Paerangi: Behind the weave

Nov 01, 2024

Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tuohu koe me he maunga teitei. Pursue excellence and if you should surrender may it be to a lofty mountain.

Woven in our heritage cross hatch style in earthy brown tones, crossed with hues of white, black and gray, this design is an ode to our homelands and the permanence of our mountains that stand as sentinels upon our local landscape.

Within the body of this design we’ve woven sections of rauponga inspired notches, a common wood carving pattern to echo the saying, "ngā ihoiho o te maunga" - "the sinews of the mountain" and portray the many layers of lineage & intergenerational connection with these sites of significance.

Runs of Taki toru - Pākati - Dog tooths notch, a recurring pattern of three notches, symbolises migration, change and the transmission of local knowledge systems across and throughout generations.

Ngā hau a Tāwhirimātea - our white and black warp is woven in bands across the body of the blanket, over and under our weft colours to a tassel edge, reflecting the winds of home that blow upon our mountains. Refreshing, renewing and restoring us, whenever we return home.

The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing — to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from — my country, the place where I ought to have been born. Do you think it all meant nothing, all the longing? The longing for home? For indeed it now feels not like going, but like going back.

~ C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces.

Hokia ki ō maunga kia purea koe e ngā hau a Tāwhirimātea. Let the winds of your return home regenerate you to be refreshed and renewed.

There are few sights to behold the world over, more wonderful than that of the mountains of home. Lofty peaks stand as a beacon of belonging, over generations. They’ve come to resemble a constant in our lives, a tupuna, a teacher, a healer, a refuge, a reflection of our past, a storehouse of not only memories, but of visions for the future. Here long before us and here long after, forever enduring, our mountains reflect the permanence of home.

Rārangi maunga tū i te ao i te pō. Rārangi tangata ngaro noa ngaro noa. A mountain range stands for eternity but people will pass away.

Peaks stretching towards the heavens in exaltation, longing for an enveloping embrace. A crest upon the horizon, towering above the landscape, encapsulating the skyline, standing as a guiding waypoint as we navigate along our journeys. Mountains give us shelter as they face the winds and storms, unmoved, while aiding our ascent with stable footing, lifting us closer to the stars.

A repository of stories, forged in the earth, rendered asunder. Terrestrial power and celestial ascension, ancient explorers who upon sighting such wondrous giants, named them in recognition of their grandeur & prestige. Maunga that once roamed the earth now stand at the epicentre of our identity, an absolute in our account of who we are, and where we’re from. Over generations their significance grows, as these stories of identity are retold in unending recognition.

Te ihoiho o ngā maunga. The sinews of the mountain, its progeny, its people.

Our maunga reflect our most lofty aspirations, and bear testament to our biggest challenges. We witness their mana as we stand at their feet, we gain perspective of ourselves and our place in our environment, and upon their shoulders we cast our vision for the future.

Paerangi is one of three new designs in our Limitless range, launching on Friday 01.11.24