Explore Māori design, creativity and mātauranga through exhibitions, talks, demonstrations, making and experiences across Festival of Design Aotearoa.
Design in Whanganui has a history that reaches back centuries.
Long before Whanganui became a UNESCO City of Design, Māori artists, makers and communities were shaping objects, places and ways of living through knowledge carried across generations. That continuing relationship between people, whenua, whakapapa and creativity remains an important part of the region’s design identity today.
In both Palmerston North and Whanganui a rich collection of events brings Māori design and creative practice to the forefront from taonga and contemporary toi Māori to architecture, public space, performance, ceramics and conversations about the future.
Begin with the masters
He Puna Tohunga | The Well of Master Creatives brings together an extraordinary assembly of Tohunga and master practitioners, celebrating work grounded in whakapapa, deep cultural knowledge, innovation and enduring artistry. The exhibition includes work by artists and designers whose practice has gained national and international recognition, alongside pieces commissioned for global audiences.
At Whanganui Regional Museum, Mai i Onamata, He Pūawai brings together Warren Warbrick, Matthew McIntyre Wilson and Purewa Hodge to explore taonga, mātauranga Māori and contemporary creative practice, sharing insights into how ancestral knowledge continues to shape design.
Design shaped by place
What happens when the identity and knowledge of a place lead the design process?
When Place Leads: Māori Design, Mātauranga and Civic Space brings together Eugene Kara, Jacob Scott and Graham Tipene in conversation about Māori design in civic spaces: exploring how mātauranga and mana whenua involvement can shape decisions, built form and the way people experience a place.
In Palmerston North, Te Hīkoi Toi takes that thinking out into the landscape. Guided by Tohunga Toi Warren Warbrick (Rangitāne), morning and sunset tours explore the mahi toi and design embedded in Te Ahu a Turanga highway, including large sculptural and infrastructural works created in partnership with mana whenua.
Photo credit: Virginia Warbrick 2025
Sunset Tour: Discover More HERE
Morning Tour: Discover More HERE
Māori futures
Design isn’t only about where we have come from. It can also help us imagine what comes next.
At Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery, He Ao Āpōpō, He Ao Tea: Māori Futures looks directly towards that future. Inspired by the whakataukī He ao āpōpō, he ao tea (tomorrow is a new day); and the new day will bring clarity: the Puanga exhibition brings together artists including Kauri Hawkins, Eugene Kara, Maicha Kara, Peata Larkin, Tracey Tawhiao and others.
A special curator tour with Cecelia Kumeroa goes deeper into the exhibition and the Whanganui River narrative and co-design elements woven through the Sarjeant Gallery extension.
Creativity, identity and connection
At Te Ao Hou Marae, Te Puawaitanga, the Flourishing Te Ao Hou Marae: Open Day offers an opportunity to experience a significant Māori cultural and community hub in Aramoho. Ngā Puna Waihanga, a carving school based at the marae, works to preserve and advance traditions of Māori whakairo while nurturing a new generation of carvers and strengthening cultural knowledge, identity and creative excellence.
In Palmerston North, Hononga – Connection brings together contemporary design practice through the work of Mark Bagley, David Hakaraia and Natasha Perkins. Framed through a Te Ao Māori lens, the exhibition considers design across lighting, acoustics and furniture, grounded in whakapapa and whanaungatanga.
And for something hands-on, Raku with Ahi Wāhine invites people into the unpredictable process of ceramic firing, with both day and night workshops transforming glazed pottery through fire and smoke.
Day Firing Workshop: Discover More HERE
Night Firing Workshop: Discover More HERE
Stories carried forward
The Festival programme also brings Māori stories and perspectives to the stage.
Tiri: Te Araroa Woman Far Walking, written by Witi Ihimaera and directed by Katie Wolfe, maps Aotearoa through the eyes of Te Tiriti o Waitangi Mahana. Moving between 1840 and the present, the bilingual production brings together history, memory and performance to look backwards and forwards at the same time.
And Whanganui Mūmū: Whanganui By Design places these stories within the wider design history of the city. The exhibition explores Whanganui’s historic and contemporary contribution to design including Māori designers, artists and the creativity, cultural integrity and innovation that have shaped the region.
From taonga created and carried across generations to new civic spaces, contemporary art and visions of the future, Māori design is not simply one part of Whanganui’s design story. It is foundational to it.
Explore the events, meet the makers and discover Māori design across Festival of Design Aotearoa, 16–25 October.