Wakame

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Beautiful in the water. Transformed by heat into something else entirely.Undaria pinnatifida — known the world over as Wakame, the seaweed beloved in Japanese cuisine — is native t o the temperate coastal waters of Japan, China, and Korea. It arrived in New Zealand in the late 1980s, first discovered in Wellington Harbour in 1987, carried here on the hulls of international shipping and fishing vessels. A stowaway from the other side of the world.In its natural state, Wakame is a graceful, richly structured seaweed — its broad blade, distinctive midrib, and ruffled lateral fronds unmistakable. Lovely in the water. But in New Zealand it spreads aggressively through vessel biofouling, moorings, even cray pots — a single plant releasing millions of microscopic spores, colonising new areas with extraordinary efficiency.Pressed and heated by the artist's hand, something remarkable happens. The heat reveals a spectrum of colour that the water keeps hidden — ambers, golds, deep greens, the occasional flush of something almost purple. The pressing flattens the fronds into their most graphic form, the intricate structure of the blade laid bare like the pages of something ancient and botanical.There is a particular resonance in this. Taking a species carried across oceans on the hulls of ships — displaced, spreading, making itself at home where it was never meant to be — and finding within it a beauty that speaks to both where it came from and where it ended up.Wakame didn't choose to be here. But this piece belongs exactly where it is.Fits beautifully in a kitchen, a dining room, or anywhere that appreciates the art of transformation.What you're bringing home: Museum-quality, fade-resistant print — the ambers, golds and greens of the pressed frond, preserved Hand-stretched over solid wood stretcher bars 1.25″ thick poly-cotton blend canvas (344 g/m²) Mounting brackets included — ready to hang A2 — 16″×24″ (40.6 × 61 cm) Want the original? Hand-signed editions (NZ$360–NZ$900) are available exclusively at our Stewart Island gallery.Take a little piece of the island home.Island steady. World ready.In compliance with the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), this product is manufactured by EASTERLY LIMITED ([email protected] | 6 Petersons Hill Road, 9818, Stewart Island, New Zealand) and represented in the EU by SINDEN VENTURES LIMITED (Markou Evgenikou 11, Mesa Geitonia, 4002, Limassol, Cyprus | [email protected]). All consumer products meet EU safety standards. Show more