Ngā Toi Harakeke

24/12/2025

Meri Kirihimete ki a koutou ko te whānau.
Wishing everyone a beautiful day.
Corrinne & Georgia x

21/12/2025

03/12/2025

Tēnā koutou e te whanau 🤗

Last night was the opening of Ngā Toi Harakeke’s very first independent exhibition and Georgia and I were blown away by the turn out.

You all have no idea how much it means to us and to our wāhine/artists to have such an abundance of support from the community. The pictures really don’t do any justice for just how amazing that was!

The exhibition will be up until 26th January 2026 so if you didn’t get the opportunity to come out last night, please go along & see some of the beautiful weaving that these wāhine have literally put their heart and souls into while with us on their journey to reconnection.

NOTE: While you are there, if you decide to take a picture, please be mindful to also get the artists name with that picture to make sure anyone who sees it knows who the artist is so they get full credit for their mahi. 🙂

Once again I would like to thank our funders who allow us the opportunity & space to teach and pass on what we know.

🌀Lottery Grant Board Fund NZ

🌀PNCC Community-Led Intiative Fund

✨And a special thank you to Square Edge Community Arts for having us in your beautiful space.

Ngā mihi nui!

Corrinne & Georgia 🫶l

17/09/2025

Kia ora koutou e te whanau! 🤗

This weekend just gone was our final noho with this years roopu & man, what an amazing bunch of wāhine we were blessed with! 😎🥰 we have enjoyed every single minute of weaving, singing, learning, story telling & just having the privilege to be a small part in each journey.

The final noho is always filled with so many emotions. Excitement & nerves, because they are getting ready to present their piece to whanau, friends, each other and us. Yes we get to see it come to life but the korero and name is a surprise Georgia & I really look forward to on presentation day 🙂

Over the duration of the last noho, our wāhine will go & share their korero with our reo pūkenga Charlotte who will take all of that korero & help them to find an appropriate & fitting ingoa to help bring their piece to life. This is something that is really special to each of our wāhine & whaea Charlotte always comes up with the most perfect name to show the mana of each piece & we know Charlotte feels absolutely privileged to do this with them 💖

Next on our emotion list is sadness.
Sadness that we are at the end of our 3 months, but this is quickly followed by a feeling of empowerment & potential for what is to come next for each of them as they all begin to realise that this is just the beginning in this particular part of their journey! 😃

After a weekend of hanging out, having lots of yummy kai, having a go at weaving tātua, telling jokes, sharing stories, numerous cups of coffees, laughing the nights away, eating lollies & listening to music we finish our last day with yes… MORE KAI 😁 but this time we share our last Kai together with all of the extended whanau who have been supporting these beautiful wāhine in the background while they have been reconnecting with themselves, their tūpuna & their Māoritanga. There really are no words to explain just how proud we are of them for choosing to step into the unfamiliar & being brave enough to give this to themselves and to their whanau. ❤️🤍🖤

“Mā te huruhuru ka rere te manu”
(Adorn the bird with feathers so it may soar)

________________________________________

Georgia and I would like to sincerely thank our funders below, and acknowledge your continued belief and support for Ngā Toi Harakeke and our kaupapa.
* Lottery Grant Board
* Palmerston North community-led Initiative Fund



06/09/2025

Tautoko

This is one of my most favourite shots from this past week.

It shows the care and respect of a brother for his sister.
Umbrella in hand to shelter her from the rain and tissue at the ready to wipe her tears, in a momentous occasion, difficult yet poignant for both of them.

Yesterday Te Arikinui Kuini Ngawai hono i te po delivered an address that will move and has moved a nation on a global and universal scale.

To be present amongst the masses to witness and feel the shift and unity is unexplainable.

Our Queen's key messages encouraged us to,

1. Honour and learn our language and histories, educate ourselves.

2. Move from a place of adversity and battle and move forward with love, purpose, positivity and passion.

3. Prioritise the well-being of our families and our health.

4. Prioritise the well-being of our environment.

5. Be the masters of our own destiny and embrace economic endeavors to advance as a people like our ancestors did.

6. To create opportunities locally, nationally and globally for ourselves and not be reliant on the government.

Our Queen also announced two key economic initiatives,

- Ohanga ki te ao Economic Summit, to be held later this year.

- Tahua Kotahitanga, a capital initiative with seed funding from iwi Maaori entities.

Te Arikinui Kuini Ngawai hono i te po is taking us all into the future and we are here for it.

19/08/2025

Noho #2 for 2025 completed and what a jam packed weekend filled with so many beautiful moments of learning & sharing.

Our wāhine had completed all of their beautifully prepped harakeke muka over the previous month & were super excited to move onto the next step in the process which was learning to make aho (which is the muka thread we use to whatu or knit our maro together). We spent the Friday making aho, sharing stories, listening to music, stopping for yummy kai & Kawhi until we were all pooped 😵‍💫😴
Then the next day we were all ready to begin whatu (weaving our muka fibre together) & for us this is a moment we always look forward to seeing. That ahhh-haaaa moment that says, this is what all that hard mahi was for & now all of the processes begin to make sense 😃
This was how we spent our Saturday, in between more kai breaks, lots of talking, laughing & music playing in the background 🎶 🙂
Saturday night we were accompanied by Charlotte who spent the evening sharing her beautiful mātauranga “the birth of a language” which as always left them all wanting more.
Unfortunately Sunday rolled around waaay too quickly & so we ended our weekend with yes, you guessed it, more kai 😋 & our arotake. It’s these moments that we stop, take a breath and all share our reflections on the weekend which we absolutely love to hear! 🥰
Now all of our amazing wāhine have gone back home to carry on with their weaving in preparation for our next noho in September & share their mātauranga with their whanau & friends.

Georgia and I would love to take a moment to thank our awesome funders who are behind us & supporting this kaupapa that we absolutely love so so much and couldn’t do without them.

~ The Lottery Grants Board
~ Palmerston North Community-Led Initiatives Fund.

11/08/2025

Ngā mihi to Palmerston North City Council and the Community Led Initiatives fund for their awhi and belief in our kaupapa.

Meet Georgia Larkins-Tareha and Corrinne Tripp – two Palmy sisters weaving connection and creativity into our community. ❤️

Georgia and Corrinne first took up raranga in 2014 and completed their Bachelor of Māori Visual Art in 2018, immersed in a te ao Māori space. Through their studies, they found themselves reconnecting with their cultural identity.

That connection later inspired them to form Ngā Toi Harakeke to help others do the same. With support from our Community-Led Initiatives Fund, they’ve been able to start holding toi Māori wānanga to help other local wāhine reconnect with their culture in a te ao Māori space that encompasses tikanga, pūrākau, waiata, karakia and kai.

For Georgia and Corrinne, the proudest moments have been seeing the empowerment, connection and growth in the wāhine they teach. “This also fuels us to keep doing what we are doing.”

Ngā mihi nui, Georgia and Corrinne – thank you for helping others feel more connected, confident, and at home in our beautiful city.

Some of our community funds are currently open, including the Community-Led Initiatives Fund and the Creative Communities Scheme. Find out what’s available and how to apply here 👉 www.pncc.govt.nz/Community/Community-funding

02/08/2025

To all of the wāhine and tamariki that came to the rose bouquet wānanga yesterday hosted by Square Edge Community Arts. Georgia and I would like to say ngā mihi nui to you all for making it such a fun and enjoyable day! It was lovely getting to know you all and to hear how you enjoyed the day making roses with us and learning a little about Te Whare Pora (The house of weaving).
We hope we have inspired you to go out and learn more and we hope to see you all again at other future workshops. 🙂 Happy weaving everyone.
Corrinne & Georgia

17/07/2025

Come join us to make a bouquet of beautiful harakeke roses!! We will be showing you how to make rose buds and roses. We will even have dye so you can colour them just like the ones in the picture! So if you have some time that day and want to come along and have some fun making some rose bouquets then register with square edge before spaces run out. 😉

Saturday August 02nd, 10am-1pm

Join Ngā Toi Harakeke and learn to make some gorgeous Harakeke Roses!
$5 per person, email [email protected] to register.
Limited spaces available!!

02/05/2025

Kia ora koutou 💚 its that time again and we are laying down the wero to whanau who are feeling disconnected and want the opportunity to reconnect to their Māoritanga (culture).

My sister and I have experienced the feeling of disconnection and the feeling of not knowing where or how to start. This is why we are both so passionate about offering a safe, gentle & fun space for those who are ready to reconnect.

We will be running a set of 3 fully funded (free) Māori weaving wānanga using traditional materials and techniques in July, August & September 2025 ( Dates below) for wāhine Māori (women) living in and around the Manawatū.

This is a noho wānanga specifically created for Māori wāhine who are feeling disconnected from their culture and are wanting a way to reconnect.

Arohamai, this is a child free space.

All meals, Tools and marae style accommodation is provided.

We have 12 spaces available and would love you to message us if you fit the criteria below:

✅ you are a wāhine Māori (women)

✅ Age 25+

✅ you are feeling disconnected & would like to connect to your Māori culture & need a place to start.

✅ can 100% commit to the weekend dates below

✅ Live in or around the Manawatū area

✅ Have little to no weaving experience

✅ Have access to the internet & know how to use FB messenger & zoom

✅ LOVE TO HAVE FUN AND CREATE 😉

NOHO DATES will be
Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. (You must be free for all 3 weekends)

➡️18-20 July 2025

➡️ 15-17 August 2025

➡️ 12-14 September 2025

If you fit the criteria above and can commit to the dates then please send us a message telling us a little about yourself. 😃💚 We are super excited to get started again this year and can’t wait to hear from you.

Kia ora rawa atu

Corrinne & Georgia ❤️🤍🖤

Please note: if you do not fit the criteria, arohamai. We are endeavouring to create more wānanga that can include everyone in the future. 🙂🫶

This project is supported by
*Palmerston North Community-Led Initiatives Fund
*Lottery Grants Board

04/03/2025

A beautiful representation of what connection to our whenua looks like 💚

⚠️ We received a lot of feedback regarding our call for volunteers for the cleanup on Sunday after Te Matatini. 💬 ⬇️

We may not have been clear enough regarding why this cleanup was needed. So here is a better explanation. 🙃 ⬇️

The Bowl of Brooklands and Pukekura Park have been incredibly tidy at the end of each day: the public brought all the rubbish to our stations (as you can see in the photo!). ☀👀

➡ The Sunday cleanup consisted of picking up all the little pieces of rubbish left behind (and hard to see) and ensuring everything was spotless for park users and WOMAD 2025!

Once again BIG ngā mihi to all! Public, volunteers and staff: you all did amazing! Ka rawe! 🌿☀

09/12/2024

Āe ❤️

A kōrero about Mauri - Part 2

The focus of Te Āo Māori is the connection between species; Māori see the world “in terms of an intricate web of relationships and reciprocal obligations” (cf Maori Marsden), the wellness of the world depends on the health of those connections. The Mauri is at the source of that interconnectedness.

The focus of Western science on the other hand tends to be on individual species, getting to know it in its every detail; it often gives much less heed to the connection to other species that helps to make it what it is.

There is a tremendous amount of work done on endangered species, for example, but often the key to saving them is not a successful captive rearing programme but caring for the places that they come from, and all the other species that belong there.

Mauri speaks to the natural world being a self-regulating system, which is able to restore its own health and balance. The impact of human activity is threatening the mauri of Papatūānuku, her ability to heal herself, she is stressed and struggling. We see this in the plummeting biodiversity in our ngāhere, awa and moana.

In the third part of these whakaaro, I will share on what specifically hurts Mauri, and what we can do to begin healing Mauri in our local ecosystems.