Raranga, whatu and tukutuku: name the technique
Before admiring a pattern, learn how the maker and source name the work. Material, technique and design are different questions.
Pasifika AI / Kanaky Tech ·
Phormium tenax foliage. A botanical illustration for discussing material; it does not show harvesting or weaving protocols.
Forest & Kim Starr · Image record · CC BY 3.0 · Resized and converted to WebP.
The documented starting point
Te Ara presents Māori fibre arts through distinct practices rather than a single generic “weaving” category. Its account links the development of clothing in Aotearoa to local materials and climate. This is a history of skilled adaptation, not simply the repetition of one technique across the Pacific.
Source : Te Ara — The art of te whare pora
A closer reading
Research guidance · Pasifika AI
Take one collection record and highlight those three categories in different colours. If the record does not name a technique, do not infer it from the English word “woven”. Compare a plant photograph with an object image only to discuss the documented material, not to suggest that harvesting and preparation are obvious. For a classroom activity, practise describing texture and structure in plain language, then check the terminology against a named teaching source. Credit makers before collectors whenever the record makes that possible.
Credit the work, not only its collector
Research guidance · Pasifika AI
A catalogue may prominently name the person who donated an object while saying little about its maker. In your notes, keep those roles separate. “Donated by” is not the same as “made by”. If the maker is unrecorded, say so rather than inventing a collective attribution. For a close reading, compare the terminology used by a maker or teacher with that used by the catalogue. Preserve the difference when it matters instead of silently standardising every word.
What this guide does not establish
Research guidance · Pasifika AI
A close-up of a motif does not grant permission to copy it into a logo or product. This page does not teach harvesting protocols or stand in for instruction from weavers.