Korowai (cloak)

This small cloak measures only 900mm wide and 740mm high and would have been specifically made for a child. The materials are decorated with yellow and red wool, and small black wool hukahuka tassels. Its origins can be traced back to Otaki, a small town on the Kapiti Coast of the North Island.

Pre-European colour
Before the arrival of European settlers and modern materials such as wool, colours were sourced from indigenous materials. Paru (mud high in iron salts) provided black, raurēkau (shrub: Brachyglottis repanda) bark made yellow, and tānekaha (celery pine: Phyllocladus trichomanoides) bark made tan. The colour was set by rolling the dyed muka (flax fibre) in alum (potash).