Māori traditional textiles
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Māori traditional textiles are the indigenous textiles of the Māori people of New Zealand. The organisation Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa, the national Māori weavers' collective, aims to preserve
Weaving of kiekie leaves
Weaving peg
Pīngao - treasured for weaving
An 1847 portrait of Hōne Heke and his wife Hariata wearing cloaks made from Phormium tenax (New Zealand flax) fibre
Kurī
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The Kurī is an extinct breed of Polynesian Dog kept by Māori people. It was introduced to New Zealand by the Polynesian ancestors of the Māori during their migration from East Polynesia in the 13th ce
Māori traditional textiles
…feathers from the tūī (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae). The most prestigious pre-European cloak is the kahu kurī, made from dog skin from the now extinct kurī (Māori dog). They were prized heirlooms. Kurī are thought to have belonged to chiefs, and their pelts had status also. Sometimes kahu kurī were traded…
Otago Museum Kuri OMNZVT2162 03
Kurī specimen, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 1924