Students take a swift trip up aisle

20 February 2006 BY KATHERINE HOBY




A month ago, Julian Hung used to ring Claire Chiang every night to practise his English.

Now, he is able to whisper "I love you" in person - to his new wife.

The couple, from Taiwan, were in Nelson to study English at Richmond Hills English Language School, when they became romantically involved just over a month ago.

They married on Sunday at Bishopdale Chapel in front of Nelson friends, teachers and homestay families.

"I was ringing her every night and I said it was just to practise English, but that was not the whole truth of it," Mr Hung laughed.

"Then my teacher told me he liked me," Ms Chiang added.

"But I was just here to study very hard but every day he was talking to me and texting me. It was nice."

The pair plan to return to Taiwan in June to sit exams and celebrate with family and friends there.

Mr Hung never expected to meet his future wife when he came to Nelson.

"I was really just going for a holiday and to study English," he said.

The couple say they are a classic case of opposites attract with Mr Hung serious and Ms Chiang creative.

They say Nelson was the place they were meant to meet.

Mr Hung said his passion for the Lord of the Rings movies meant he was thrilled to be able to buy wedding rings from Jens Hansen Gold and Silversmith, the jeweller who made the movies' "one ring".

"We have our names - Claire and Julian - on the inside," he said.

"And now it's the one ring for me, the one I'll never take off."

Link to pdf version

The other day I received this lovely thank you note from some lovely customers in California. It made me stop and think about the irony of how much of our own communication is digital email etc. when at the same time we are working hard here in our workshop handmaking all our jewellery.

Handcrafted jewelry and handwritten thank you's - both precious.

Nelson Mail newspaper post about the new Super 14 Rugby trophy we have just finished.

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Nelson jeweller tackles trophy

07 February 2006 By Simon Bloomberg



UP FOR GRABS: Thorkild Hansen with the new
Super 14 trophy created by the team at
Jens Hansen Gold and Silversmiths in Nelson.
MARTIN DE RUYTER/Nelson Mail/

A Nelson jeweller keeps making things that attract powerful forces.

First Thorkild Hansen and his late father Jens of Jens Hansen Gold and Silversmith crafted the rings for the blockbuster movie trilogy The Lord of the Rings. Now Mr Hansen has just finished making a trophy for the inaugural Super 14 rugby competition starting on Friday.

And like the evil wizard Sauron in The Lord of the Rings, the players in the Super 14 desperately want to get their hands on Mr Hansen's creation. The sterling silver trophy symbolises rugby supremacy in the southern hemisphere and will be contested by five teams from New Zealand and South Africa and four from Australia.

Mr Hansen said he was commissioned to make the trophy by the joint South African, New Zealand and Australian rugby board last November. About 200 hours of hammering, cutting, soldering and polishing later, the 49cm, 2.5kg trophy was last week sent to rugby headquarters in Wellington.

Photographs of the work in progress will be posted on their website, jenshansen.com, Mr Hansen said.

"It was a cool thing to be able to do," he said. "We are such a small place and we've shown that Nelson has the goods - we are proud of that."

Although Mr Hansen would not reveal how much the trophy cost to make, he said there was "more labour in it than metal." It was a real team effort with his brother Halfdan and staff Ben Clark and Heath Neilson all helping out, he said.

New Zealand Rugby Union sponsorship and marketing manager Fraser Holland said this morning that they were delighted with the trophy.

"It's just awesome - we're thrilled," Mr Holland said. "The visual affect and the quality of the craft is fantastic.

"It will really stand out in the trophy cabinet. It's very modern and that's what this competition is all about."

Mr Holland declined to say how much the trophy cost, although it would be insured "for a significant sum".

Here's a lovely story that just featured in our Nelson newspaper. We just had to share it with you as we can proudly report that the young couple chose us for their wedding bands.

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Mum's the word for Nelson newlyweds
06 February 2006
By BETH CATLEY



BRIDE GROOMED: Best man Simon Moodie, left, and marriage celebrant and mother of the bride Rossi King-Turner share a joke as bride and groom Henry Dillon and Petra Evans wipe away tears during their wedding at the Boathouse on Saturday.
MARTIN DE RUYTER/Nelson Mail

Marriage celebrant Rossi King-Turner was nervous she might return to her old habit of crying at weddings when she performed her daughter's ceremony.

"I used to bawl at weddings but since being a celebrant I don't, but I'm told I might today," she said half an hour before the ceremony.

But she needn't have worried, as it was her daughter Petra Evans and groom Henry Dillon who succumbed to tears during the ceremony at Wakefield Quay's Boathouse on Saturday.

Mrs King-Turner had been a celebrant for 10 years, and said she was no more nervous performing her youngest daughter's wedding than any other, but was expecting it to be more challenging.

"I'm certainly a lot busier than usual because I have been down here, and back and forth."

Her only fashion concession to her mother-of-the-bride status was a hat, which she had never worn to a wedding before, she said.

Marrying off her daughter was a "relief", she joked.

"I can joke and say it's lovely to see the back of her ... because her gown is beautiful down the back."

The ceremony itself was full of surprises with the family dog taking pride of place next to one of the bridesmaids as she walked down the aisle.

Mrs King-Turner's older daughter Pipi-Ayesha - a trained aerialist - entertained guests with a display later in the evening, dropping petals from on high.

MEDIA RELEASE

Wednesday February 8, 2006

Jens Hansen Handcrafts Sterling Silver Super 14 Trophy

Nelson's celebrated jeweller and silversmith, Jens Hansen Contemporary Gold & Silversmith, has proudly designed and handcrafted the new Rebel Sport Super 14 Trophy, unveiled in Wellington this week.

Since 1968, Jens Hansen has impressed its New Zealand and international customers with its leading edge Scandinavian designs. The bespoke jewellers are also famed for creating the Ring for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy (www.jenshansen.com).

Chief Jeweller Thorkild Hansen worked continuously over two months to handcraft the stunning half metre tall Super 14 trophy out of 2.5 kg of solid sterling silver.

"We were thrilled that a New Zealand design team was involved in the creation of the new trophy," says Hansen. "We aimed to create a quality trophy of simple beauty that represented the high standard of the Super 14 competition."

Hansen notes that it was a challenging but rewarding project, with many technical obstacles to be overcome.

"The dynamic twist in the trophy's base gives the work a sense of motion without compromising its appearance of strength," says Hansen. "Achieving the smooth lines and perfect meeting joints in the base was especially challenging, but we are very pleased with the end result."

The globe was created from two flat circles of silver, individually and gradually hammered by hand until each was raised into an exact hemisphere. The two pieces were then joined and polished until they formed a perfectly round globe. It features raised map pieces representing New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. The work's detail includes the miniature rugby ball's laces, which appears with the Super 14 emblazoned comet flare encircling the globe.

The Super 14 lettering was pierced and cut by hand and black resin used to create the lettering with maximum impact.

For Media Enquiries Contact:

Halfdan Hansen

03 548 0640

021 299 3380

www.jenshansen.com

It's summer here in Nelson and the wedding season is in full swing.

One of the nicest parts of our job as jewellers is receiving cards and photos like these :-)






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Note the matching 9ct white gold and sapphire rings made in the style of the Vilya ring we made for Elrond in the Lord of the Rings movies.