Product Code Database
Tukutuku panelling is a distinctive art form of the Māori people of New Zealand, a traditional latticework used to decorate Wharenui. "Tukutuku Tuturu Maori", Educational booklet, Auckland Museum Other names are Tuitui and Arapaki. Tukutuku flank the posts around the edge of the wharenui; the posts are usually carved and represent ancestors. The patterns of tukutuku have symbolic meanings.
Tukutuku are made with various materials. One description is vertical rods of Austroderia stalks, with wooden slats across. These slats are held in place with knotting or weaving that forms a decorative pattern. The materials for this weaving are narrow strips of kiekie or Phormium tenax, some died black and the coastal plant Ficinia spiralis as yellow colour. The traditional skills of tukutuku are held mostly within the Māori women weaving community alongside other Māori traditional weaving techniques as the skills of Whakairo (carving) are mostly held within the Māori men carving community. Tukutuku for a wharenui are designed alongside the tohunga (master carver) as they have in mind the relationship to the other elements of the carvings and Koru to complement each other.
A wide range of named "Stories of the Tukutuku Patterns", http://christchurchcitylibraries.com patterns have developed, and these now are used in a wide variety of modern contexts "Tukutuku panel" , Palmerston North City Library and act as a form of inspiration to New Zealand creative artists. Some of the names of tukutuku patterns are:
Distinctive tukutuku can be seen in the Hotunui meeting house that is being looked after by the Auckland Museum. These panels were made by women of Ngāti Maru at Parawai when the house was originally built in 1878. They are said to be the oldest and most complete tukutuku and have many motifs with a range of very complex patterns to simplicity.
|
|
