About Paua2thepeople.com

About Paua Shell
About Flax Fibre


	Rugged coastline typical of New Zealand.

About Paua Shell

Surreal in its beauty, Paua (pah-wah) shell is a unique type of Abalone that is found only in the cool blue waters around Aotearoa, New Zealand. The Maori people have a long tradition of gathering Paua for its meat, as well as using the shell in their carvings and as a Taonga (treasure).

The Paua shell has become a New Zealand icon, its numerous natural uses making it a small part of everyone's home. Paua to the People take the whole idea one step further – handcrafting the shells to their full potential while retaining the free forms and lines.

We use only the highest grade shells available chosen for size, shape, brilliant colour and extra thickness before transforming them into unique, functional products. After the outer crust is ground off, the shell is finely sanded and polished. We then coat the shells with a special polyurethane which protects and intensifies the natual hues, enabling the surface to be foodsafe and durable. In construction we use industrial strength glues and high quality materials that resist everyday wear and tear. These products are made to be used and appreciated as functional art with a touch of humour, imagination and kiwi ingenuity. Paua shell for the connoisseur!

The shells are the by-product of the main use for Paua, it's meat. In New Zealand there are strict gathering quotas in place and a sound environmental policy of sustainable management. In addition to this, there is a growing industry in farming the Paua for its meat, providing a future for this most wonderful of molluscs. Like trees, Paua shells grow thicker with age and most of our shells are in excess of 20 years old. Therfore enabling us to create individual natural design pieces that are resistant to knocks and falls and will last a lifetime if treated with care.


	The Harekeke, or New Zealand native flax.

About Flax Fibre

RARANGA- the art of Maori weaving uses traditional Polynesian methods of plaiting the New Zealand native flax or Harekeke. When the Maori arrived in Aotearoa, New Zealand around 1000 years ago they discovered that the essential plants they had used did not grow in the cooler climate.

However in the Harekeke – an endemic lily not a true flax, they found a fibre stronger and far superior to all other similar fibres. As a culture without metal working and in a new country without mammals for hides or clothing, the Maori soon found flax the most important thing to them after food.

Over time the Polynesian skills of weaving mats and baskets became transformed and adapted to include making binding ropes, fishing lines and nets sails for canoes, shelter and clothing. They discovered the different types and uses of the Harekeke and learned to dress the flax to make beautiful cloaks and garments that so impressed the early Europeans. By this time, Raranga had become an art form and the use of flax fibre or ‘muka’ had advanced to a level beyond anything the new settlers had encountered before. In fact the prestigious fine cloaks were given personal names and ranked with the greatest treasures of the land.
Fibre arts were predominantly women’s art but men were also fibre experts who directed their expertise toward house building, hunting and fishing needs.

Because Harekeke was such an important part of their everyday lives, raranga weaving came in many forms. One of the most common uses was the making of baskets and bags or ‘kete’. Kete were made for different uses from gathering cultivated and wild food to storing and carrying sacred cloaks and valuable items.
The most prestigious weave is kete whakairo, a fine patterned weave. Special care is given to kete whakairo out of respect for the knowledge and skills required producing such kete along with the spiritual relationship the artist have with each piece. An ancient Polynesian belief shared by Maori, holds that an artist is a conduit through which the gods create, and therefore the weaver and their work have a spiritual dimension.

With the arrival of the Europeans in NZ who brought with them their fancy textiles wool and cotton, Harekeke fell from grace and it’s art form, raranga was largely neglected and forgotten.

Today Maori are seeking to recapture the skills of an earlier age with a strong cultural renaissance Harekeke work is staging a comeback at the hands of dedicated weavers.

The art world is yet to wake up to the quality of Maori weaving and the strength and durability of the fibre in creating functional art.
The artists use different types of flax and various individual methods of weaving.

The designs are still in keep with the tradition along with the laborious but environmentally sustainable means of gathering and preparing the flax. The same customs and rituals associated with Harekeke are observed designed to protect the vital qualities of the plant and the work of the weaver. Some adaptations such as using synthetic instead of natural dyes are used to preserve the less abundant resources from where they were once procured.

Paua to the People’s selection of New Zealand fibre artists have taken the traditional methods of raranga and added a more contemporary flavour of their own. They create pieces that are stylish and attractive whilst still strong and functional in design. Each piece embodies a vision of the artist and holds a mark of pride in the cultural identity of the Maori art of raranga.