Every Hāpua design tells a story. What is the whakaaro behind this scarf?
Hāpua has a distinctive artistic style. We wanted to bring our two kaupapa together and create something new, something that reflects our shared ideas about Hawaiki Hou.
Hawaiki Hou represents both a vision for the future and a reflection of the season we are currently in. The scarf’s black, white and gold colour palette also connects with the identity of our new retail space.
We opened the store at the beginning of the Matariki season, marking a new beginning for us here in Pukekohe. Although Rerehua began here four years ago, the store represents an exciting new chapter. It is also a space where we proudly showcase more than 30 pakihi Māori.
What do you hope people will feel or connect with when wearing it?
We want people to feel empowered, connected and proud to be Māori.
For us, Hawaiki Hou is about living our best lives as Māori, whatever that may look like within the different contexts and seasons of our lives.
What has this collaboration meant to you, and why did it feel like the right fit?
We love working alongside other pakihi and artists. This collaboration grew from meeting at Waitangi earlier this year. We were both running stalls and naturally began talking about mahi and whānau.
Teegan has a beautiful āhua and a deeply creative spirit, so the collaboration felt like a natural fit. There is also a connection through the whenua: our mum is from Awanui and Patu Koraha, while Teegan is from a little further north at Te Hāpua. Together, we are connected through whakapapa and our shared ancestral ties to Muriwhenua.
How did you decide on the colour palette, and what do these colours represent?
Black, white and gold reflect our vision of Hawaiki Hou. They weave together the hopes of our tūpuna and the pūrākau that teach us about Te Pō, Te Kore and Te Ao Mārama.
There is always potential within the darkness. There can be struggle as we move towards the light, and sometimes we travel back and forth between these states as we grow and learn.
These colourways are embedded throughout our pakihi and our new retail space, helping us to remember and remain connected to these stories.
At the moment, what is your favourite way to style the scarf?
My favourite way to wear it is over my head with a cap. My second choice is tied around my neck as it adds a pop of colour and instantly elevates the fit, especially when I’m wearing an all black, corporate-style outfit.
If you could choose one word to capture the essence of this collaboration, what would it be, and why?
Hawaiki.
During the Matariki season, I spent a lot of time thinking about our koroua who have passed. Their lives were marked by struggle and hardship, as well as disconnection and alienation from their whenua and culture. Despite this, they always worked hard and did their best for the whānau.
Our people have always had the ability to adapt and change through every season. We see this resilience in the journeys of our tūpuna as they navigated the Pacific from Hawaiki. We see it again in the way our people endured the arrival of settlers and the impacts of colonisation. We continue to adapt as we grow and learn in this era of revitalisation.
Our people remain. We are not only surviving, we are a growing population, reclaiming our stories, culture and ways of being.
Through whakapapa, we have inherited a legacy of greatness.
We are descendants of Hawaiki.
Descendants of navigators.
Descendants of gardeners.
Descendants of chiefs.
Descendants of kaitiaki.
Descendants of Atua.
He kākano ahau i ruia mai i Rangiātea. E kore au e ngaro.