Meet The Bench
The Bench | School for Jewellery is a place for everyone: whether you are an absolute beginner or a seasoned maker, The Bench invites you to come together to learn, be inspired and make jewellery. Whether it be your first ring or you are building on existing skills, we are thrilled to share our relaxed and fun workshop environment with you and other makers from the Whakatū Nelson community and beyond.
The Bench was founded by contemporary jeweller Kay van Dyk and is grounded in her passion for teaching, creating and inspiring others to make.
Kay van Dyk
Kay is a contemporary art jeweller and teacher from Whakatū Nelson, who has over 20 years of experience teaching Adult Community Education jewellery classes. Between 2011 and 2020, she tutored Object Design at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) Bachelor of Arts and Media programme and has exhibited throughout Aotearoa, New Zealand, and internationally. Her limited edition work can be found in a small number of galleries. In 2021, Kay initiated Nelson Jewellery Week (NJW), a biennial celebration and showcase for national makers to come together in a series of exhibitions, workshops, and jewellery-related talks. She is the Creative Director of NJW, which is presented by Arts Council Nelson.
Kay is a founding member of Project 21, a jewellery collective with Joel Fitzwell and Katie Pascoe. Initiated in 2018, they exhibited their 2-year project for Sympathetic Resonance at the Suter Te Aratoi o Whakatū in 2020 and have been touring Exquisite Corpse, a 3-year project, since 2021.
Joel Fitzwell
Guest tutor Joel Fitzwell is a goldsmith based in Whakatū Nelson who teaches specialised courses such as stone setting and punch making.
Working primarily with precious metals, Joel is a process-based maker who enjoys exploring traditional goldsmith techniques like construction, repoussé, granulation, setting, and engraving. In addition to his day job as a full-time manufacturing goldsmith at Jens Hansen Gold and Silversmiths, Joel creates contemporary jewellery alongside collaborators Kay van Dyk and Katie Pascoe as part of Project 21.
Joel completed a Bachelor of Art and Media at NMIT in 2012, majoring in contemporary jewellery and completed a trade certificate in Manufacturing Jewellery with JIRBNZ in 2018.
