This event is fully booked, to be added to the waitlist please email .

Join us at Objectspace on Thursday 23 October for an evening of reflection and creative insight with five Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland-based Māori designers, artists and professionals.

In conjunction with Pohewa Pāhewa: Te Rūma, each speaker will share a taonga they wish they’d made – something that has sparked creative inspiration or admiration.

Your speakers are Kiri Nathan, Max Quinn-Tapara, Nigel Borell, Chantel Matthews, and Nina Churchward Van Lier.

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Kiri Nathan (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Hauā, Ngāti Maru and Ngāti Paoa) is an award-winning Māori fashion designer, entrepreneur, cultural ambassador, and mentor. A highly respected trailblazer, her work includes many first for NZ fashion, founding the Kāhui Collective and building the Kauri eco-system. 

Max Quinn-Tapara (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Maniapoto) born and raised in Te Upoko-o-te-ika-a-Māui, is a Graphic Designer at Extended Whānau in Tāmaki Makaurau. Guided by his whakapapa, his practice explores how culture and narrative can be expressed through fresh, engaging design. Previously at Haumi, Max unified strategy and pūrākau through identity work that bridged iwi, architectural, and commercial projects. At Extended Whānau, he works closely with people and organisations to craft contemporary Māori design that carries visual languages and stories into the world. 

Nigel Borell is of Pirirakau, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Te Whakatōhea tribal descent. He is a curator, writer, Māori arts advocate, and artist specialising in Māori art in both customary and contemporary fields of research. Borell has had an active role in the arts and culture sector spanning the past 25 years. Borell was a recipient of The Art Foundation’s A Moment In Time – He Momo award, for his contribution to New Zealand arts and culture in curating the landmark exhibition Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art and was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Māori art in 2022. He is currently Curator Taonga Māori at The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira.

Chantel Matthews (Ngāti Hounuku, Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Ikaunahi, Waikato Tainui) is a contemporary artist, independent curator, and editor of HĀTUA Magazine Aotearoa. Her art practice explores self-care through whanaungatanga (working together/relationship through shared experiences) and manaakitanga (supporting others) traversing between installation, performance, sculpture and collaboration.

Nina Churchward Van Lier (Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa) recognises design as a conversation of reciprocity – one that asks us to give as much as we take. For her, design is a way of listening to the living systems of the natural world and giving form to that relationship; a practice that binds people to place, where culture is the fibre that weaves together that connection. As Pou Heke (Creative Lead) at Haumi, Nina works alongside the Haumi whānau to bring breath into identities and pūrākau that have always been here — connecting people, place, and language in all their forms, from visual and spoken expression to the living language of the taiao.

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Our thanks to The Purple Gift for providing special support for public programming around Pohewa Pāhewa: Te Rūma.