Artist Reuben Paterson has expanded his talents into rug design in collaboration with New Zealand based Dilana, a project 3 years in the making. The limited edition release for Spring 2020 is titled Ko Te Aroha Anō which translates as Love is Like Water. The genealogy of these two kōwhaiwhai, the Mangopare and Mangotipi weave together are an invocation and whakapapa to Tangaroa through the colours of the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea.
As two interlaced patterns they come together at spaces of intersection like the oceans kiss at Cape Reinga in colours, blue and green, or the line of shore and sea and ocean and horizon. As they sit in reflection to how they are found in the wharenui, there is now an up and down, they are sky and land, and whakapapa back further to the primeval parents Rangi and Papa.
Paterson states: "Kōwhaiwhai take us on a visual journey where their own genealogy of swirling curls come to represent short journeys. These expeditions are literal, spiritual and metaphorical excursions between all parts of the meetinghouse, reinforcing the intimate genealogical and holistic relationship between humankind and our environment. For a rug of kōwhaiwhai to be placed in reflection and onto the floor was at first at emotional odds to me and became the creative challenge when a friend just simply said, well figure it out, how do you place kōwhaiwhai on the ground – could it be as simple a declaration as that?
And something magic happened. You will contemplate these two rugs and instantly read them as kōwhaiwhai, though there are none present – this is my surprise for you, because you do have memories and experiences that spark your relationship with them. What I needed to do was shelter each koru, so that every pitau is veiled and protected by bold and curving line so each contour becomes a frontier to a new and personal expedition."
Each rug: 2500 x 2500mm, hand tufted, 100% NZ wool, 5kg/sqm, edition of 3
For further details, see here.
