Karen Southey

Karen Southey is a talented glass bead and jewellery maker who works from her cosy home studio in Te Kopuru, Northland.

She has been creating jewellery for more than a decade and enjoys every step of the process. She has experimented with various styles and techniques in her jewellery making journey; from simple bead stringing and fastening, to wire wrapping, pearl knotting, and bead weaving. This inspired her to start making her own beads. In 2014 she took a weekend course at 'Born to Bead' and fell in love with it. She has been making beads ever since. Each bead is carefully crafted in a very hot flame and then immediately put in a kiln to cool down gradually for several hours for durability.

Karen mainly uses Italian glass (Effetre) and some American (Double Helix) and also has some fun transforming broken antique bottles and glass she finds on her land in Kaipara into beautiful beads and jewellery too!

Artist website