I grew up in the small country town of Riverstone, NSW, Australia where I met my future husband Ron. Ron had been working for years on a dream to be able to reproduce fine works of art onto ceramics, in full detail of the original artwork.

At the time I thought that this was just a curious pursuit of my husband and I wished him all the success. A few years later I came across a porcelain plate depicting a nursery scene which had baby names of children and their birth details painted onto the plate.

I thought to myself that this would make a wonderful keepsake that can be given by parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and friends.

This cherished gift would never be forgotten as I would hand paint the persons names giving this gift, onto the back of the plate. The plate I stumbled across was poorly reproduced. My husband suggested that I have an artwork specially created for me by a professional artist and, he will use his newly developed process to faithfully reproduce the artwork, in all its splendid detail onto the plate.

The choice of choosing the perfect Artist for this request was easy. Our friend, the late Tony Oliver, was and is recognised throughout Australia as a leading illustrator in both Australian wildlife and children’s books.

Tony’s commissions included many illustrations for The Australian Geograghics which culminated in successive editions of the extremely successful yearly calendar which was sold out in each edition.

When I approached Tony with my concept of a child like nursery scene with juvenile Australian wildlife welcoming the arrival of a new born child he was excited by the concept and went on to create our first plate which we called “Precious Moments” .

I started hand painting the name and birth details onto the beautiful Precious Moments plates, which my husband created, for family members and friends.

The demand for these plates increased so much that I decided to form my own business,”Gumnut Collectables”. Since then, I have expanded the range of plate designs created by both Tony and other wonderful artists.

To purchase your own personalized plate click here.