Hollie Ryan

Hark Handmade is the beaded botanical practice of Auckland-based artist Hollie Ryan. Working primarily with glass seed beads and fine wire, Hollie creates sculptural flowers and still-life arrangements that explore memory, tenderness, and the quiet rituals of care.

Each piece is meticulously hand-constructed petal by petal, drawing on traditional European beading techniques and historical floral forms. Inspired by both domestic interiors and natural ecosystems, Hollie’s work sits at the intersection of craft and sculpture, reimagining flowers as enduring objects rather than fleeting gestures.

Through slow, repetitive making, Hark Handmade reflects on themes of permanence, grief, intimacy and beauty, offering contemporary heirlooms that invite closer looking. The work embraces imperfection and labour as part of its narrative, celebrating the tactile and emotional qualities of handmade objects in an increasingly digital world.

Hollie’s practice is grounded in material curiosity and storytelling, creating pieces that act as quiet witnesses to personal and collective moments, intended to be lived with, treasured, and passed on.