A display of necklaces.
Rina Ward started tinkering with jewellery 10 years ago when she was pregnant with her second child.
Her daughter, then 3, would accompany her when she would go around fleamarkets in Auckland, where they were based at the time, looking for broken jewellery because of her daughter's fascination with angels and fairies.
Rina would buy old pendant settings and would put the little winged images on them for her and make charm bracelets and necklaces.
This hobby eventually developed into a career.
She made charm bracelets and necklaces when pregnant but had to set that aside for two years when her son was born. When he turned 2 she seemed to have more time and decided to get back into making jewellery.
Rina decided to sell some of the completed pieces on Trade Me just to see how it would go. The reserve was $1.
"I was hoping to get at least $50 for the whole lot. But at the end of the week, I was shocked when I computed the total sales - $600!"
And that's when Nostalgems was born (in 2008) - coined from two words, nostalgia and gems, Rina says.
"It [Nostalgems] basically is what my jewellery is all about - showcasing nostalgic pieces (found objects, old brass components from the '50s, sentimental baubles and articles).
Following the Trade Me experience she started selling on the site again and then moved to building her own website.
"I focused more on creating jewellery using vintage components, found objects and nature, little curiosities. Not the high-end jewellery stuff but more of jewellery that imparts so much character because of the odd objects used as charms and pendants and the aged patina of the brass components.
"The business took off really well," she said.
But when Rina and her husband decided to semi-retire in Kerikeri, she had to prioritise spending time with family rather than being the multi-tasking mum-entrepreneur she had become. So she put the business on hold.
The 51-year-old is from the Philippines. She met her Kiwi husband almost 20 years ago when she was competing in triathlons around Asia. He was based in Hong Kong at the time.
The couple moved to Auckland in 1997 and were based there until the shift north to Kerikeri two years ago.
"When we came to Kerikeri, I didn't actively work on Nostalgems as I wanted to focus on family. I think that is the beauty of having an online business. The website was still there but I did not heavily promote it.
However, she has sold some jewellery at the Stone Store and other Heritage NZ stores such as Pompallier and Old St Paul's.
"They like my work because I add Kiwiana nature [like pohutukawa needles, manuka seed pods, acorn seeds] in my jewellery. And I use old vintage brass components which give that old world charm."
Instead of selling completed designs she decided to focus on sharing with others what she had learned through the years.
This year she held a couple of workshops for adult women, called "Charm School", at the Honey House Cafe in Kerikeri where participants brought in old medallions, grandmothers' jewellery and other little bric-a-bracs that they transformed into jewellery.
She also held a kids' holiday programme, called "Jewels of the Sea", where kids brought in their beachcomber finds like shells, coral and stones and she helped them create their own nature jewellery.
Rina started a Nostalgems open house at Kerikeri's Cherry Park House (on Wednesdays) to showcase samples of her jewellery.
Visitors can have a cuppa, get inspired from the display of jewellery and they get to create their own jewellery by choosing the chains, charms, pendants and other components.
During January Rina will also be at the Old Packhouse Market on Saturdays and the twilight market every Wednesday.
- Share your news with us: If you know of any new, moving or closing businesses, those for sale or with a new franchisee, let us know by emailing biz@northernadvocate. co.nz or calling Nick Unkovich on (09) 470 2838.