Te Whiri Whītau

This research was funded by a SREF Seed Fund. It aligns with the vision of our rangatira and weaving expert Rangi Te Kanawa. The goal is to increase local materials manufacturing. The cluster researched re-establishing a harakeke industry that is:

• circular
• regenerative
• sustainable
• renewing pā harakeke o te whānaungatanga.

This programme builds on research already developed in Te Aho Tapu Hou. It seeks to further optimise textile processing technologies to:

• develop apparel-grade textiles
• develop novel textiles that meet the needs of the NZFCT sector
• identify and develop uses for waste streams
• make it easier for iwi, hapū, whānau and industry to use harakeke.

This project was led by Faith Kane in partnership with Te Kanawa and with collaborators Brorens (AgResearch), Ruka (VUW), Smith and Kawana-Brown.

It created a proof of concept that wool fibre processing technology can be adapted, without using harmful chemicals, to spin mechanically extracted muka fibre that could then be used to make high quality textiles in Aotearoa.

The project also optimised Te Kanawa’s muka fibre extraction technology. The improvements allowed different waste streams like green matter and harakeke to be separated during fibre extraction.

The researchers also developed a Mātauranga Māori based evaluation tool.

Based in Mātauranga Māori, this study brings together textile researchers, Māori practitioners and scientists to learn more about native plant dyes and fibres. Science and the values of iwi partners Ngāti Tukorehe (Kuku, Horowhenua) were combined. This was important so the results of the research benefit iwi and their whenua.

We will test our methods on by-products from industry through wānanga with iwi weavers. Our goal is to achieve commercial production of natural dyes for muka so Māori weavers have another option to synthetic dyes.

This project followed a decade of mātauranga Māori-led climate change adaptation research by Tahamata Inc, an iwi-owned farm connected to Ngāti Tukorehe. It was funded by the NZ Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre.

The project uses detailed GIS and LIDAR mapping to identify how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This includes:

• land-use transitions
• wetland restoration
• the return of pā harakeke for sustainable fibre production.

Limited LIDAR data for the coastal zone around Tahamata is challenging. It requires more funding to create detailed spatial layers as well as environmental and cultural landscape mapping.

Insights from this research will contribute to broader efforts like wetland re-wetting, which could seriously reduce emissions. This supports environmental sustainability and iwi-led economic and cultural priorities.

Harakeke Nonwovens and Biocomposites in 'Intersections Exhibition: Collaborations in Textile Design Research', Textile Design Research Group at Loughborough University in collaboration with the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London, 12 - 14 September 2019 (design)

Kane F, Ruka T, Kilford A, Le-Guen MJ, Brorrens P, Komene K

Harakeke Nonwovens and Biocomposites in 'Towards a Critical Rurality', Rural Design Week, 31 May - 9 June, San Potito, Sannitico, Italy (design)

Kane F, Ruka T, Kilford A, Le-Guen MJ, Brorrens P, Komene K

Learning from Harakeke: Towards a Network of Knowledge for Textile Design in Aotearoa New Zealand (chapter)

Design and Nature: A Partnership

Kane, Faith; Smith, Huhana; Te Kanawa, Rangi; Ruka, Tanya Maree Te Miringa Te Rorarangi; Kilford, Angela

Harakeke provides a wide platform to weave and construct functional items.

Processing the leaf to fibre, the fibre to threads and dyeing the threads brings an awareness of te taiao, which is a crucial part of whakapapa. Harakeke creates possibilities for new enterprises within renewed industries and offers potential employment opportunities for Māori communities. In noting the harakeke plant as a whole-of-system healer, the potential of Indigenous agency and innovation contributes to economic growth through distinctive research with, and development of, matauranga Māori around harakeke. Faith Kane is an immigrant to New Zealand from the Midlands in the UK and has lived in Wellington since 2016.

Moana (Pacific) Expressions of Design: Setting the Conditions for Intergenerational inquiries through Learning and Creative Practice

Art/Research International: A Transdisciplinary Journal

Withers, Sonya; Harper-Siolo, Charlotte; Dunstall, Samuel; Vaima'a, Pelerose; Gibbs, Kristina; Te'o-Faumuina, Alexander https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/ari/index.php/ari/article/view/29757

Te Muka Taura: a site-based exploration of harakeke for dye extraction and muka colouration

This paper reflects on how different perspectives on knowledge, the threads and their associated values can be honoured within collaborative research. This is explored through the lens of a recent textile design research project: Te Muka Taura. The research project explores the use harakeke for dye extraction and muka colouration (Te Muka Taura) and aims to improve understanding of regionally specific plant dye colourants. This was achieved through collaboration between textile researchers, Māori practitioners and scientists. Funding was provided for the project by Science for Technological Innovation from June 2022 until October 2023.

Based in Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge), the project has advanced knowledge of the colouration of muka towards sustainable textile practices.

Mapping the benefits of collaborative textile research in Aotearoa New Zealand (conference oral presentation and published conference proceedings)

Kane, Faith; Kilford, Angela; Withers, Sonya; Ruka, Tanya

This paper critiques the traditional focus on value chains in textile design research, advocating instead for a benefit chain approach that prioritises fairness and equity. By looking at projects that used multiple disciplines in Aotearoa, it argues that textile research should address systemic injustices linked to capitalism, imperialism and colonisation, which dominant design methods support. The values of Indigenous and other communities must be considered from the start so the benefits of research are shared fairly and feel local and specific to one place. It argues that doing so leads to fairer and more equitable outcomes contributing to decolonisation and (re)indigenisation.

Interconnected Futures: material practices and knowledge-based systems in the academy at the Pivot 2021 Conference

Kane, Faith; Withers, Sonya; Kilford, Angela

This conference examined the changing role of textile design in addressing global environmental, economic and social crises. It prioritised Indigenous practices found across Te Moana nui a Kiwa which are based on place and relationships. Presenters reflected on the tensions experienced in integrating these knowledge systems within academic institutions. They explored how rewiring and co-creating textile design practices can contribute to a more just and interconnected future for Aotearoa.

The discussion highlighted the need to recognise Indigenous methods as valid rather than "alternative" within research and teaching contexts.

Exploring a place-based approach to developing new materials for sustainable futures: Natural fibre composites in New Zealand at the Textile Intersections conference 2019 (conference paper in published proceedings)

Kane, Faith; Kilford, Angela; Ruka, Tanya; Le-Guen, Marie Joo; Brorrens, Peter

This paper explores how design founded on place and relationships can drive positive change in materials design, focusing on harakeke in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The approach drew on notions of place-based design and textile thinking, and featured a collaboration between:

• university design researchers
• an agricultural and a forestry/biomaterials research institute
• an independent designer
• an expert in traditional harakeke weaving.

The study explored how to re-establish a harakeke industry that addresses environmental, social and economic challenges. Processing trials used Indigenous weaving practices with industrial techniques, revealing potential uses for sustainable materials in architectural surfaces and packaging.

Weaving a Sustainable Future for Aotearoa New Zealand: Learning from Harakeke at the Textiles and Place Symposium (conference paper)

Kane, Faith; Ruka, T.; Te Kanawa, R.; Smith, H.

This paper explores how harakeke can help develop a sustainable textile industry in Aotearoa. By integrating cultural, environmental, social and economic considerations, researchers propose a renewed harakeke fibre industry that restores ecosystems and supports Indigenous knowledge.

The study shows textile design methods inspired by the significance of harakeke, maps recent innovations and draws parallels with European flax revival. Several ongoing projects illustrate how harakeke can reshape sustainable textile practices.

Mātauranga Moana: uplifting Māori and Pacific values of conceptualisation over western co-design constructs at The 7th International Conference for Design Education Researchers.

Design Research Society, Learn X Design 2023 (conference paper in published proceedings) Withers, Sonya; Stokes, Georgina

This paper critically explores the difficulties that come with using Western co-design methods with Indigenous and diasporic communities in places like Aotearoa. It argues that these methods risk imposing neoliberal ideologies on resilient Māori and Pacific knowledge systems, values and collective design approaches.

The paper is grounded in the authors' Māori whakapapa, Sāmoan gafa, and relationship to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Its discussion is grounded in an example with a collaboration with a local healthcare service aiming improve access for Māori and Pacific tamariki.

Working Beyond the Centre Panel: Intersectional Materialisms, Post Humanism

We hosted a panel that explored how art practices which combine multiple identities and art forms can inspire new thinking about the relationships between all things, how to challenge the effects of colonialism and how to restore and connect to Indigenous ways of being.

The panel focused on ‘interference methodologies’—how research and teaching can adjust and disrupt dominant ways of thinking and knowing.

Recent investigations within te ao Māori, Pākehā and tauiwi knowledge were presented, including:

• collaborations between artists and scientists working within local ecologies
• harakeke fibres
• mineral and bio-based dyes and pigments
• bio-based polymers
• the circular bioeconomy
• more-than-human networked media.