Wishing Well is a series of knot making workshops as well as a space to make conversation and reflect on the symbolism of knots. In this workshop, participants will learn how to make the Cassion knot, the Endless knot and the button knot — as well as the symbolism of these knots, and how these symbols might be used in daily life. While these knots might be considered decorative, they also carry lessons for living together.

Creating knots as a group is a way to bring together people from different walks of life, to exchange goodwill and blessings. Through these knotting workshops, Wai Ching hopes to create a space of likeness, connectedness, and active learning. Approaching knotting as a means to bind fragments of heritage, remembrance and connection, Wishing Well proposes the practice as a material language that has the potential to “speak between” shared values while respecting difference and create material links between the past, present and future.

Wai Ching Chan is a Tāmaki-based contemporary artist and arts programmer. Her practice is often driven by collaborative relationships with other artists, and a desire to build and strengthen connections between people, including between tangata whenua and tauiwi. – credit to Satellites