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David Austin

David Austin is a Māori sculpture artist, based in the Waikato. He graduated with a Bachelor of Media Arts, and spent 10 years working in the film industry.

It was while he was working on a short film that he was asked to make a painting – this was back in 1996 – which resulted in making oiled canvases to this day.

Being creative and trying many types of media, David stumbled onto clay about six years ago – like so many before me he was hooked. Engineering shapes, vases, jewellery and finally he found RAKU. Ever since, David has been obsessed with making RAKU sculpture and have perfected shapes and firing techniques which are unique and have universal appeal. 

David makes his sculptures using a special RAKU kiln made out of an old castrol drum. In his own words, “If I could I would fire it everyday because I believe as an artist I should always be making.”

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