(b Wellington, NZ, 4 Feb 1943). New Zealand Maori weaver and fibre artist. In 1961-2 she studied at the Wellington School of Design. With the flowering of interest in Maori culture that took place in the late 1960s, she became deeply involved in Maori arts and crafts. Tahiwi began full-time teaching in Raranga (traditional Maori weaving) at the Institute of Maori Arts and Craft, Whakarewarewa, Rotorua, and subsequently played a leading role in the revival of flax weaving through her involvement in teaching at polytechnics throughout New Zealand. In 1986 she travelled to the Commonwealth Institute in London to demonstrate Maori weaving in association with the exhibition Amokura O te maori (The art of Maori weaving). In the late 1980s she began to change direction, inaugurating the development of contemporary Maori weaving. Tahiwi referred to her later work in terms of the Maori proverb Ka hao te rangatahi (the new net goes fishing). Yet while she used contemporary dyes and a range of new materials, flax and traditional knotting techniques still formed the basis of her art. A major work Nga Hekenga (the source of Maori creative design) is installed in the Select Committee rooms at Parliament Buildings in Wellington, NZ.
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