This is the privacy policy of Goosewood AGA - (Antipodean Garden Art). In this document, `we` or `us` refers to Goosewood AGA.

Location: We are located in Auckland New Zealand. Our web server is hosted in Australia.

This is a notice to tell you our policy about all information that we record about you. It covers both information that could identify you and information that could not.

We are extremely concerned to protect your privacy and confidentiality. We understand that all users of our web site are quite rightly concerned to know that their data will not be used for any purpose unintended by them, and will not accidentally fall into the hands of a third party. Our policy is both specific and strict. If you think our policy falls short of your expectations or that we are failing to abide by our policy, do please tell us.

We regret that if there are one or more points below with which you are not happy, please do not supply any information to our site.

We do not share, or sell, or disclose to a third party, any personally identifiable information collected at this site.

Here is a list of the information we collect from you, either through our web site or because you give it to us in some other way, and why it is necessary to collect it:

Basic identification and contact information, such as your name and contact details

This information is used:

1.1. to provide you with the services which you request;

1.2. for verifying your identity for security purposes;

1.3. for marketing our services and products;

1.4. information which does not identify you and does not contain any information you provided may be used in a general way by us, to provide information, for example relating to usage of a particular page or service.

Your domain name and e-mail address

Your domain name and e-mail address are recognised by our servers and the pages that you visit are recorded. We shall not under any circumstances divulge your e-mail address to any person who is not an employee or contractor of ours and who does not need to know, either generally or specifically. This information is used:

3.1. to correspond with you or deal with you as you expect;

3.2. in a collective way not referable to any particular individual, for the purpose of quality control and improvement of our site;

3.3. to send you news about the services to which you have signed up;

Information you post on our website

Information you send to us by posting to a comment, forum or blog is stored on our servers. We do not specifically use that information except to allow it to be read on our public website, but as it is publically posted may use it for promotional purposes. If you do not wish us to use this information or you would like it anonymised, please contact us using the email address below.

Website usage information

We may use software embedded in our website (such as JavaScript) to collect information about which pages you view and how you reach them, what you do when you visit a page, the length of time you remain on the page, and how we perform in providing content to you. We do not associate such information with an identifiable person.

Financial information relating only to your credit cards

As this site does not offer online sales this information is never taken by us either through our website or otherwise. If you are asked for financial information by what appears to be our site, do not provide it.

Note on padlock symbols and other trust marks

Some content on this site may be delivered via a secure connection. When this is occuring your browser will display a small padlock indicating that you are using a secure connection.

Business and personal information

This includes all information given to us in the course of your business and ours, such as information you give us in your capacity as our client. We undertake to preserve the confidentiality of the information and of the terms of our relationship. It is not used for any other purpose.

We keep information which forms part of our business record for minimum of seven years as per requirements of the tax authorities in New Zealand.

Third party advertising

At present we do not allow third parties to advertise on our website. In the future to cover our costs we may allow third parties to advertise on our web site. In doing so, those parties, their agents or other companies working for them may use technology that automatically collects your IP address when they send an advertisement that appears on our site to your browser. They may also use other technology such as cookies or JavaScript to personalise the content of, and to measure the performance of their adverts. We do not have control over these technologies or the data that these parties obtain. Accordingly, this privacy notice does not cover the information practices of these third parties.

We do not use cookies as we do not make our users log in. We do not link to cookies provided by third party library vendors whose technology is powering the site

Sending a message to our support system

When you send a message, we collect the data you have given to us in that message in order to obtain confirmation that you are entitled to receive the information and to provide to you the information you need. We record your request and our reply in order to increase the efficiency of our business / organisation. In order to do this we may keep personally identifiable information associated with your message, such as your name or email address. but as stated this will not be shared with anyone else

Complaining

When we receive a complaint, we record all the information you have given to us. We use that information to resolve your complaint. If your complaint reasonably requires us to contact some other person, we may decide to give to that other person some of the information contained in your complaint. We do this as infrequently as possible, but it is a matter for our sole discretion as to whether we do give information, and, if we do, what that information is.

We may also compile statistics showing information obtained from this source to assess the level of service we provide, but not in a way that could identify you or any other person.

Content you provide to us

If you provide information to us with a view to it being read, copied, downloaded or used by other people, we accept no responsibility for what that third party may do with it. It is up to you to satisfy yourself about the privacy level of every person who might see your information. If it is available to the entire World, you have no control whatever as to how it is used.

Marketing information

We do not pass your email address and name to selected associates or companies shown on our website whom we consider may provide services or products you would find useful. In the future you may be able to opt into this service at any time by following instructions you may receive from us if you have requested updates from us.

Information we obtain from third parties

Although we do not disclose your personal information to any third party (except as set out in this notice), we do receive data which is indirectly made up from your personal information, from software services. No such information is identifiable to you.

Affiliate information

This is information given to us by you in your capacity as an affiliate of us or a customer or client of ours. Such information is retained for business use only. We undertake to preserve the confidentiality of the information and of the terms of our relationship. It is not used for any other purpose. As an exception to this, we reserve the right to disclose limited information of your affiliate connection to other affiliates and to any other person or organisation, on and off site. The reason is solely to enable us to mention winners in the case where we offer prizes or other inducements and others whose performance as an affiliate is in some way outstanding.

Use of site by children

If you are under 13, you may use our site only with consent from a parent or guardian.

Disclosure to Government

Disclosure to Government and their agencies. We are subject to the law like everyone else. We may be required to give information to legal authorities if they have the proper authorisation such as a search warrant or court order.

At any time you may review or update

At any time you may review or update the personally identifiable information that we hold about you, by contacting us at the email address below. To better safeguard your information, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections to your information.

Sale of your personal information

Except as specified above, we do not rent, sell or otherwise disclose any of your information to any person outside our business.

Data may be "processed" outside New Zealand

Our web site is hosted in Australia at this time. Some portion of processing may also occur in New Zealand. We use a web hosting company whose servers are located in Australia and so we expect that the majority or processing and data storage to occur there. As such any data stored on the server hosting this website will be under the jurisdiction of Australian law.

Compliance with the law

This privacy policy has been compiled so as to comply with the privacy laws of New Zealand. If you think it fails to satisfy the law of your country, we should like to hear from you as we wish to server our clients effectively, but ultimately it is your choice as to whether you wish to share your information with our website.

Removal of your information

If you wish us to remove personally identifiable information from our web site, you may contact us at support@goosewood.co.nz to better safeguard your information, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections to your information.

If you have any question regarding the privacy policy, please contact us

About Goosewood

Goosewood make hand carved garden art from Macrocarpa and Oamaru stone. No power tools are used.

Our sculptures are antipodean themed, with a synthesis of Māori, Pacifica and Celtic symbology. Our belief is that "Antipodean" is a good name for what is Aoteoroa`s (New Zealands) cultural crossroads or tūrangawaewae. Tūrangawaewae is a Maori word used to express a sense of identity and independence associated with having a particular home base.

Our sculptures do not slavishly follow any specific cultural symbols but instead try to reflect a joining together or fusion of the cultural histories into a new "Antipodean" or New Zealand venacular. Aotearoa New Zealand is a unique country and we believe that a unique combination of our various sculptural, artistic and symbolic heritages is a good style for Goosewood to express through its sculptures.

Our aim is to help you to create a piece that, when you look at it, reminds you of your sense of identity and belonging. Bring together, in one carving, the symbols that speak to you of your journey and your home. Our sculptures will be unique to your requirements, tell us what has been most impactful in your, or your loved ones, life and we will work with you to come up with your personalised design blueprint for the artwork that you are looking for.

Think big or small, ground, ceiling or wall, indoors or out and talk to us about the many varieties, sizes, shapes and colours of your chosen medium - wood, stone or metal. Use your imagination, bring us your ideas and we can give you your tūrangawaewae.

Aotearoa New Zealand is a land of migrants, some new, some much much older, but all living together on these remote and beautiful islands. Goosewood hopes that its garden art will in some small way embody the mighty awesomeness (mauri) of our beautiful little country.

-So please have a look around our site (its only small), as looking around is what we migrants both old and new have been doing since the first waka arrived on the sandy shores of our little corner of the world all those centuries ago.

Our Values

Why no power tools and why Macrocarpa and Oamaru Stone?

AUTHENTIC: At Goosewood a choice was made that authenticity was important. We did not want to mass produce cultural symbols out of tanalised pine or concrete.

WE CARE: The environment is important to all of us. The tanalising process involves saturating the wood fibres under high pressure and heat with copper, chrome and arsenic. Its not what I want in my garden and I am pretty sure that my kids won`t thank me for using it either.

SUSTAINABLE: Macrocarpa is an excellent example of a sustainable local (yet exotic) wood that we use for carving. Oamaru stone is part of New Zealand and when you or time has finished with it, it will return to the land that it was part of.

UNIQUE: Hand carving makes each piece unique.

MATERIALS

What we craft our art with

Macrocarpa

Macrocarpa is also known as Monterey Cypress.

Macrocarpa supplied in New Zealand is grown within New Zealand as an exotic tree. The timber comes from either a forested plantation source, or farm shelterbelts.

Stone

Oamaru stone, sometimes called whitestone, is a hard, compact limestone, quarried at Weston, near Oamaru in Otago,New Zealand.

NEW STYLES

Interesting new aesthetics for our pieces

As we have mentioned our sculptures are antipodean themed. This has meant a synthesis of Māori, Pacifica and Celtic symbology. Other styles have interesting asthetics to add to the final form and shape of the materials we use. At Goosewood, we are continually inspired by the breadth and depth of ancient and contemporary Japanese artisanship—mainly traditional timber and stone carving, as well as their architecture. We incorporate shou sugi ban colouration and preservation into our timber pieces, and love carving little stone O-Jizo-san, guardians of children and travellers. We are now producing a range of Japanese-inspired Oamaru stone lanterns and lighthouse lanterns, todai. We hope you enjoy Goosewood's wabi-sabi- inspired tribute to the unique, adaptive, diverse, and artistic Asian journey across the millennia, from darkness to light.

Sho Sugi Ban 焼杉板 (Yakisugi)

Shou Sugi Ban 'The art of charred wood' is an ancient Japanese exterior wood preservation
technique that preserves the wood by charring the surface with fire. Traditionally, Sugi (Japanese cedar) was used, with some buidling facades lasting for over 60 years

Jizo 地蔵 (Guardian of Children And Travelers)

It's a common sight to see small stone Jizo statues throughout Japan. Resembling a Buddhist monk, these peaceful figures are believed to be the guardians of children and travelers. Affectionately called, O-Jizo-san, this deity holds a special place in the hearts of Japanese people.

Ishidoro 石灯籠 (Japanese stone lanterns and lighthouses - from darkness to light)

It is believed that the current Japanese lantern, known as an Ishidoro (stone lantern), originated in India around 400 BCE, possibly travelling directly through China or Korea, and arriving in Japan around 600 CE. Like many things, the Japanese made lanterns their own. A functional and aesthetic synthesis of art, history, religion and culture, all combined into a single useful light.

Cultural and religious creation narratives, from Christianity's ‘Let there be light’ to Māori’s ‘Rangi and Papa’, recount the transition from darkness to light and its profound impact on our lives. Light is the basis of all human lives.

The sun, our most significant source of light, has been and continues to maintain a place in many religions and cultures. Hinduism has Surya, the sun god; Shinto has Amaterasu, the sun goddess. Egypt venerated Ra. Greek and Roman mythology included Apollo and Helios. The ancient Persians had Mithra. As did the Aztec and Mesoamerican cultures, who worshipped the sun.

The Sun influences all life on planet Earth, spanning culture, religion, place and time. It is little wonder how profoundly it impacts us all. The brightest star visible to Earth, the giver of light, warmth and life, without which our planet would not be the same. Without which we would not be here. Humanity’s capture and control of light changed the way our ancestors lived, changing history and the future forever. No longer bound by the daily cycle of dark and light led by the sun's passage across the sky. We took light with us to illuminate our way, allowing us to explore the night on land and at sea. It deterred our enemies, kept us warm and became our eternal companion. We lit our shrines, churches, cities, coastlines, homes and lives; we have been transformed by light.

China, India, Korea and Japan were not immune to the need and want to capture and control light. These four countries and their entwined histories lead us across time, place, religion and culture from light to lanterns and lighthouses. Historical records indicate that the Japanese archipelago was first settled approximately 30,000 years ago and has been continuously occupied ever since. Japan is truly an ancient culture, formative and influential locally and internationally, historically and contemporarily. Japan was not only an influencer, but was also influenced by other cultures, including India, China, and Korea. Historical records suggest that the genesis of capturing and controlling light in lanterns (made from paper, wood, stone, and metal), and eventually in maritime lighthouses (Todai), can be traced back to India, China, and Korea. Prehistoric Korean peoples are believed to have migrated Eastward from the Korean peninsula towards the end of the Jomon period (14,000 to 300 BCE) and again in 600 CE, introducing Buddhism and lanterns. The Koreans brought with them their religion, architecture, tools, techniques and production methods, some of which originated in China.

CURRENTLY FEATURED PIECE

Portfolio

Our catalogue of previous works

What our customers say

For Sale

These carvings are currently for sale (Unless Indicated). Contact us to purchase or for further details.

Or click the Logo to view and purchase our latest carvings on 'felt'.

Display and Care of your sculpture

Once you have installed your sculpture it is important to understand that it will be effected by its surroundings. There are ways to maintain and protect your piece so that you will continue to enjoy your sculpture for many years to come.

Displaying your sculpture

Macrocarpa is wood. Be aware that it can split, crack, rot, fade, burn and/or be attacked by insects. Putting a little thought into where and how it`s displayed can help your carving to last years longer.

We can provide a metal stand for your artwork. Do not set your carving directly onto soil or grass. Macrocarpa is water resistant, but not treated for in-ground use. If you are not using a stand, a pad of concrete, gravel or paving stones is better and will help protect the base from water and insect damage.

Heat from the sun or household heat [indoors] will dry the wood quickly which causes additional cracking. Avoid these when possible or be prepared to renew the finish more frequently.

Rain is not much of a problem for a properly installed sculpture. Frequent drenching with water [irrigation, etc.] increases the likelyhood of water damage so try to display your carving beyond the reach of your lawn sprinklers. Additionally it can be sealed [described below] if it is to be displayed in a wet location or climate.

Care of your sculpture

Macrocarpa or Cypress are some of the most sought-after woods that are ideal for many outdoor and indoor uses. It is a fine grained wood that is durable and resistant to rotting and insects.

Macrocarpa can be left natural or it can be painted or stained to match any decor.

Macrocarpa timber does contain its own natural preservative, which makes it suitable for outdoor use in New Zealand weather conditions.

Many people prefer to allow their Macrocarpa items to age naturally outdoors. Left untreated, the colour will weather to a beautiful soft silver grey highlighted by darker streaks, and the grain of the wood will become slightly raised.

Untreated Macrocarpa is natural and pleasing, however, the wood is porous and over the long term may become discolored if left in damp or shaded areas.

A 20 percent solution of household bleach in water with a tablespoon of detergent (washing up liquid) per 5 litres will usually remove the stain or a product such as 20 Seconds (or similar product) will acheive the same result. Even after years of exposure, Macrocarpa can be refinished to its natural bright clean appearance.

If you are unsure, please check with us before applying any chemcial.

We do NOT recommend water-blasting as this can cause damage to the fine fibers of Macrocarpa timber, and therefore cause lasting damage to the sculpture in general.

It is important to understand that any timber exposed to exterior weather conditions will have some form of timber movement and may experience cracking. This may also occur where the timber is stained or painted.

The sculpture may be ordered or created with a surface finish such as stain or paint. For protection that helps enhance and maintain wood`s natural color, there are several wood oils available. These and stains must be re-applied peridoicially to maintain their "look". Every second year or so you might need to re-apply a coat of stain to freshen the finish. Little or no sanding preparation or primer is needed when you use a stain. Stain is breathable and will repel moisture, therefore, no blistering or peeling.

Wattyl Forest Wood

Wattyl Forestwood Traditional Oil Stain dries completely to give a surface that won’t mark clothing or skin, an Oil rich formula that penetrates Macrocarpa wood to protect and enhance it’s natural colour.

Macrocarpa Wood Wax

The healthy, natural alternative to chemical timber treatment

CONTACT

Auckland, New Zealand

Please use email or comments to contact

aga@goosewood.co.nz

support@goosewood.co.nz To report a problem

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Goosewood A.G.A

(Antipodean Garden Art)