Jo Luping
Jo Luping studied printmaking and photography at the Otago Fine Art School, then film making and design at Wellington’s Victoria University. She established her studio in 1996 and became renowned for her ceramics which capture New Zealand’s coastal landforms and indigenous flora and fauna. She works in a variety of mediums including jewellery, ceramics, glass, printmaking, textiles, photography and film. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand with her fabulous husband Aaron and gorgeous daughter Isabella.
“I use design as a platform to tell a story. The story will raise awareness about an environmental issue and highlight nature’s beauty. Each piece made is a conservation conversation. I am inspired by the Japanese aesthetic wabi-sabi. The characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, simple elegance, intimacy, modesty and suggest a natural process.”
Biography
1972: born Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Father : Malaysian (Kadazan/Dusun, Chinese, Philippino), Mother : New Zealander (English, Irish, French, German)
1990-1992: (DipFA) School of Art, Otago Polytechnic. Majored in photography and printmaking.
1993-1995: (BA) Victoria University: Theatre and Film Department with cross crediting to School Of Design.
1995: Photographic technician at Victoria University Architecture School, began Masters in Business Studies at Massey University as well as setting up ceramic tiles business as sole trader. Collaborated with Manos Nathan and Darcy Nicholas and provided a series of ceramic touchstones for macrocarpa sculptures. Commissioned by Pataka Museum to direct/produce two short films, one on artist Buck Nin. Assistant set/costume designer on opera with Dorita Hannah.
1996: Established Phoenix Ceramics ltd which continues to operate but rebranded to Jo Luping Design Ltd in 2009. Two staff.
2000: Worked as video diarist on the "Making of The Lord of the Rings" documentary. Went to China for 8 weeks to trace Chinese roots, resulted in two exhibitions of oil paintings at Pataka Museum and Kura Gallery.
2001: Filmed in South Africa: The UN World Conference Against Racism. This was the beginning of filming for “Reframe”, documentary about the work of a human rights lawyer (also my sister).
2002 May: Filmed in Bali for WSPA (World Society For The Protection of Animals). Camera operator/director of a series of television commercials.
June: Went to Jerusalem with David Holley (freelance camera operator who had filmed in the Gulf War was therefore used to conflict zones)
August: Developed short series of animations for TV show in South Africa dealing with the issue of genetically modified food. Broadcast as part of the WSSD (World Summit on Sustainable Development).
2003: First trade show in Auckland for ceramics. Picked up 100 retail outlets. Somewhat overwhelmed, hired more people. Phoenix Ceramics has four staff.
2004: Took the first 90 minute version of “Reframe” on tour to Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch, Hamilton. Sponsored by New Zealand Universities, Caritas International and Phoenix Ceramics Ltd. Brought a Jewish Israeli professor/peace activist to New Zealand as part of the tour. Received Highly Commended Award for this version of the film at the Peace Media Awards, run by the Peace Foundation Aotearoa.
2005: “Reframe” screens as part of the Human Rights Film Festival, Aotearoa. Started to export ceramics into US, small amounts. Re-branded to Jo Luping Design.
2006: “Reframe” sold overseas. Also screening as part of Komas: Freedom Rights Film festival Malaysia.
Joined the Essenze group.
First exhibitions in Australia and picked up 50 retail outlets
Started making jewellery and launched first collection of sterling silver and resin with images in Melbourne Tradeshow.
August: part of 6 year anniversary exhibition at Kura gallery, Wellington. Wearable Art.
Jo Luping Design hires three Iraqi refugees to help with glazing, seven people now working for the company.
2007: Married the fabulous Aaron Cowan not once but twice. First in New Zealand and then Malaysia. Australian export market continues to grow...
2008: Had a baby! Tick. The gorgeous Isabella arrived on the scene a little early and I spent a fair amount of this year slightly sleep deprived, slightly hysterical but oddly enough more creative. I had been told that a baby can literally suck the creativity out of you. My Bella had the opposite effect.
SeaT exhibition: Collaborated with a group of top New Zealand designers on a project initiated by furniture and lighting designer David Trubridge and Essenze. Theme of the project was “Eating By The Sea”. JLD made slumped glass tiles, a range of 100% hemp cushions, a porcelain tealight and had my own fabric woven into the textures of a pipi shell and also made into a cushion. Collaborated on the fabric with textile designer Jacqui Elmsley and Timaru woollen mill Southern Textiles.
Now that Bella was born I thought I needed another project to juggle with the design business and so bought a patch of land in Petone by the sea to build my own studio/workshop/dream-space/crash pad/artists residency...
The big R word was being bandied round so I decided to take the opportunity to develop completely new collections of stainless steel jewellery and fashion accessories.
2009: Stopped listening to the bad news reports and carried on doing what I do best, design and produce gorgeous things for gorgeous people. Developed new ranges of ceramic bowls and ceramic jewellery. I also become fascinated by the development of Bella and spend vast amounts of time being a kid and running around like a loon with her.
Developed JLD HAUS, an off shoot of Jo Luping Design, the concept is to provide a platform for emerging New Zealand designers to market and promote their work.
Projects in the pipe line include working on a range of rugs with David Trubridge and Lucy Tupu. These will be made by Cronz and distributed by Essenze and will be part of a lighting and rug exhibition called “Southern Lights and Sheep”.
Sustainable Building project continues.
Excerpt from article:
“Force of Nature” by Sarah Daniells
There is an element of intrigue to Jo Luping’s designs and an intriguing manipulation of the elements. A single koru is “fossilised” on a ceramic tile. A cabbage tree - captured on film, preserved in resin and framed in a silver brooch - becomes a tiny piece of wearable art. A photograph of a single manuka tree is an evocative reminder of the beauty and isolation of New Zealand’s coastline.
Whether she is working in ceramics, glass, textiles, jewellery, photography or oil on canvas, one thing is ever present: landscape. Her medium may shift and evolve, but her muse is constant.
For Luping, everything begins with a photograph. That image is then transformed into another medium. Her art is like the environment it reflects – robust and fragile.
Luping studied printmaking and photography at art school in Otago, then film making and design at Wellington’s Victoria University. She established Phoenix Ceramics in 1996 and quickly became renowned for her tiles which bear the imprints of New Zealand native flora - flax, grasses and ferns.
Change, she says, is imperative to inspiration. “If you don’t push boundaries you don’t keep yourself challenged and motivated.” So she progressed from small tiles to creating larger works of art, bold home “accessories”. Having mastered her technique in ceramics, she applied her skills and branched out to cast glass, textiles and jewellery. Her work is sold in outlets around New Zealand, Australia and the United States.
Luping’s heritage also provides her with a rich source of inspiration. Her mother is a New Zealander of English, Irish, French and German descent, while her father is a Malaysian of Kadazan (indigenous tribe in Borneo), Chinese and Philippino descent. In 2000 she travelled to China to retrace her roots which led to exhibitions of oil paintings at both the world-class Museum Pataka in Porirua and Kura Gallery in Wellington.
She has also achieved success in film making. Her documentary “Reframe”, shot in 2002 in Jerusalem, tells the stories of Israelis and Palestinians through the lens of international law and has screened around the world. It received a highly commended award at the Peace Media Awards. Luping was involved in documenting the UN World Conference Against Racism and directed a series of television commercials for the World Society for the Protection of Animals. She also worked as a video diarist for the “Making of the Lord of the Rings”. Her most recent human rights work involved working for the “1000 Women For The Nobel Peace Prize” in which she interviewed two of New Zealand’s candidates. These were Marilyn Waring (former National Party MP and largely responsible for keeping New Zealand nuclear free) and Pauline Tangiora, Maori activist.
This year, Luping was selected by Essenze, a company which promotes the work of designers and artists from New Zealand and her work has been exhibited in New York.