Jade Carver 

E-commerce website for Wayne Costar, a Jade carver living on the South Island, New Zealand.

Wayne specialises in beautiful, handcrafted and unique New Zealand Jade and Greenstone carvings, jewellery, pendants and sculptures. We connected one day at the local market after I was told that he could cut large stones. I had found a big piece of Serpentine in the river and was hoping he could cut it into slabs for me. He soon told me that he needed an e-commerce website to sell his work, he is a highly skilled craftsman who has been carving for many years and for that reason wanted something clean, professional and easy to navigate.

My intention was for Wayne's website to feel like a studio visit, I wanted it to be an opportunity for people to see all of his artwork – past and present – and for customers to learn about him as an artist. The shop and items for sale would be the focus, but at each stage of the user journey I wanted the customer to get snippets of info about Wayne, this is another reason why I felt a story page would also be important as he's had a interesting life which I feel should be shared. The website also features a gallery section with multiple pages for Wayne to showcase his prized specimens and fascinating shell instruments. I spent some time in Wayne's workshop taking photographs that feature throughout the website.