'Needle pendant #6 (Fierce lancewood, juvenile)'

Needle pendant #6 (Fierce lancewood, juvenile)
2025
hand forged mild steel, nylon thread 
37.7 x 2.1 x 0.7cm

Debbie Adamson grew up in Central Otago and moved to Dunedin to study Jewellery and Metalsmithing at Otago Polytechnic School of Fine Arts, under Johanna Zellmer and Andrew Last. Debbie's work uses industrial steel, forged and carved to create a series of needle like pendants, depicting the leaves and stems of various species of NZ native plants. Some of these are from trees that have become popular in urban design - such as the lancewoods with their very distinct juvenile and adult forms - and some of these are endemic leguminous plants - many of which are vulnerable, and grow slowly in fragile habitats.

"A needle is used to construct, repair or embellish - a tool for working with thread and connecting things. It is generally welded by an individual, historically associated with the work of women, but has also been used as a tool for subversion. When I first started this series, I was working on a garden. I had a lot of learning to do, and very quickly found that I had more questions than answers. Am I looking for beauty? Do I want it to be productive? What about sustainable ecosystems? In short - what kind of relationship do I want to have with the flora that surrounds me, and how does that interact with the wider environment? This rich, complicated and layered consideration of interconnectedness is one that I find myself constantly reassessing, and making this series of pendants, mementos of the natural world, is one way I give myself time to contemplate." DA