Kereru Pounamu

11/06/2026

Kekeno / Fur Seal. Terewhata Inaka.

The cuzzy blew me away with his Aurei earrings so I tried something a little similar but different.

Kekeno was the most important mahinga kai for Te Whanau Paahi. Hunted through the summer and autumn and preserved in Poha, the fat seal provided the most vital source of kai for surviving through the brutal southern winters.

The important of the Kekeno sparked a violent clash with the early Takata Bola (Pakeha) who also prized the seal, and decimated the colonies of the South coast for the fur trade. This was known as the Sealers and Whalers War. The unfortunate death of Te Paahi in a waka capsizing was seen as a consequence of his eating a crew of Sealers as payment for their destructive greed, and was the last time white men were eaten in Te Waipounamu.

11/06/2026

Manu. Marsden Flower Jade / Raukaraka.

Mulihiku kai, Mulihiku taoka,
Lakiula kai, Lakiula takata

Taukihepa te Moutere T**i

Of course the Manu is what you think of for Mulihiku although this could be a Kereru as well.

11/06/2026

Matika / Gorge Hook. Arahura Inaka.

Another Matika piece drawing on the method our tipuna used at Pahia.

11/06/2026

Matika / Gorge Hook. Arahura Inaka.

The word Matau doesn't mean hook in Southern mita. Matika is the gorge hook used with a sinker for deep sea fishing and Bohao is the floating lure used for the shallow feeders. This is the main style of Taoka worn by our tipuna and obviously is a stylised ika.

11/06/2026

Drawing on Taoka Tuturu from Mulihiku associated with our tipuna mahinga kai practices.

I did some research on archeology and Pounamu trails around our kaik last year and more recently the cuzzy passed on his knowledge.

These pieces focus on Pahia, near the mouth of the Waiau river, which was the largest kaik in Mulihiku at the beginning of the 19th century and was associated with Te Whanau Paahi of Kati Mamoe and Kai Tahu. Predominantly the Taoka worn were Matika or gorge hooks used for deep sea fishing, I've also included the Manu for Taukihepa and the Kekeno / Fur Seal.

Our tipuna worked the Piopiotahi, Poison Bay and Te Koroka Pounamu sources. Due to the scarcity and restriction on those waahi tapu these are all West Coast Pounamu traded from the whanau, although I hope at some point get to keep those old fires burning as well.

03/06/2026

Explanation of Pounamu symbolism, one of the questions I get asked on the daily.

25/05/2026

Pekapeka, Kawakawa, Ka Umu o Hapopo

Continuation of the Manaia forms, I see these flowing double forms as like a simplified version of the Pare, still feel there's a maramatanga to be found with carving these ones. The kind of kupenga / raranga flows are meant to show the Kakano of the Pounamu. Pretty much through this stone now but the finer grades from Ka Umu o Hapopo are beautiful to carve.

10/05/2026

Manaia-head Poriakaka with Taranaki Kupenga

Ka Umu o Hapopo

Commission

02/05/2026

02/05/2026

TANGATA MANU

Worked from a Kokopu palm stone collected on the Motueka river.

When I was little I didn't pepeha to back home, the tupuna Kahukura was my maunga, Motueka the awa and Rakaihautu the first man. Honouring our own heke and 3 generations on the Graham Valley Community, once the most important stoneworking pa site in the west side of the Tasman bay, since the days of Waiwhero when the moa hunter walked the land, that was just as valid to me. The first time we found Pounamu in the Mot river was probably 2000 - 2001 I think, it always droughts hard over the summer and the bed was down to the bottom.