# Kōwhaiwhai & Toi Māori Design

> Toi Māori, the visual arts of the tangata whenua of Aotearoa, of which kōwhaiwhai, the painted scroll patterns of paddles and meeting-house rafters, is the most graphic strand. Patterns are built from the koru (unfurling frond) and crescent forms in red ochre (kōkōwai), black and white, balancing positive and negative shapes in long mirrored bands, alongside carving (whakairo), tukutuku lattice panels and woven tāniko.

- Period: 1500–present
- Where: Oceania
- Origin: Aotearoa New Zealand; kōwhaiwhai most developed on the East Coast (Tairāwhiti)
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: Kōwhaiwhai, Toi Māori, Māori rafter painting
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/maori-kowhaiwhai/

## Use it with care

Toi Māori is taonga: kōwhaiwhai patterns can belong to particular iwi and houses and carry whakapapa, and tā moko is personal and especially restricted. Work with Māori designers and iwi under tikanga, credit them, and do not graft koru onto letters or products as generic 'tribal' decoration.

## How it works

- Build patterns from the koru, a curling stem ending in a bulb, repeated, mirrored and interlocked.
- Work in red ochre, black and white, balancing positive and negative shapes so the ground reads as pattern too.
- Run designs as continuous bands along a long, narrow format, mirrored about its central axis.
- Rely on the rhythm of curve and counter-curve rather than depicted figures.
- Choose a named pattern for what it signifies to the iwi and the house, not for its shape alone.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (defining)
- [All-over field](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-over-field/) (characteristic)
- [Organic flow](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/organic-flow/) (characteristic)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (defining)
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (characteristic)
- [Flat hierarchy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-hierarchy/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (defining)
- [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (defining)
- [Whiplash line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/whiplash-line/) (characteristic)
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (characteristic)
- [Optical pattern](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/optical-pattern/) (occasional)
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (characteristic)
- [Painterly brushwork](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-brushwork/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Folk & sacred symbols](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/folk-and-sacred-symbols/) (defining)
- [Abundant decoration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/abundant-decoration/) (characteristic)
- [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (occasional)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (defining)

### Medium & production
- [Hand-painted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-painted/) (characteristic)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (characteristic)
- [Textile & craft](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/textile-and-craft/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (defining)
- [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (characteristic)
- [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (occasional)

Avoids: Full polychrome, Gradients, Fluorescent & neon, Naturalistic depiction, Illusion of depth, Straight photography

Palette: #a3322a, #141210, #f2efe8, #c46b2b, #8b5a35

Typefaces: Whakarare (Johnson Witehira & Kris Sowersby), Painted and carved lettering in 19th-century meeting houses

Known for: Kōwhaiwhai-painted hoe (paddles) collected on Cook's first voyage, 1769; Te Hau ki Tūranga meeting house (Raharuhi Rukupō, 1842; Te Papa); Rongopai painted meeting house, Waituhi (1887–88); Sandy Adsett (contemporary kōwhaiwhai painting); Johnson Witehira (Whakarare, a typeface designed for the Māori community)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Alike in its design choices: [Bògòlanfini Mud Cloth](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bogolanfini.md) (1900–present), 78% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Northwest Coast Formline Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/northwest-coast-formline.md) (1700–present), 77% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Pacific Barkcloth (Tapa) Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/pacific-tapa.md) (1700–present), 75% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Western Desert Iconography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/western-desert-iconography.md) (1971–present), 72% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Chinese Paper-Cut (Jianzhi)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chinese-paper-cut.md) (c. 500–present), 70% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Nieuwe Kunst (Dutch Art Nouveau)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/nieuwe-kunst.md) (1892–1914), 70% alike

## Real works

- [Heke (kowhaiwhai)](https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/561287): 19th century, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (ME002596/15)
- [Kōwhaiwhai on a heke (rafter) of the meeting house Hotunui](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kowhaiwhai.jpg): 1878 (house); date of the visible paint layer not documented, Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (photograph via Wikimedia Commons)
- [Three paddles from New Zealand](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Three_paddles_from_New_Zealand_-_Drawings_made_in_the_Countries_visited_by_Captain_Cook_in_his_First_Voyage_(1769),_f.71_-_BL_Add_MS_23920.jpg): Sydney Parkinson (attributed; drawing after Māori hoe), 1769, British Library (Add MS 23920, f.71), image via Wikimedia Commons
- [Issued forty cent 'Maori Rafter Painting' stamp (Mangopare)](https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1599350): Sandy Adsett (designer); printed by Leigh-Mardon Pty. Limited, Melbourne, 1988, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand Post Museum Collection (PH003091)
- [Manawarangi #1](https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/948828): Ngataiharuru Taepa (born 1976), 2008, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (ME024010)

## Sources

- https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/maori-art/page-8
- https://tairawhitimuseum.org.nz/acquisitions/showcase-5-and-7/
- https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/the-first-typeface-designed-specifically-for-the-maori-community-is-changing-how-new-zealand-views-its-own-cultural-identity/
- Hirini Moko Mead, Te Toi Whakairo: The Art of Māori Carving (1986)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Kōwhaiwhai & Toi Māori Design”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/maori-kowhaiwhai/