Korowai (cloak)

This bold, colourful korowai uses the finished materials of candlewick, cotton and wool in preference to the natural materials of traditional weaving. Although the korowai was probably woven around the 1930s, its brightly coloured feathers and wool decorations look contemporary. The kākahu was presented to the Domion museum in 1980 as part of the estate of Sir George Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, who was Governor-General of New Zealand from 1935 to 1941.

Modern-day weavers have taken to commercially produced materials because they take less time and effort to prepare. In 2007, senior weaver Matekino Lawless, from Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Whawhakia noted, ‘Mop string, as we call it now, runs out at the shops as we weavers purchase large rolls of it.’ Though a self-professed ‘traditionalist’ who prefers to weave with natural materials, Matekino acknowledged current trends in cloak-making: ‘We can’t deny the demand that the younger weavers have [for synthetic materials]. The cloaks look beautiful, yet one would look at and admire the traditional muka cloaks more.’

Construction
The kaupapa (foundation) whenu (warp threads) are white candlewick yarn, weft-twined with cotton thread in whatu aho pātahi (single pair weft twining) technique. There are five whenu per centimetre, with 8 mm spacing between the aho rows. The korowai has a thrum commencement at the bottom edge. The aho poka (shaping rows) are in more gradual compound elliptical inserts: two rows 120 mm from the bottom and five rows 520 mm from the top. Black wool hukahuka are attached all over the kaupapa. Groups of five red and five purple feathers are twined in on every sixth whenu and spaced every fourth aho along the bottom and side edges of the korowai. A row of pink and natural wool twists are twined along the top of the bottom border of feathers. The neck edge is completed with a two-element finish, followed by a black and yellow wool fringe attached with an aho row to the discarded whenu cast-off. An ornamental two-ply twist in yellow and green wool is also woven into the final aho row, joining with another ornamental two-ply twist in green and pink wool woven on the corner fringes to continue into the ties on each side.

This text is based on an excerpt from Whatu Kakahu|Maori Cloaks (second edition), edited by Awhina Tamarapa, © Te Papa Press 2019.