About Us
Andrew and Robyn Leary at Scopes New Zealand have been making Kaleidoscopes for more than 45 years. And loved every minute of it !
The Scopes are all ( usually !! ) made of sustainable wood, during the early years sourced from the demolition of old buildings, but moving 30 years ago to the fabulous Swamp Kauri, the massive logs of the oldest workable timber in the world, which has been lying in swamp land for 40,000 years .
Being so far from regular sources of Kaleidoscope components led Andrew to build coating machines for the Front Surface Mirror required for Kaleidoscopes, and lately, installing a machine to make Dichroic Glass.
Then, after Andrew had the idea of viewing the interference patterns you see on a soap bubble ( coming from making huge bubbles with the kids ) through a Kaleidoscope, the Scopes became ever more intricate, becoming true works of Mixed Media Art.
His obsession with symmetry in his favoured 2 mirror Kaleidoscope design meant designing a new patented optic array for the Kaleidoscopes, and this in turn led to some of the most innovative Kaleidoscopes in the world, from the Bubble Scopes to 2 mirror Teleidoscopes and Kaleidoscopes that respond to Music.
