NOW YOU SEE THEM

But many don’t, which is just the way the makers of the mounts propping up the displays at Tauranga Museum like it.

WORDS JO-MARIE BAKER / PHOTOS MICHAL PINKERTON + SUPPLIED

When Tauranga Museum opens in 2028, visitors will marvel at the taonga and objects on display. What they probably won’t notice are the hundreds of bespoke mounts that support them.

That’s exactly how specialist mount maker Den Feaver measures success. With more than 30 years’ experience creating mounts for New Zealand’s leading museums, Den, of Feaver Museum Service, is working with Tauranga Museum’s exhibition team to make custom supports for hundreds of objects destined for permanent display, while passing his specialist skills on to collection specialist Chelsea Tairi.

Objects range from tiny obsidian shards and shark-tooth fishhooks to historical surfboards and a 3.5m plaster cast of a broadbill swordfish. Mounts for displaying them are typically crafted from stainless steel into bespoke brackets or armatures designed to hold objects securely while disappearing into the background.

Den’s mount-making career began almost by chance. While photographing a ceramics collection in New Plymouth, he stopped to help an artist install another exhibition and was subsequently offered a technician’s role.

Den says good mount makers need fine motor skills, attention to detail and, above all, empathy for the objects they’re handling. “A good mount is the mount you don’t see, one that keeps the object safe and puts it in a positive light. And if you do see it, it needs to accentuate the environment, rather than detract from it.”

Whether he’s handling a plastic cup from the 1970s or an irreplaceable taonga, Den says every object deserves exactly the same care and respect.

Over the coming months, Den and Chelsea will work side by side to create hundreds of bespoke mounts. She’s looking forward to picking up skills as the project progresses.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” she says. “Sharing the responsibility of mounting the taonga and objects that will be on display in our new museum is very exciting, and I’m lucky to be part of that. I’m really excited to soak up everything I possibly can from Dennis.”

After 15 years working in museums, Chelsea says she’s become fascinated by the craft of mount making. The unsung heroes of the permanent displays being developed for Tauranga Museum will prop up taonga Māori, social history and contemporary objects, all carefully curated to tell fascinating stories of our region’s past and present.

LETSTALK.TAURANGA.GOVT.NZ/PROJECTS/ TAURANGA-MUSEUM