Handshake Project

Are you curious about what went on at SCHMUCK 2026 and Aotearoa Exchange Collaboration for Munich Jewellery Week? Please join us this Tuesday for a slideshow and talk with Mia Straka and Amelia Rothwell Tuesday 21st April, 5.30-7pm Workshop6 RSVP to [email protected] spaces are limited Workshop6 tutors Mia and Amelia will share their experience on bringing Aotearoa Exchange to the Pinakothek for the Design Museum's 100th anniversary, and the epicness that is Schmuck and Munich Jewellery Week. For its centenary, the Pinakothek selected Aotearoa Exchange to represent New Zealand jewellery through the Handshake Project. Staged in the museum’s vast entrance hall, the live educational school project occupied the three floors circling the auditorium and formed part of a programme featuring more than forty international jewellery schools. Aotearoa Exchange is a live, performative presentation featuring more than 40 wearable works by 20 Handshake alumni. Sculptural headpieces by @miastraka and garments by @jessica.winchcombe.jewellery form the core of the performance, activiating alumni works through choreographed movement by 6 performers. Lead artists: @miastraka @jessica.winchcombe.jewellery @graceyupiper @hildagascard @vanhulstlisa @peter_deckers Support artists: @quietgatherings Participating alumni: @a.drifting.trove @becky_bliss_jewellery @denise_callan @nadene.carr @aphra.cheesman @ninavanduijnhoven @sam_kelly_sculpture @nekemoa @brendonmonson75 @nellie_peoples @graceyupiper @vanhulstlisa @miastraka @quietgatherings @carolinethomasjewellery @raewynwalsh @sarahwalkerholt @jessica.winchcombe.jewellery @keri_mei_z Aotearoa Exchange celebrates Handshake's peer driven model - supporting alumni visibility, fostering international dialogue, and contributing to a living archive of contemporary jewellery practice. Huge mihi to Peter and Hilda of M101 (aotearoajewellery.org.nz) for bringing us together, @pinakothekdermoderne , all the artists involved @creativenz and @objectspace for support to help us get there. @schmuckmuenchen @munichjewelleryweek @pinakothekdermoderne

✨ AOTEAROA EXCHANGE — the Handshake Project at SCHMUCK 2026 ✨ We are excited to announce that the Handshake Project alumni and M101 organisation will present a special collaborative performance at the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, during SCHMUCK 2026. 📅 Friday 6 March 2026, 19:00 – 24:00 📍 Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich Aotearoa Exchange is a live, performative presentation featuring more than 40 wearable works by 20 Handshake alumni. Sculptural headpieces by @miastraka and garments by @jessica.winchcombe.jewellery form the core of the performance, activating alumni works through choreographed movement by six performers. This dynamic, artist-led intervention offers an alternative to static display and highlights the vitality of contemporary practice from Aotearoa New Zealand. Lead artists: @miastraka @jessica.winchcombe.jewellery @graceyupiper @hildagascard @vanhulstlisa @peter_deckers Participating alumni: @a.drifting.trove @becky_bliss_jewellery @denise_callan Nadine Carr @aphra.cheesman @ninavanduijnhoven @vanhulstlisa @sam_kelly_sculpture @nekemoa @brendonmonsonjewellery @nellie_peoples @graceyupiper @quietgatherings @carolinethomasjewellery @raewynwalsh @sarahwalkerholt @jessica.winchcombe.jewellery @keri_mei_z Aotearoa Exchange celebrates Handshake’s peer-driven model—supporting alumni visibility, fostering international dialogue, and contributing to a living archive of contemporary jewellery practice. Supported by Creative New Zealand, Makers 101 (.nz/), and the Artists. @creativenz

Aotearoa Exchange is a performative intervention by Mia Straka, Jessica Winchcombe, Grace Yu Piper, Hilda Gascard, Lisa van Hulst, and Peter Deckers. It will open SCHMUCKmuenchen 2026 at the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, on Friday, 6 March 2026. Featuring more than 40 wearable works by active Handshake alumni, the project unites artists through a shared history with the Handshake project and a commitment to artist-led practice, peer exchange, and international dialogue. @miastraka @jessica.winchcombe.jewellery @graceyupiper @hildagascard @vanhulstlisa @vanhulstlisa @peter_deckers Participating artists, Vanessa Arthur @a.drifting.trove Becky Bliss @becky_bliss_jewellery Denise Callan @denise_callan Nadine Carr, Aphra Cheesman @aphra.cheesman Nina Van Duijnhoven @ninavanduijnhoven Lisa Van hulst, @vanhulstlisa Sam Kelly @sam_kelly_sculpture Neke Moa @nekemoa Brendon Morison @brendonmonsonjewellery Nelly Peoples @nellie_peoples Grace Yu Piper @graceyupiper Amelia Rothwell @quietgatherings Mia Straka @miastraka Caroline Thomas @carolinethomasjewellery Raewin Walsh @raewynwalsh Sarah Walker Holt @sarahwalkerholt Jessica Winchcombe @jessica.winchcombe.jewellery Keri Mei Zagrobelina @keri_mei_z Supported by Creative New Zealand, Makers 101 And the Artists. @creativenz

Bringing some Sunday silliness to your feed with our collaborative Handshake 8 'Materialise' video. #materialise #HS8 #nzcontemporaryjewellery #contemporaryjewellery #handshake8 #handshake_project #groupshow #jewelleryartists #mentees #finalshow #collaboration #video #sundaysillies

67206 Days, 2276 Full Moons April 10 – May 4, 2024 Becky Bliss, Nadene Carr, Aphra Cheesman, Nina van Duijnhoven, Neke Moa, Mia Straka, Caroline Thomas, Sarah Walker-Holt, and Raewyn Walsh The NZ jewellery artists featured in this exhibition contemplate themes of discovery, origins, integration, transformation, virtue, cultural respect, differences, and conflict. #stanleystreetgallery #contemporary_jewelry #klimt02 #AJF

NEW HS EXHIBITION at Stanley Street Gallery, Sydney '67206 Days, 2276 Full Moons' April 10 - May 4, 2024 The NZ jewellery artists featured in this exhibition contemplate themes of discovery, origins, integration, transformation, virtue, cultural respect, differences, and conflict. Becky Bliss, Nadene Carr, Aphra Cheesman, Nina van Duijnhoven, Neke Moa, Mia Straka, Caroline Thomas, Sarah Walker-Holt, and Raewyn Walsh 6720 days, 2276 full moons since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi ...who’s counting? Nine New Zealand artists from the Handshake Project with the support of Creative New Zealand and in partnership with Stanley Street Gallery present a powerful and thought-provoking exhibition. READ MORE

PROOF-OF-CONCEPT ends 20 Dec 2023, HandShake 8 mid-project exhibition. Depot Artspace, Auckland, NZ

CONTAINMENT / UNCONTAINED ​ Artists: HSDCTC collaboration (HandShake project + Dialogue Collective + TempContemp) HSDCTC collaboration, three jewellery artists’ groups from New Zealand, United Kingdom and Australia joined forces to explore the ‘Containments/Uncontained’, reflected by the relationships between jewellery objects and themes of freedoms and restrictions. This exhibition encompassed the stormy journeys that triumphantly sustained the demoralising worldwide pandemic and actual geographical borders. Each of the twenty artists concluded their collaboration voyage at the Refinery Art Space, Nelson, during Nelson Jewellery Week 2023 with dissected theme studies and jewellery objects, supported by images, texts, and video. See the handshakeproject.com website for more. #contemporary_jewelry #handshake_project #collaboration #artistsoninstagram #jewelleryactivist

WHĀNUI Handshake Jewellery Alumni The National, Christchurch, New Zealand 27 Oct – 26 Nov 2022 Sam Kelly Neke Moa Simon Swale Renee Bevan Nadene Carr Jennifer Laracy Aphra Cheesman Nina van Duijnhoven Raewyn Walsh Jack Hadley Whānui is an exhibition by ten innovative Aotearoa artists that have participated in former HANDSHAKE projects.

by Susan Videler | Oct 16, 2022 | Handshake6 ‘Any group, society, institution, or organisation that encourages women to revile the eccentric, to be suspicious of the new and unusual; to avoid the fervent, the vital, the innovative; to impersonalise the personal, is asking for a culture of dead women.’ Clarissa Pinkolas Estés The work that emerged for the final Handshake Exhibition, Morph, was purely intuitive and a direct result of reading Estés ‘Women who Run with the Wolves’; a book that insists on the rights of women who have lost their way to reclaim their power, their internal wild woman. It is a seminal work. I began my Handshake 6 journey in 2020 with a Masterclass taken by my chosen mentor Iris Eichenberg. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet her in person at this Masterclass before the world went into a state of lockdown and confusion. Our monthly Zoom meetings took on a different tone as we all tried to come to terms with the new order. My work was, I felt stilted and scattered. Ironically, I had chosen knots as my subject of investigation and there were plenty of tangles around us, and my own hands felt knotted and unable to make with fluidity. We had a successful exhibition, ‘Signing In’, at Te Auaha at the close of 2020 between lockdowns and my work was an exploration of knots as discussed in previous blogs. Nelson Jewellery Week, 2021 saw the development of my work,’ The preservation of Memory’, using wax as a preservative and medium. As 2021 dragged on I, like many others it seems, became listless with my making and unsure about where I wanted to put my energy. The ‘Glimmer’ exhibition at Whirinaki Ware Taonga early this year was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with the other Handshakers and discuss our work. My contribution,’ Diary; 364 days and a Glimmer of Hope’, was a chain made of links created during 2021. I had made a link for every day of the year, predominantly sterling silver, but also, gold, paper, fabric and wire. It was a personal chronicle of a year of wonderful highs, (the purchase of a new home and the arrival of my first grandchild) odd lethargy and a heart wrenching low (the death of a dear friend and fellow

MORPH NORTHART, Auckland, NZ Till Sun 8 October 2022 Final HS6 exhibition. This end-of-project exhibition showcases the final works of 12 HS6 artists. Originally a two-year programme became through Covid close to a three-year event. During these three years, the artists enjoyed feedback from their personal mentors and got inspired by several lectures and masterclasses. See their journey….. last days (see more on the ‘handshakeproject.com’ website)