Joe Pach
We were born in Germany (1954 & 1955 respectively) and lived there until 1982. Before we moved to Canada in 1990, we lived in Holland for eight years.
Joe has worked most of his life as a dental technician and got the patience to work with precision tools during that experience.
Born in a coastal area in Germany, I was always drawn to the shores wherever we have been on our travels and, of course, I picked up pebbles, wood, shells and beach glass. It occurred later that these findings became naturally incorporated in my jewelry. Joe
Gudi Pach
Gudi has worked most of her life as a draft person in architecture offices and later on in design and marketing and as an interior decorator. She runs her own business, called ChromaDesign.
Each of our designs is unique, It is fun and a challenge to make each an individual work of art.
“It is fun to be my husband’s model and wear his new designs and I am proud to be the owner of Joe’s signature piece”
Renoir is quoted as saying ‘Regularity, order, desire for perfection … destroy art’ and that ‘Irregularity is the basis of all art’
Most of my beaded necklaces are asymmetric. When I discovered Renoir’s quote at an exhibition in Los Angeles at the Museum of Modern art, I knew why I did it for the last few years. I like to be “different” without being “out of balance”. Gudi
Around thirty years ago the two of us started to make some jewelry in our spare time in Holland.
The studio at Ratter Corner
Five years ago the two of us started again to make some jewelry in our spare time, but this time we sold the pieces. It became more than a hobby.
In 2008, Joe attended the New Brunswick College of Craft & Design in Fredericton. Both of us took some workshops with instructors from the same college.
In the Fall of 2009 we opened a studio in our home. Joe became a juried member of the NB craft council in 2010 and our studio became a juried member of the Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council in 2012.
Our business name TerraBijou means Earth(y) jewelry, using local pebbles and rocks from the coast of Fundy as well as sterling silver, copper and brass.
Travelling around the world is our biggest hobby and inspires us in crafting our jewelry by using shells, wood or seeds from destinations as Arizona, Fiji, New Zealand and Thailand.