Jimmy’s Jade, Akaroa
Jimmy was born and raised in Akaroa, New Zealand. When he was 11 years old his parents took a drive to the West Coast (Hokitika) to have a look at a shop they had just bought. When he was there, he got a bit bored helping set up the shop with them, so he asked his Dad if he could go for a walk around the town. With a bit of persuasion he said yes. Jimmy thinks he walked around all the shops in Hokitika, and also walked along the beach.
As far back as he can remember he has always liked stones. It wasn’t long before he started looking for Jade/Pounamu (greenstone) on the Hokitika beach. It was then, when he remembered a shop he visited a few years prior. He started going in there to ask if the stones he was collecting from the beach were Jade. Almost always the answer was no it’s not. However, after a few more weeks going into the shop, Steve (shop owner) asked if he would like to start polishing some stones for him. It did not take much thought to say yes.
As months went on, he started paying Jimmy to polish the stones, and then after about 5 months Jimmy asked if he could (whenever he was in Hokitika) start to carve in the studio and then sell the pendants in his shop Bonz’n’Stonz. Steve agreed to this as well as teaching Jimmy when he needed help. While Jimmy carved, Steve was also busy carving so he tried not to bug him too much.
Fast forwarding a few years…and now Jimmy is working part time from home in his Jade studio.
