Abstract
Abstract: This paper considers how one plant, harakeke (phormium tenax), native to Aotearoa New Zealand embodies the natural attributes to mitigate climate change and support transition to more sustainable and equitable material futures. Through interaction and collaboration, harakeke demonstrates how circular and regenerative textile design systems are manifested. In the interest of learning from harakeke the authors, working from multiple perspectives, position the plant as tohunga (knowledge expert) and themselves as tauira (learners) to share and reflect upon their engagements with the plant and its fibre. From harakeke we learn about familial relationships to whenua (land) and to each other, Māori textile practices, and how learning about harakeke can unlock insights and understandings of indigenous fibres and practices from Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. In this regard, we suggest that it is the knowledge that is transitional as the materials and practices themselves translate this knowledge through inter-indigenous and inter-cultural exchange.
Keywords
harakeke; textile kinship; transitional knowledge; inter-cultural
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1224
Citation
Kilford, A., Withers, S., Kane, F., and Smith, H. (2026) In kinship with harakeke phormium tenax: how one plant and its materials facilitate transitional knowledge through inter-indigenous and inter-cultural exchange., in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1224
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
In kinship with harakeke phormium tenax: how one plant and its materials facilitate transitional knowledge through inter-indigenous and inter-cultural exchange.
Abstract: This paper considers how one plant, harakeke (phormium tenax), native to Aotearoa New Zealand embodies the natural attributes to mitigate climate change and support transition to more sustainable and equitable material futures. Through interaction and collaboration, harakeke demonstrates how circular and regenerative textile design systems are manifested. In the interest of learning from harakeke the authors, working from multiple perspectives, position the plant as tohunga (knowledge expert) and themselves as tauira (learners) to share and reflect upon their engagements with the plant and its fibre. From harakeke we learn about familial relationships to whenua (land) and to each other, Māori textile practices, and how learning about harakeke can unlock insights and understandings of indigenous fibres and practices from Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. In this regard, we suggest that it is the knowledge that is transitional as the materials and practices themselves translate this knowledge through inter-indigenous and inter-cultural exchange.