What is Māori design?

Back ground
Aotearoa ( New Zealand ) was first discovered  by the legendary Kupe around the year nine hundred and fifty AD who is said to have sailed out of a mythical place called Hawaiki. Aotearoa was later to be inhabited by the Māori around eight hundred to twelve hundred AD. Aotearoa today is going through a revolutionary cultural re-birth. This has been so signifcant that many indigenous cultures around the world have converged here to get an idea of how this has happened with a view to bring the 'recipe' home.

Before being colonized by the Crown Māori lived uninterrupted, isolated from the world for hundreds of years  developing and nurturing their art and culture until the first of the many land wars, colonialism and disease would nearly wipe out a proud and noble race almost to extinction. Remarkably  the Māori have survived and live on with a resilience and persistence that has attracted other indigenous cultures to our shores. Recent events in New Zealand has seen the emergence or a renaissance in the Māori arts,culture and language. This is the background setting of which Tiki's involvment in Māori design is founded on.

Māori design in the digital age
Tiki says 'in my experirnece, Māori design in the digital age has been going through a difficult phase in the last 15 years as it struggles to be defined by western culture and recognised as an art form There is a general presumption that Māori who graduate as designers are expected to know Māori design. Many are not Māori designers but are instead Māori who design. Knowing how to draw a few koru's and a Māori pattern does not constitute the makings of a Māori designer but doing this with a knowledge of Māori arts through tikanga Māori and the principles of Manaakitanga into a modern context does.

With recognition of more Māori design in the tourisim and export market design houses need to understand the potentual of Māori design and the depth of meaning of what Māori designers can bring to their establishments not just to create an end product but a method of communication. As an active practitioner in the area of Māori design I support the view there is a major skill gap in the visual and creative communication industry. This is evident in the lack of Māori participation not to mention networks and support systems to help stair case Māori in this area.

I agree Māori iconography is a point of difference for our country both nationally and internationally as I have been involved in the development of many Māori branding, design and marketing projects at the cold face for corporations, organisations and businesses including the education sector through out my career spanning 20 years. All including Pakeha organisations expressed a genuine need to identify with some aspect of Ahuatanga Māori that represents the aspirations of the people and communities they serve. There is no doubt in my mind this acceptance of ahuatanga Māori using Māori design in their branding brings another dimension a sense of belonging or inclusiveness.

What differentiates Māori design is its ability to embrace traditional Māori arts and similarly utilise the modern tools of the digital age to create another level of artistic expression and method of communication in a modern context. This has global implications particularly to the iconography of Aotearoa New Zealand.