Welfe Bowyer is a contemporary jewellery artist based in Mahurangi East. Born in Wales and relocated to Aotearoa at the age of eight, he graduated from the Victoria School of Architecture in Wellington, in 2005. An award-winning student, Welfe has always been interested in designing three-dimensional forms, particularly physical modelling and construction detail design. When he relocated to Melbourne, he simultaneously began experimenting with jewellery while working in Architecture. Predominantly self-taught, in combination with skills courses at Melbourne Polytechnic, contemporary jewellery allowed him the perfect medium with which to conceptualise, experiment and create on a different scale to architecture. Bowyer regularly exhibits his work at galleries throughout Aotearoa and Australia and most recently was a finalist for the Mari Funaki Award 2018 with his series ‘2C’ / Twice Cast, a series of rings that experimented with casting multiple metals together in one piece. 

“I like to create hand-made textures with common alloys of Bronze, Silver and Gold and combine them in unique ways, often using found objects and playing off the strengths of one material over another to create a language that speaks of time, erosion, memory and how pieces might evolve in the future as they are worn.”