Aaron puts his mark on Hobbit night
Hollywood big wigs will be sporting something precious from Hawke's Bay on the red carpet at tonight's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey premiere in Wellington.
Havelock North man Aaron Greaves was commissioned to make 29 unique pounamu pendants for American executives flying in for the blockbuster screening.
"It turned into 14 pieces for women and 14 for men and an extra piece for the CEO," he said. "They picked one of my matau designs, which is a hook design, for the men, that symbolises mana and strength and ability to provide and also gives protection.
"The 14 for the women were adze type pendants and on each of them I engraved a koru design. For the CEO, he got a contemporary taiaha head pendant."
Mr Greaves said he was contacted by Wellington production company 3 Foot 7, and had an 11-day deadline to complete the carvings.
"There were some crazy late nights," he said. "It was pretty full on. It was a good start to the summer season, let's put it that way."
The 30-year-old used South Island greenstone and completed the works in his studio at home.
"The amount of pieces and time was rather challenging, especially in terms of getting it all done and the fact that I had other commissions to complete."
