“Kia ora, ko Haylie toku ingoa.” Haylie Fry of A Slice of Poutini is a self-taught carver living in Te Tai Poutini, the West Coast. In Māori tradition, you should not carve or buy a pounamu item for yourself – it should be gifted, in the same way the stone has been gifted to us from the land. Haylie sees her creative journey as one of both receiving and giving, connecting with Te Ao Māori through mahi toi, her craft, giving back to her community, and supporting her tamariki, who whakapapa to Ngāi Tahu.
What do you make?
Some days I make a really big mess! Slurry water everywhere, fragments of cut stone, polished carvings, cord, and silver litter my work benches, lounge, and dining room, and it puts a big smile on my face. But more to the point, I mainly make pounamu jewellery – necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. I’ve created the odd sculptural piece too , but I generally just flow with wherever the mahi and creativity takes me.
How did you get into your craft?
It began with researching my daughters’ whakapapa, and registering them with Ngāi Tahu. I wanted them to have a sense of identity and embrace knowledge of their Māori culture. We live on the West Coast, and the opportunity to walk the beaches and look for pounamu is on our door step, so together we began hunting for beautiful stones and learning how to identify the genuine pounamu. Needless to say, we have an epic serpentine rock garden.
I purchased a tile cutting saw and Dremel and began cutting stones in the back yard with a friend and making very simple stone pendants for our whānau. It escalated from there when people started noticing what I was making and encouraged me to continue the craft. Requests began to flow in and I was making pieces for others in no time…
Do you have formal training or qualifications in your craft?
My stonecraft has organically evolved through interest and is self-taught. YouTube has been a fantastic resource and I give credit to the more experienced carvers who post videos sharing their knowledge, skill, and creative processes relating to all things pounamu. It has been a journey of exploration and trial and error. I took art at high school, but am actually qualified as a chef and machine operator.
Your favourite materials, tools, and processes?
My favourite material to work with is pounamu – no two stones are the same. Each piece possesses its own characteristics, fractures, and integrity. I began carving with stones I had found on the beaches and purchased smaller offcuts sold by more experienced carvers. Carefully examining the stone and learning about the mineral composition and identifying fractures then led to grinding away the areas that were weak to find out what is left to work with. Throughout this process, daily life unfolds, I’m taking in the world around me as I go, and ideas and inspiration arrive…sometimes it feels like the stone determines what it wants to be, from the beginning to its final form.
My favourite tool and one I consistently use, funnily enough, is diamond sandpaper – silicon carbide and diamond sanding pads. While the sanding process is possibly the more labour-intensive part of carving, this is where I really get to start taking in the beauty of my creation. As it becomes polished and more defined, the depth of colour and translucency comes to light.
Tell us about some of the techniques involved in producing one of your pieces:
Some of my earrings are of simple form. Circles cut with a drill press and then shaped up on a grinder. Holes are drilled with diamond burrs and a handpiece before getting stuck into the sanding, working to remove ridges left from the grinding process. I usually start with 200 grit paper, slowly working my way up to 800 grit in increments of 200. Some special pieces I’ll sand to 1500 grit. I also use a Lortone rock tumbler, which is often rattling away in the workshop with cut stones and offcuts from larger carvings. Tumbling stones is a lengthy process, sometimes taking up to a month to achieve the finished product. Again it is a process of slowly working through different grits, from 80g to 400g, usually approximately a week at each stage. I’m required to inspect them every few days so as not to grind away the whole stone. Then a final tumble with polishing paste to finish them off.
Once I’m happy with the sanding or tumbling finish, the pounamu goes into the rice cooker, filled with hot beeswax and olive oil. The pounamu soaks for a little while, absorbing the wax and oil, before being removed and buffed with a cotton cloth while it’s still hot. I select the coloured cord for the pendant and set to binding it, either as a bracelet or necklace. Matching silver to the earrings is also a fun process, as different findings produce a completely different result.
Is there a philosophy behind your work?
My general love for learning new things unknown to me, alongside connecting through culture and intergenerational sharing, has driven my creative work. It has also created opportunities to share and inspire others to connect with New Zealand and Māori culture through pounamu.
What inspires you?
My inspiration is drawn from nature and the living world around me. Some of my favourite personal creations have been carvings reproduced from items collected on the beaches and various walking tracks in the Upper South Island – shells, leaves, bird skulls, and seed pods, to name a few. I really enjoy producing commission pieces that come from other people’s ideas as well. The collaboration and connection that takes place in producing a taonga of significance for a loved one is pretty special, it inspires me in many ways, and has me developing more carving techniques, pūrākau, and cultural understanding.
What has been a highlight of your maker journey so far?
There are so many highlights. One of significance was having an engineer design and build a substantial rock cutting saw. She’s a beast, and provides me the ability to slice stone up to 11 inches thick. Slabbing saws are harder to come by than the smaller tile cutters so the finishing of this project meant opportunities were created to also support other artists and rock enthusiasts alike. I brought my first large piece of authenticated Ngāi Tahu pounamu and began carving with some really beautiful stone.
Describe your creative process:
My creative process changes depending on the piece, and its intended destination. Some carvings start with a drawn template, sketched onto the slice of stone which is cut out and shaped to the specific design.
Other pieces are developed by working visually, holding the object I’m wanting to recreate. I’m able to refer to the object regularly for guidance. Curves, grooves, texture, and depth of cuts are all being taken into account as I go. Having good spatial awareness is extremely helpful and has helped me produce some lovely recreations. Shells are a perfect example. I’ve carved commissioned pieces from other people’s ideas, photographs, or pictures, from investigating and reading pūrākau of Māori legends, and even from photos of tattoos.
Describe your workspace:
My main workspace is in the garage at home. There you will find a selection of tools that have been designed or adapted to suit carving stone.
A large stainless steel sink holds space for a tile cutter, and there are a few seated spaces to work with hand pieces for the finer detailed work, under drip-fed running water. I’ve adapted an old kitchen sink unit and fitted a dust extractor as a dry burring station, mainly for bone carving. It’s been painted bright orange and blue. Larger tools, like the point carver and drill press, are fixed to the concrete floor with recirculating water supplies and water containment. Piles of different beautiful raw stones litter the space, some displayed on shelves, some glued to plywood boards ready to be sliced. Sparkly diamond sintered cores and burrs are all neatly stored in filing trays.
The space is big enough for a few people to work alongside each other quite comfortably. A large wooden work bench along the back wall is set up for design processes and all the finishing work involved. There’s the rice cooker filled with olive oil and beeswax for polishing, and hobby clamps for sanding and binding. Pin boards and creative designs present on a bright orange central wall. I’ve created a colourful and inviting space that I really enjoy going to for my work.
Your favourite feedback from a customer?
It’s hard to single out any specific feedback at this point.
The feedback that I have received from this mahi has been truly humbling. My confidence in this craft has flourished due to compliments and the many words of encouragement and delight from things I’ve crafted for people. I receive kind supportive comments via social media, and private messages asking for commission work, which for me is the greatest feedback.
When you have galleries email you because they have come across your online store or socials, and they invite you to exhibit or want to display your work, it’s a pretty special feeling. Recently, I have started running small workshops in Westport. People love to experience the creation of taonga for themselves. Classes have sold out and now I’m fielding requests for private sessions and more classes and workshops in other towns. It’s blown me away.
What are you currently listening to?
The playlist frequently changes. Salmonella Dub, Tashy Sultana, Ren, loads of drum and bass bangers, and rock music features regularly.
What are you reading now?
I prefer and enjoy podcasts more often than reading these days. This allows me to continue with other activities in the workshop and around home while I listen to and take in information and knowledge. I have just picked up Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now for night time reading.
Who is your hero or heroine? Why?
There is no one heroine in particular, instead there are a number of women who have graciously guided me through life. In particular, I spent loads of time with both of my grandmothers growing up. They are and were very much pillars of strength and resilience, role modelling and supporting creativity throughout my life. They both ran their own small businesses, and worked hard while supporting their children and grandchildren. Gardening and growing food featured strongly among their leisure activities, alongside cooking, painting, making pottery, and knitting. These two are my biggest heroines.
A favourite quote:
“When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”
Meaning that when we are ready to learn and grow, we will be ready to listen to and act upon knowledge we glean from a teacher who is already in front of us, and perhaps has always been there, but we were not open to receive.
I’m unsure who originally coined this phrase attributed to Theosophy – a synthesis between Eastern and Western religions created in the late 1800s – however I give credit to Trish Hunt, a ‘teacher’ who guided me through early childhood development and an introduction to neuroscience when my daughters were young. She would recite this quote frequently. The understanding of these words has helped me to see people and situations as teachers, especially the challenging ones.
Life is a never-ending journey of learning and growth if you’re willing to listen and receive.
Tell us about your pets:
One of my daughters has an American bulldog cross boxer, Casey. She is four years old, and has a bouncy, beautiful nature about her. We call her Smoosh Face. She loves her walks and rides in the car, gets super excited about food, and is happy to let the cats sleep next to her on cold nights. We also have two cats, Kimi and Shady, who are sisters. Kimi is a barrel, and quite a large tortoiseshell cat – she often picks on her small sister for fun. Shady is black and makes a lot of noise, telling us when she wants food, when she wants to go outside, or come back in.
Down in the back garden, we have four chickens: a mother hen, and her three grown baby hens, effortlessly laying delicious free range eggs.
What would your advice be for those starting out in a crafty business?
Just do it. Find a mentor, ask all the questions, and start making steps. One step at a time, learning one new thing every day. You’ll be amazed at how far you can go if you just keep putting in the work little bits at a time. Don’t forget to have fun along the way.
Why do you think it’s important to buy handmade and/or locally made goods?
When you buy and support locally made goods, you are supporting an individual or a family, who has put their time, energy, and skill into creating a product or beautiful creation. I’ve also found conversations with other makers enlightening and educational, where friendships can develop and opportunities to trade, give and/or receive, and collaborate sometimes present.
What does it mean to you when someone buys your creations?
It means I can keep on creating these beautiful taonga to share with people. I can continue to express myself creatively. Frequently I receive emails from people who purchase something of mine from a store or gallery, and it is not just about someone buying an item of jewellery, but sharing where the stone has come from, how it came to form, who, why, and where it is going, and what it means for the people involved. It is a privilege to be accepted and authenticated as an artist in this spiritual field of pounamu carving.
What was the last handmade item you bought and what attracted you to it?
A hand carved mahogany heru by West Carver Studios NZ, featuring A Slice of Poutini pounamu. It actually turned into a trade.
What’s your favorite item in your shop right now?
I love all of them, but the large koru stands out for me. She is a beauty. Measuring 10cm in diameter and carved from authenticated Ngāi Tahu pounamu, this is the largest piece I’ve carved, definitely a statement piece that in time will find the right person to wear it with all the mana and strength it holds. I get excited to meet the people these taonga choose to go with.
What’s in store for the rest of 2024?
I am currently full-time employed at Stockton Coal Mine as a dump truck operator…but A Slice of Poutini is still a big part of everyday life. Evenings and weekends you will still find me in the workshop or with pounamu in hand.
Workshops and markets have become more frequent in these quieter months, and there is always a line up of commission work on the table. I’m hoping by summer to achieve a more flexible roster at the mine, which will provide lifestyle balance and more time for family, pounamu creation work, and hopefully traveling parts of the South Island with market stalls and workshops in new locations. I’m certain there will be loads of pounamu hunting going down as well.
Some of the symbolic shapes for pounamu pendants
Hei-tiki – a human form usually worn by women to aid fertility and protection.
Toki – a tool such as an adze or blade which is associated with power and strength.
Hei matau – a fish hook representing connections to the ocean that endows the wearer with safety and good health while travelling.
Koru – an unfurling fern that signifies new life and beginnings.
Manaia – a mythological guardian with the head of a bird, body of man, and tail of fish to represent the sky, earth, and sea.
Pikorua – a twist used throughout Māori symbology to represent the journey of life, friendship, and eternity.
