FlaxDigital | Maori Inspired Design and Art

The painting is a large piece of medium weight canvas, using 3 large contemporary patterns to represent ritorito (the protection of the parents – two outer koru, to the sibling – middle koru). The inspiration was to create a sense of security and growth and to enforce this i included the whakatauki (Maori Proverb), Whaia e koe ki te iti Kahurangi, ki te tuohu koe, me maunga teitei, this means in this instance, follow your dreams and aspirations in your life, you will always encounter obstacles, but you will not give up, even if its to a lofty mountain. The texture of this piece is quite grungy with browns, reds and pinks here and there. Gold writing in acrylic.

This painting is based on the kowhaiwhai pattern, i enjoyed doing this piece and like the bright colours and textured background using heavy coats of gesso.

I painted this as a learning curve so i could get used to the feel of painting. I can’t paint landscapes or people to save myself so i am sticking to what i know which is Maori patterns and designs.

Check out this contemporary Maori Taniwha illustration. Taniwha (pronounced TUN-i-fuh) are mythical guardians. Most taniwha are associated with tribal groups. Read more here about Taniwha

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Check it out, a brush set with Maori inspired koru patterns which you can load into photoshop and make cool Maori design backgrounds, motifs and other creative things. There are nine brushes in total. To load the brushes into photoshop check out the following video here

Download the Brush Set

Download this free Maori kowhaiwhai pattern in vector eps format which can be rescaled without loosing resolution. Kowhaiwhai are  patterns which are mostly seen on the rafters, doors, and windows of the marae (Maori meeting house), and also on the under the bow of Maori war canoes. Today kowhaiwhai is used in many modern contemporary Maori tattoos as arm/leg bands and used in many other creative ways. enjoy

Download here

This work is licensed
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License

The featured Manaia figure illustration was developed for a war veterans website http://www.ngatoa.com. The Manaia figure is a side-faced and sometimes birdlike figure, may be found in Māori carvings. Easter Island is known for its distinctive Manaia, made up of a side-faced man with a bird-head. read more here…

The illustration was drawn with ink, then scanned into photoshop. A timber background was applied to the illustration then highlights/shadows were added.

Testimonial: I am very glad to have found Mao!  He create me a REAL MAORI PATTERN logo which I wanted.  His design impressed me every time and listened to my feedback/ideas, came back quickly with improved artwork. I’m definitely a happy, satisfied customer! Yoko N

Relish Aotearoa is owned and operated by Yoko N of Dunedin, the online shop called “relish aotearoa”   specializes in  high quality New Zealand made chemical free, botanical cosmetics exporting directly to the Japanese market.

The inspiration behind the two forms of the logo comes from mother earth (papatuanuku) and the sky father (ranginui), two forms as a whole represent purity and environmental awareness. The direction of the koru patterns represent the commitment of Relish Aotearoa to environmental awareness and how these products do not harm the recycle process. References to yin yang were portrayed as a way of promoting balance.

NZ made chemical free, botanical cosmetics

Check out Relish Aotearoa for more information.

At Flaxdigital we share Maori Art and Design created using traditional and digital mediums.

Im not a big fan of carving 21st keys, so when someone approaches me to do one i usually try and change the subject or say “nah i don’t do 21st keys” An alternative is a carving that can almost look like a key but isn’t. I was in luck when my step brother in laws 21st rolled around and his father said he wanted a Ngapuhi represented carving. I said to him, does it have to be a key, he thought about it and said nah it doesn’t.

His mother is of Ngapuhi descent and father Ngati Porou. The inspiration behind the carving was to represent both of his identities, hence the Ngapuhi style carving and the bone tongue his father made for the art piece.

The timber is native swamp totara from Northland New Zealand. The bone is beef bone with paua inserts carved by Garry Gerrard.

My Brother Abel has been hard at it experimenting with glass etching. The process involves sand blasting the glass to create the etch effect, you can use an acid etching liquid but not really that keen on using that stuff. After some practice he is ready to etch some more intricate Maori patterns. Here are some images of the glass vase all masked up with masking tape and patterns cut out to expose the glass that will be blasted

Abel has just completed a set of three vase. Three patterns are contemporary puhoro patterns. The style of the Puhoro is iconic in traditional Maori art.

The puhoro or running scroll pattern is used for decoration if the hull of a war canoe and depicts the wake a canoe makes when gliding at speed across the pacific waters. The Puhoro is also adapted as a pattern of tattooing for the thighs or arms and represents swiftness, strength and courage of character and the pattern is often found as an ornamental finish on the rafters of a meetinghouse.

We will be sharing some of the designs shortly.