Passion becomes a career for Tim Gifkins

Tim Gifkins says there's beauty in stone, it's just a matter of finding the best way to show it. Photo/Glenn Taylor

As a child, Tim Gifkins loved going to a shop in Hastings that sold polished pebbles, and was one of those kids who came back from the beach loaded down with stones. It stayed with him while on his OE, but he decided backpacking and stone collecting were not compatible.

After completing a joinery apprenticeship for Campbells, Gifkins worked for Hortop & Sons in Havelock North before running his own cabinet-making business for six years, followed by five years overseas.

Upon his return, he spent 10 years in Auckland, completing a tourism and travel course but couldn't find work that paid well.

His next stop was running a furniture factory, then working on superyachts, calling on his dormant woodworking skills.

"It was incredible work. On one boat, I spent nearly six months full-time working on the captain's cabin. It was like a jewellery box, there was so much detail."

Hawke's Bay was calling, however, and patient searching uncovered a block of land at Matapiro perfect for what he and his partner were looking for.

Gifkins got his first introduction to working with stone in his first job back here, creating templates and installing granite bench tops for a Napier firm. Then four years ago, Gifkins met renowned Hastings gemstone carver Sam Wilkinson, who invited him to a carving weekend workshop.

"I thought I was going to watch other people but he gave me a gentle push into it," he says.

Gifkins still has the small black stone he turned into a whale's tail, and reckons Wilkinson must have seen something in his work as he offered him private lessons, which he kept up for 18 months. What was a hobby had become a full-blown passion.

Gifkins describes himself as a glyptic artist, that is, someone who practises the art of carving or engraving on precious stones. His trade background has made the transition to stone work easier, but it is a slow process and you quickly learn to be patient. Gifkins says: "You get to a point where you just have to stop and put it away for awhile, and pick it up again later. The stone dictates what you can do with it. If you're not careful, you end up with a handful of gravel."

He is a fan of objet d'art work and Faberge, and enjoys working on pendants. Like Wilkinson, he prefers to come up with his own designs and interpretation of what a person would like, rather than being given rigid specifications.

The idea of mass producing the same design is anathema to him. "I would rather do something that's unique. I might do some drawings and it evolves ... there's beauty in stone anyway it's just a matter of finding the best way to show it."

For more info, visit timgifkins.com or hawkesbayartguide.co.nz

Tim Gifkins is hosting a greenstone carving weekend for beginners through to experienced carvers 9am-4pm January 24-26. Your choice of one, two or all three days, cost $110 per day including refreshments, supplied stone and use of power and hand tools. For more info, visit his website.