendant with Mason Bees $750
Silver, Copper, Brass, waxed linen cord. 10.7 x 2.6 x 2.6cm
2. Hearing Trumpet Pendant with Ants $690
Silver, Copper. 8 x 2.1 x 2.1cm
3. Hearing Trumpet Pendant with Borer Beetle $750
Silver, Copper. 10.8 x 2.3 x 1.8cm
4. Hearing Trumpet Pendant with Paper Wasp $700
Silver, Brass. 8.2 x 2 x 1.8cm
5. Hearing Trumpet Pendant with Wasp $700
Silver, Copper. 9 x 2.7 x 2.7cm
6. Hearing Trumpet Pendant with Borer Beetle $750
Silver, Copper, Brass. 9.7 x 1.8 x 1.9cm
7. Megaphone Pendant with weevil $620
Silver, Copper. 5.5 x 2.2 x 2.2cm
8. Megaphone with Spider $660
Silver, Copper, Brass. 8 x 2.6 x 2.6cm
9. Bell Pendant $530
Silver, Brass. 4.5 x 3.5 x 3.5cm
10. Bell Pendant $470
Silver, Brass. 3.4 x 2.8 x 2.8cm
11. Bell Pendant $350
Silver, Brass. 3.7 x 2.3 x 2.3cm
Peacock Moth Brooches $315 each
Bronze, Enamel Paint. 7.8 x 3.6cm
Cabbage Tree Moth Brooches $270 each
Bronze, Enamel Paint. 5.3 x 1.9cm
Lichen Moth Brooches $270 each
Bronze, Enamel Paint. 3.6 x 2.6 x 1.1cm
Grass Moth Brooches $150 each
Bronze, Enamel Paint. 2.4 x 2.2cm
Puriri Moth Brooch $355
Bronze, Enamel Paint. 8.1 x 4.4cm
From 2024
Pendant - Kowhai Flower and Leaf Pendant, silver, brass, copper, 110 x 40 x 10mm $570
Pendant - Kowhai Flower and Leaf Pendant, silver, brass, 110 x 40 x 10mm $570
Pendant - Kowhai Flower and silver beads Pendant, silver, brass, 100 x 20 x 10mm $625
Pendant - Kowhai Flower Pendant, silver, brass, 100 x 20 x 10mm $395
From 2023
The animal bodies were made in wax and then cast in bronze, internal copper sleeves were then added, and saddles and packages fabricated in copper and silver. Saddles' hinges open to reveal hidden compartments (2023)
HORSE bronze, copper, sterling silver 60mm(H)x90mm(L)x 20mm(w) $1,700
COW bronze, copper, sterling silver 60mm(H)x75mm(L)x 20mm(w) $1,700
PIG bronze, copper, sterling silver 45mm(H)x60mm(L)x 20mm(w) $1,500
Photography: Tania Patterson
From 2022
Rewarewa Seeds, bronze, sterling silver $145
Rewarewa Seeds, bronze, sterling silver $145
From 2021
FROGS IN BOXES
Large frog brooch - Bronze, silver leaf, black paint $600
Large frog brooch - Bronze, silver leaf, black paint $600
Small frog pendant - Bronze, silver leaf, black paint $600
Small frog pendant - Bronze, silver leaf, black paint $600
NB: All frogs supplied in cedar boxes made from recycled wooden blinds
From 2020
Frog Brooches
These four endangered New Zealand native frogs/pepeketua are primitive and ancient creatures that have changed little in the last 70 million years. They differ from other frogs in that they do not have eardrums and they do not croak, they are silent and elusive creature. They also do not have a swimming tadpole stage and carry their froglets on their backs until fully developed. Fossil records show that these frogs used to be widely spread throughout NZ.
Through habitat loss, predation and disease they are now only found in isolated pockets around New Zealand. Archey’s are found in the Coromandel and Whareorino Forest, they in particular are in decline because of an introduced fungus called amphibian chytrid fungus. Hochstetter's has the largest distribution and are found at about ten sights in the upper North Island, these include Waipu, Coromandel and Raukumara Ranges. Maud Island Frogs are found on Maud Islands in the Marlborough Sounds (some have been translocated to Motuara Is). Hamilton's frog is the rarest with only approximately 300 living on Stephens Island in the Cook Strait. Frogs have very sensitive skin and are venerable to climate change and pollution, NZ frog populations have declined considerably in the last 25 years.
Left to right: Hochstetter's Frog, Hamilton's Frog, Maud Island Frog, Archey's Frog
Large, bronze, enamel paint, 38x31x13mm $335
Small, bronze, enamel paint, 26x30x14mm $265
From 2019
 Dog Pendants. Bronze, silver, cord $250 each
 Lying Dogs, Scratching Dogs, Walking Dogs, Playing Dogs
Photography: Tania Patterson
 Pohutukawa Leaf brooches, silver, paint $215 each
From 2018
 Oval Pendant on Cord -Stg, Fossilised Wood, Linen cord. $550
Oval Pendants - Stg, Fossilised Wood, stainless cable $500 each.
 Earrings – Stg, Fossilised Wood. $170
Round Brooch - Stg, Fossilised Wood. $330
Rings – Stg, Fossilised Wood. $250
From 2016
Walking The Dog Brooches - Silver frames, enamel paint on steel, 5.7cm x 4.8cm $300 each
From 2015
Walking The Dog Brooches
"I have used various woods, a lot of them I don't know the names of, where I do I have put it in brackets."
Brooch 1 Silver, steel, wood (paduak) $400
Brooch 2 Silver, copper, wood $400
Brooch 3 Silver, copper,wood $400
Brooch 4 Silver, copper, wood (purple heart & ?) $400
Brooch 5 Silver, steel, wood $400
Brooch 6 Silver, copper, wood (paduak & ?) $400
Brooch 7 Silver, wood ( purple heart & ?) $400&
Brooch 8 Silver, wood (totara burl & ?) $400
From 2013
Lachrymatory – Tear bottles
Macadamia nut shell, silver, twist to open, $535
Macadamia nut shell, silver, hinged opening, $535
Lachrymatory – Tear bottles
Porcelain, silver, glass bead, wood, $535 each
From 2012
2 Puriri moths large $585, smaller $565 wood, metal, paint
Peacock moth $485 wood, metal, paint
Lichen moth $335 wood, metal, paint
From 2011
1 Black moth necklace $585
ebony, acrylic, sterling silver, jasper beads
2 Tortoise shell moth necklace $585
acrylic, padwak wood, sterling silver, jasper beads
3 Gold moth necklace $585
brass, sterling silver, acrylic, black agate beads
4 Tortoise shell moth necklace $585
sterling silver, wood, acrylic, onyx beads
From 2009
Huia Bird Brooches $500 each
From 2005
Feather Brooches - sterling silver, enamel paint
Specimens 2005
"This group of work continues my interest in New Zealand natural history and the overlaps between science and art. At the Auckland Museum I came across some drawers filled with dead birds, I was struck by how little they told me about birds. These sad inanimate creatures spoke to me more of my own dead, yet these dead things do teach us about life. I am interested what the static museum display does and doesn't teach us."
Tania Paterson, 2005
BROOCHES; Dead Birds, (Perspex, Silver, Painted wood, 6cm high)
1. Piwakawaka, Fantail
2. Kotare, Kingfisher
3. Pipiwharauroa, Shining Cuckoo
4. Korimako, Bellbird
5. Miromiro, Tomtit
6. Tui
7. Ruru, Morepork
8. Kereru, Wood pigeon
9. Koekoea, Long-tailed cuckoo
Insects (Perspex, Silver, Painted wood, 4 - 7cm high)
10. Magpie Moth
11. Centipede
12. Tuwhaipapa, Giraffe Weevil
13. Ground Beetle
Stuffed Birds (Perspex, Silver, Painted wood, 3.5 - 5cm high)
14. Pukeko
15. Kotuku, White Heron
16. Kaka
17. Kiwi
PENDANTS (Silver, Resin, Paint, 2.5 - 4cm diameter)
18. Kahukura, Red Admiral Butterfly
19. Pepe Aouri, Common Blue Butterfly
20. Pepe Aouri, Common Blue Butterfly
21. Pepe Parariki, Common Copper Butterfly
22. Black Mountain Ringlet
LEAF BROOCHES (Silver, Paint, 3 - 5cm long)
Hebe, Ake ake,
Pohutukawa
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