Vanessa Fong - Clay Jewellery Artist

Vanessa is a young Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland artist who gained a fine arts degree at 20 years old and has worked in Art Galleries and art education since then. She is now 27 and celebrating ONE year in business selling her intricately handmade clay earrings through her Dewdrops brand, informed by her fine art practice in sculpture and installation and her love of painting.

Vanessa started making earrings during the first COVID lockdown in 2020 as a creative hobby and suddenly found herself obsessed with polymer clay.

Her website and first collection was launched in Spring 2020 and she received so much encouraging support, firstly from friends and family and then from further afield and she hasn’t looked back.

A year ago Vanessa never imagined she would be stocking her creations in gallery shops, promoting herself and her brand, running workshops, managing a creative business, creating look books and newsletters to customers and selling her creations to people all over NZ.

Vanessa’s story of her creative practice, process and business will be especially fascinating for young art students and people interested in starting a creative business, as well as creatives who love a good story and want to feel inspired.

You can see her beautiful earrings on our blog https://www.creativematters.co.nz/blog-podcast and on her website https://www.dewdrops.co.nz/
About your host:
Mandy Jakich is the Founder and CEO of Creative Matters, an award winning business providing creative, educational opportunities to enrich the lives of our children, educators, artists and community. https://www.creativematters.co.nz/
She is a practising artist www.amandajakich.co.nz and a primary school teacher, with more than 30 years in various capacities at primary and intermediate schools across Auckland NZ.

She worked for 4 years as an art educator at the Auckland Art Gallery - New Zealand's largest and finest gallery - designing and delivering visual arts programmes to primary, secondary and special needs children, as well as Professional Development courses for teachers.
​Mandy founded Creative Matters in response to an increasing need and demand for creative visual arts opportunities for children - both in and out of school - with a genuine belief in the value of a rich creative process and developing creative experiences and connections through art.
Six years on, Creative Matters has blossomed into a well known company with a team of 15 passionate art educators and administrators. Creative Matters facilitate Professional Development visual arts courses for primary teachers:
https://www.creativematters.co.nz/professional-development
Visual art creative workshops and experiences for children:
https://www.creativematters.co.nz/for-children
Public art projects and creative opportunities in the community
https://www.creativematters.co.nz/for-communities

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