Ko Motatau te maunga
Ko Taikirau te awa
Ko Ngatokimata Whaorua rāua ko HMSS Monowai ngā waka
Ko Te Tarawa te hapū
Ko Te Rapunga rāua ko Kawiti ngā marae
Ko Ngapuhi rāua ko Ngati Hine ngā iwi
Ko Bob rāua ko Hokimate ngā matua
No Whakaoriori au
Ko Manaia toku ingoa
My journey into discovering the art of raranga began when my mum passed away in 2016. Coming from a pākeha father and a māori mother, when I lost my mum, I felt like I lost my connection to Te Āo Māori. Finding a link to an online course to learn how to tāniko seemed like a safe way for me to explore that side of myself that I was yearning for.
In 2017 I learned to tāniko with The Hetet School of Māori Art, and then decided to try another module they offered "Learn the basics of raranga". I had the harakeke in my garden, so to be able to look after my plants in a meaningful and tika (culturally correct) way, and utilise the rau/leaves into useful items seemed perfect.
Wow.
Once I wove my first kono, I was completely hooked. Learning the art of raranga opened me up to a world of possibility. That one small kono completed, and my life was changed.
I wove more and more, and learned everything that The Hetet School of Māori Art could teach me, becoming the first graduate of their online school when I finished my first korowai ‘Manawanui’. Completed over our first national lockdown in 2020, it filled me with so much gratitude to be able to weave such taonga for my whanau.
I have since finished 3 more kakahu. One for my daughter Awatea, named ‘Matāmua’, and 2 as a koha for my childrens primary school, named ‘Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho’. I am currently working away on another korowai which I hope to complete within the next 12 months.
There is something so versatile about harakeke. I can weave fine kete and wall hangings. I can extract the muka and make whenu for a kākahu. I can weave potae. I can weave shopping bags, and I can create beautiful jewellery. Through my love of creating with this beautiful resource, I have managed to utilise as much of the plant as I can. From using the bulk of the rau/leaf for whenu for weaving, to utilising the take ends for putiputi bouquets, to transforming the trimmed ends of kete and kākahu into Hei Tāringa.
I have a pā harakeke, and grow and harvest my own whenu for whatever I am weaving. It comforts me to see it growing lush and tall, and to know that I can transform the leaves into something that has a korero/story.
Muri Aroha means ‘Love is at the back of it’ and that is how I feel about Toi Māori and the mahi that I do. Love is the underlying factor. Love for mahi raranga, mahi whatu, love for my whakapapa who I feel connected to when I weave and create, and love for Te Taiao – the Natural World.
At Muri Aroha we want to share the beauty of Toi Māori with all others, and to tell our stories in a uniquely Māori way.
As part of my mahi, I have been honoured to be invited by Creative New Zealand to speak at the Aratoi Museum of Art and History.
In 2024, Muri Aroha was named a finalist in the Kahungunu ki Wairarapa PAKIHI MĀORI Award category of the 2024 Wairarapa Business Awards, acknowledging significant contributions to Māori enterprise.
We are story tellers. We are Kaitiaki of our environment and champion a more sustainable way of being.
