Flower Jade

Flower Jade is found in the same river systems of Te Tai Poutini as kawakawa and kahurangi, but only in select boulders where mineral inclusions have formed in flower-like clusters during the stone's long formation. It is nephrite jade, true pounamu, with the same density and toughness as its plainer cousins.

Because the patterning is entirely natural and unpredictable, a carver may cut into a boulder expecting plain kawakawa and find, at the heart, a canvas of blooming inclusions. This element of discovery adds to its allure — Flower Jade cannot be sought directly, only revealed.

Flower Jade is distinguished by its organic, painterly inclusions — soft swirls, dendrites, and patches of lighter green, cream, or honey-gold that spread across a deeper green ground like flowers opening on a forest floor. The patterns are fluid and asymmetric, never repeating.

The stone itself is dense nephrite, with the same waxy polish and clean ring as good kawakawa. It is the pattern, not the colour alone, that defines it. Held in the hand, a piece of Flower Jade draws the eye across its surface the way one might study a painting.

Carvers approach Flower Jade with a different intention than plain stone. The natural patterning is the feature, not the flaw — the carving is shaped to let the flowers move across the surface, to catch the light on the swirls, to make the inclusions part of the story.

It is often chosen for pendants and smaller pieces where the pattern can be seen and turned in the light. Because the inclusions are unpredictable, each form is a collaboration between the carver's intent and what the stone has already drawn.