Te Ataraiti Waretini, Tūhourangi-Ngāti Wāhiao, Tainui, Te Rarawa, shares the beauty of Māori culture with the world through traditionally woven contemporary taonga which she makes for her label, Maru Creations.

While living in London, Ataraiti learned whatu from her mother over Facebook. She wove a pākē made from flax and feathers for her friend. Since then, Ataraiti has learned that woven taonga are more than a garment or art, they’re meaningful creations to be cared for as if they’re another member of the whānau.

Te Ataraiti learnt whatu from her mother via Facebook.

Ataraiti has been privileged to gift taonga to people including American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actress, Ms Lauryn Hill. She has been commissioned to make meaningful taonga for many people and has participated in exhibitions and fashion runway shows internationally including the Indigenous Fashion Arts in Canada.

She joined Doris de Pont in conversation, and demonstrated some of her beautiful hand weaving for attendees of the Fashioning Assembly Hui Auaha o Aotearoa 2022: 

 Visit marucreations.com, or follow @maru.creations on Instagram.

Fashioning Assembly Aotearoa was supported by the City Centre targeted rate. 

Global Fashioning Assembly 2022 was supported by the Creative Industries fund NL. 

web: www.globalfashioningassembly.com

insta: @globalfashioningassembly