Pacific Carvers
for the finest in New Zealand bone and deer antler art

About the carvers. . . . .

Pacific Carvers
Len and Candy Kay, Whangarei, New Zealand

In search of an outlet "to do something" artistic with his hands, Len became intrigued by a demonstration of bone carving at a Whangarei Gem & Mineral Exhibition. He purchased a book on bone carving (one and only at the time) and set about learning the craft. From a week-end hobby of much trial and error he perfected his skills. Soon his creations were in demand by family and friends.

After establishing a studio and sourcing the right equipment, Len left his lifetime career as a sales engineer for the NZ Caterpillar distributor for a new venture in commercial carving. The transition from selling large earthmoving equipment to working with tiny bone sculptures has proven to be a particularly exciting contrast.

Born in Hamilton in 1935 of Maori, Irish and English descent, Len feels he has the right mixture and reasons to explore ancient Maori and Celtic myths, legends and their art forms. Most will agree that the more one delves, the more one will realize a surprising amount of uniformity and flow of design amongst ancient cultures, indeed most noticeable in the Pacific and Pacific rim areas.

Going with the flow has taken on a whole new meaning for Len. He also enjoys doing miniatures of native reptiles, birds, fish and animals. Like most carvers, the early designs tended to be very busy, to try and prove to people how clever at carving you were, but progress by Len now heads towards more elegance and simplicity of design.

The studio and equipment rapidly doubled as Candy grew tired of watching Len have all the fun. An ex-pat American of German, Irish and Lakota Indian descent, she discovered that she loved the wonderful feel of a finely finished carving. She particularly enjoys carving the Kays’ specialty of deer buttons with the fineness of grain and endless patterns of colour - and without the need to destroy an animal to obtain the raw material!

Having carved together for over a decade now, the Kays are each other’s critics and promoters. Carving and teaching has meant a constant flow of international collectors, students and visitors to their studio in Whangarei, New Zealand in the Northland district of the North Island.