The
Gentle Art Company

Around here,
we follow the feeling

Curiosity.
Ideas.
Making.
Second chances.

We rescue, reuse and reimagine what already exists. Beautiful things deserve more than one life.

It’s not just about making something lovely. It’s about finding beauty in what’s already here, giving it another life, and letting its story continue.

Creativity belongs to everyone, especially those finding their way back to it.

Slow art. Slow down. Make something. See what happens.

If you notice tiny details and follow what feels alive in you…

you’ll always find a seat at the kitchen table.

From my table

Thank you for choosing to make, to wonder, and to give beautiful old things another lifE.

Meet the Maker

Kia ora and hello, I’m Caro.

You may know me as Jen. I’m trialling a new/old name and, for now, I answer to both. One day I might tell you about it. When I feel ready.

I’m the heart and hands behind The Gentle Art Company. I grew up in beautiful Hawke’s Bay, in a family that loved me. Being adopted meant I spent a lot of my life thinking about identity, our roots, our stories and the things we collect along the way.

I suppose that’s why I’m infatuated with vintage. I’m always looking for my way back to a feeling. That feeling of home. The kind that makes you take a deep exhale and think, ahhhh, there you are.

Like the first time I heard my birth mother laugh, I heard myself laugh. I felt, for the first time in my life, an absolute ginormous feeling of home and connection to another. It felt electric. Like you see me and I see you.

Growing up, I was often in trouble for disruption of peace. Mine and others around me. I talked too much, had my own ideas and I was even fired from Brownies. I just wasn’t the girl Brown Owl was trying to shape me into.

But I was always a Maker.

Always.

It took me a while to realise all that energy wasn’t a problem. It was my creative spirit trying to find somewhere to live.

So I gave it a home.

The Gentle Art Company is where that curiosity gets to run amok. Making odd, fabulous things, rescuing beautiful old textiles and creating space for people to play, make and connect.

How we make things matters just as much as what we make, which is why rescued and sustainably sourced materials are at the heart of my mahi.

So welcome to unedited Caro.

I’m an unapologetic maximalist who no longer shrinks the space I take up.

Turns out, this was my superpower all along.

I’m so glad you’re here. Pull up a chair, wanna play?