A Guide to Pacific Bark Cloth, Its History, Cultural Significance and Regional Styles By Kiwa Art – Specialists in Māori and Pacific Art since 1989 Tapa cloth is one of the Pacific's oldest and most extraordinary art forms — created not by weaving, but by transforming the soft inner bark of a tree into cloth through hours of patient beating. Long before European contact, the sound of wooden mallets striking bark echoed through villages from Hawaiʻi to Fiji, marking a craft pa

Mick Pendergrast circa 2000 Few books on Māori material culture have had the quiet, lasting influence of Raranga Whakairo: Māori Plaiting Patterns by Mick Pendergrast. First published in 1984, Raranga Whakairo documented more than 200 traditional Māori plaiting patterns gathered from woven objects throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. For weavers, artists, museums, libraries, collectors and students of Māori fibre arts, it became one of the essential reference works on raranga, ke

Hei Tiki at Kiwa Art - a powerful good luck symbol Te Hei Tiki Hand-carved and deeply treasured, hei tiki are among the most precious Māori taonga (treasures). These heirloom pieces are carefully protected and passed down through generations, carrying the stories, memories, and spiritual presence of revered ancestors. More than any other form of taonga, hei tiki often hold a strong emotional connection for their owners and families. The word hei refers to an ornament worn aro