Jewellery inspired by underwater

A book on underwater photography unwittingly inspired a Wairarapa jeweller's new collection.
Phillipa Gee, pictured, began to see the resemblance of coral and sea anemone in her latest pieces weeks after she had put the book down.
"There is definitely a nautical theme somewhere in there," she said of her new exhibition Flotsam, which opened at her Quoil Contemporary Jewellery Gallery in Wellington on Friday night.
The collection, a colourful range of silver broaches and fine wire necklaces, was the result of three weeks' toiling in her Masterton home studio.
"I was spending around 50 hours a week on it. I would say it is the best work I've done so far, or certainly the most work I've put in to a collection."
Ms Gee took up the craft 28 years ago while at teachers college in Wellington.
"It's something that just grabbed me. I always loved making things and wanted to be an artist, but not a painter.
"Being a jeweller lets you explore the technical side of it while using a bit of artistic expression."
She makes a point of not polishing her works, but scrubbing them.
"With my broaches I like to scrub the copper out of the silver surface. It gives them a nice matt-white finish."
The exhibition runs at the gallery until Wednesday, September 3, before it travels to galleries in Auckland, Christchurch and Wanaka.