The Workshop
Workshop6 is an established Working Jewellery Studio in Grey Lynn, Auckland. We provide space for a collective of practising contemporary jewellers who share tools, Ideas and energy. Along with this we’re a place where people of any ability can learn metal working skills or rent bench space.
Classes
Benchspace
Residency
GAllery
Our Jewellers / Your Tutors
Anna Wallis
Anna studied at Dunedin Polytechnic under Kobi Bosshard and Georg Beer graduating in 1992. She has exhibited her work both Nationally and Internationally since the 1990’s, and her work is held in permanent collections at the Dowse and Auckland Museum.
Wallis considers making jewellery as an exercise in building or growing objects. She uses a process-based methodology where the economy of construction is of primary concern.
Working mainly in metal, the outcomes are inextricably connected with how the pieces are constructed. Playing with scale, structure and surface treatments, there is a common thread of repetition throughout her works. Her pieces reference traditional jewellery while simultaneously siting machinery, architecture and crystalline or geological forms.
Mia Straka
Mia Straka is one of four partners in Tāmaki Makaurau based jewellery studio Workshop6. Since graduating in 2001 with a Bdes(hons)jewellery from Unitec, Auckland, Straka has exhibited regularly with projects touring public institutions and galleries nationally and internationally. Works are held in the Arts House Trust Collection (NZ).
Straka’s practice explores the transformative potential of creativity and collectivity. Current work questions the potential of objects as catalysts for activation, utilising contemporary jewellery as a social mode of communication.
Recent projects include The Handshake Project- Handshake6, Handshake7; The Valere Talisman Project (est. 2017) and The Talisman Project (est. 2014). Straka has undertaken art residencies in Berlin, Germany 2018 and Oaxaca, Mexico 2014.
Cheryl Sills
Cheryl graduated with an honours degree in jewellery and metalwork from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee, Scotland in 1999. Since establishing herself in Auckland Cheryl has exhibited in many solo and collaborative shows throughout New Zealand.
Cheryl enjoys the process of making; of building and constructing three dimensional objects. Her current body of work explores the faceted form. She is constantly trying to evolve this concept with the use of alternative materials, such as silicone and acrylic, alongside traditional precious metals and by inventing different methods of construction.
Lucinda Barrett
Lucinda Barrett is an artist and maker. In the 1990s she was part of a Tāmaki based creative partnership, Victorious Gargantuans. During this time she worked mainly in resin and gold leaf, selling jewellery at fashion institutions Zambesi and WORLD. She pivoted to interior painting as a specialist finisher and colour consultant for some years before returning to her jewellery roots to study at Hungry Creek Art School. After graduating with a diploma in jewellery design she reestablished herself as a fashion jeweller stocking stores around the country including the wonderful Miss Crabb. In 2020 Lucinda began teaching at Workshop6.
Lucinda’s work is inspired by symbolism and spirituality in art. Her designs are guided by meaning, narrative and intention.