Kap has a fascination for historic ships and has spent many hours crafting models of these to scale, using wood. These are fascinating and even fitted out with beds, tables, kegs and sacks of grain. He has produced these entirely himself, lovingly honing each piece to fit exactly.
He sources marble and granite from New Zealand as well as sandstone and marble from Australia, and has worked with many differently layered strata as well as with marble. He is careful with strata to get the contours of the layers to follow the shapes he is creating – a good example of this is ‘Lottie’. When the rocks are transported, they get shipped over, transported via train or truck and delivered using a truck with a hydraulic crane or hiab that lifts the rock and places it where it is best for him to work.
He then studies the rock until he can see the figure inside it. He uses, from his extensive collection of tools, a grinder to remove the pieces that are not part of his vision. He has a number of different discs to exchange in the grinder, each with their own specific purpose, be it grinding, cutting or shaping. He has a few cone shaped grinder attachments, which are useful for smaller areas. Kap’s works are expressions of mood through human and abstract forms, carved into the finest quality stone. Each is unique and cannot be reproduced. They have been sold to collectors of fine art in many countries and his work is represented in a number of public collections, including Government House, Wellington. Many pieces have been commissioned for presentation to community and corporation leaders, notable of which was Wellington City’s presentation to Sir David and Lady Beattie upon Sir David’s retirement as Governor-General. KAP Pothan
