Gordon Wells Jade Carver Sculptor Wearable Designer Arts Greenstone Nephrite Jade New Zealand Hokitika NZ Saitama Japan

The special places I like are the mountains and the bush, lakes and rivers, sand and sea, I disappear into them at every opportunity for peace and quiet. I also love getting on big jets and flying off to distant lands and exploring the many different cultures and history esp ancient jade carvings and the peoples who worked and sculptured stone. I began my jade carving career in December 1978, after my art teacher Mrs Sanson sugguested I try jade carving as a job choice during the school holidays, she arranged the job at West Coast Jade Ltd. If I didn't like the job I could always return to Westland High School and study english so I could pass School Certificate. Well I liked working with jade and I left school and continued working for West Coast Jade Company in Hokitika until the factory closed in about 1984. Since that time I have worked at many different jobs, from working on sheep and dairy farms to rock quarry work driving diggers and breaking up rock, from a retail furniture store salesperson and delivery to insurance selling. In 1987 I started carving from my own studio in the garage part time while still working at my day job, and in 1994 I joined the Hokitika Co-operative Craft Gallery, by this time I was carving full time and selling in shops all over NZ. In 1996 I diversified and created a new venture, combining jade carving, a backpackers hostel and a jade carving experience for backpacker tourists. In 2002 I started building websites and selling jade carvings and sculptures to the world online. In May 2008 I closed up the Just Jade Experience and sold Drifting Sands Backpackers as it took away to much of my creative time and I started carving free form ideas and sculptures, and later in June 2008 I moved to Japan in the Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo and in March 2009 set up a jade studio, where I will carve for about 9 months a year. On 15 November 2009 I had my first public Jade Exhibition in Japan at the Yoshikawa-shi Annual Festival, 1000's of people from Yoshikawa-shi and nearby cities were able to veiw my lastest works carved from my new Studio. During the festival I presented a special sculpture to the Yoshikawa City Mayor. Whales are creatures I enjoy carving most, especially whale tails and waves. I also enjoy carving dolphins and also twists and other traditional NZ designs. Driftwood features allot with my sculptures. I prefer to hand polish every piece, which brings the stone to life although it is very time consuming and slow. Every jade boulder has within it carvings that have been hidden, locked away for millions of years, and it takes an artist like myself to finally free them for all to see.