Home Instead Senior Care in Christchurch is currently collecting decorations to brighten up an elderly person’s Christmas. Any decorations are welcome, but quality handmade decorations would be a real treat, so if you’ve been busy creating ornaments for the tree and can spare one or two, Lynda at Home Instead would love to hear from you.

And if you know of an elderly person who may be alone over Christmas, why not nominate them for a festive makeover? The lovely people from Home Instead will be spend an hour or so with them, decorating their home and having a chat over a cuppa and a piece of cake or shortbread.

Home Instead will be decorating during the week of Wednesday 10th to Wednesday 17th December. You can post donations to Christmas Makeover, Home Instead Senior Care, PO Box 18-643, New Brighton, Christchurch or contact Lynda at southchch@homeinstead.co.nz.

By day, Karen works as a graphic designer in Wellington. In her spare time, her love of fashion has turned her into a jewellery designer. Wellingtonians who missed her at Craft2.0 in October can check out taprobane this month at Knack Market in Berhampore and at the Seatoun Fair.

What do you make?
I make contemporary jewellery – necklaces and earrings – made of perspex. The first range of jewellery I created is called Alphabet Soup and inspired by my love of fonts and everything typographic. The current range of jewellery I have been working on has been inspired by amazing wrought iron products from my childhood. I loved the organic shapes combined with industrial materials. They created a wonderful tension between nature and man-made design. I aimed to reflect that balance in a wearable way, with a contemporary material.

How did you get into selling your craft?
taprobane came about almost year ago, when I decided to make jewellery as Christmas presents for my cousins. The feedback I got from friends, family and even strangers was so positive, I decided to try selling online and in stores.

Your favourite materials, tools and processes?
My current favourite material is perspex, but I’m also keen to start investigating metals. I love coming up with that initial idea, and then really pushing it to see how far it
can go, and then getting into the detail to refine it to perfection. I always start with paper and pencil, and then it’s usually a process of refining concepts digitally.

What inspires you?
I am constantly inspired by art, fashion, architecture, furniture, theatre, music and mostly people. I love Wellington for the quirky mix of design that ends up here, due to the city having both strong corporate and art scenes. Ideas often come from a glimpse of a colour, a texture or a shape. It doesn’t take a lot to inspire me, the possibilities are everywhere and endless.

Describe your workspace: Ordered chaos!

Five words that describe your mind: Inquiring, busy, creative, crazy, colourful

What are you currently listening to? Ladi 6 – Time Is Not Much

Your favourite childhood book?
Benji – Fastest Dog in the West, from the amazing Little Golden Books, along with Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, a few years later.

What are you reading now? The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

A favourite quote: “Less is more.” – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Do you have any pets? No but I would love a horse!

If you were a crayon, what colour would you be? Bright red – I love that colour!

Visit Karen’s shop, taprobane, on Felt.

Christmas Knack, Berhampore School’s fundraising craft market, is on from 10am till 2pm this Saturday 6 December at 105 Britomart Street, Berhampore, Wellington. Featuring beautiful original New Zealand-made craft including unique jewellery, textile art, ceramics and fine art, the Knack Market is a great place to do a bit of crafty Christmas shopping, have a coffee and enjoy the live music. Eftpos and free parking are available.

Issue 4 of World Sweet World is filled with summery goodness: home-brewed ginger beer, a plastic beach bag (made out of ‘plarn’, which stands for plastic and yarn), and foraging for blackberries – what to do with your spoils.

In addition, World Sweet World are launching The Great M.I.Y. Badge Carbon Action Mystery Swap Adventure – a challenge run in collaboration with the Hikurangi Foundation. Sound intriguing? Find out what the current Brownie Badge values are and how to take action on Climate Change.

Johanna Knox looks at Transition Towns around the country and building a strong grassroots green movement in New Zealand. In the spirit of keeping it green, Hannah and Thomas have scouted material at different dump shops to show you how to turn old mantelpieces into bedheads and doors into couches – creative inspiration to make a change. Last not least, Annabel Youens shows you ways to ‘give well’ and responsibly this Christmas.

Since I have this opportunity, I’d like to say congratulations to Hannah and Thomas on their first year of World Sweet World, and thanks, guys, for producing a first rate homegrown magazine. You’ve done an awesome job!

Hannah and Thomas are currently running a readership survey to make sure they’re hitting the mark – if you can spare a few minutes to help them out, they would love to hear your feedback and they’ll put you in the draw to win a World Sweet World subscription. How nice is that?

Order your copy of issue #4 of World Sweet World on Felt.