New Zealand Artists Cope With Asian Copies of Maori Designs

The market is flooded with cheap copies of Maori jade jewelry and implements. “(T)he copying of Maori designs predominantly by Asian carvers is an issue for us here in New Zealand,” according to noted carver Dallas Crombie, responding to email questions from The Jade Journey. The Maori are the indigenous Polynesian inhabitants of New Zealand. The Maori hold jade sacred.

“Not only is it the cultural appropriation but .. because of low labour costs (outsiders) can produce them at a fraction of the cost to us guys working alone. My main issue with this practice is unfortunately here in New Zealand at the moment there is no law requiring jade carvings to state country of origin,” Crombie said. His work may viewed at his Stone Culture site (link).

“Most tourists and even New Zealanders alike would not even be aware that around 80 percent of carvings sold in New Zealand are made in Asia with foreign stone,” Crombie added. He said the primary problem is that galleries and souvenir shops are not required to state where carvings originate. If that were required, he believes that “most discerning customers … would probably be prepared to fork out the extra cash to buy genuine New Zealand sourced and carved jade. Unfortunately, most people just assume that the are buying the genuine article.”

Crombie said that for the general public “it is probably quite hard to differentiate between the true and false New Zealand stone although often the price can be a hint.” A problem with that arises because some carvers are now  devaluing their work to try and compete with the Asian market. “The best way for the discerning buyer to guarantee they are getting the real deal is to buy directly off the carver, or, if buying from a gallery or other source to at least ask who carved the piece. If they cannot answer that question it is best to assume it is not New Zealand made.”

Dallas Crombie at work

Crombie hopes that building a name through quality work will be the saving grace for carvers. He adds that recently the Ngai Tahu, the principal Maori tribe of southern New Zealand, has instituted attachment of labels to carvings, guaranteeing that the piece is locally carved and sourced.

The Jade Journey sought further comment from New Zealand’s ministry of culture without response. The ministry regulates possession, sale and export of a significant amount of New Zealand jade, primarily artifacts.