Aotearoa New Zealand · Wood Carving / Architectural Craft
Whakairo rākau
Whakairo rākau (wood carving) is one of the supreme technical and artistic achievements of the Pacific — the carved meeting houses (wharenui) of Māori are among the most elaborately decorated wooden structures in the world. Every surface of a wharenui interior is carved — the poupou (wall posts), the heke (rafters), the pātaka (store house panels) — in a continuous visual narrative of genealogy (whakapapa) and cosmology. The defining technical knowledge is the koru proportion system: the koru (the unfurling fern frond, the primary Māori design element) has a specific proportion relationship — the inner spiral diameter is exactly one-third of the outer koru body width. This 1:3 proportion, held in the carver's eye rather than measured, is the foundation from which all whakairo design derives. Every other element references the koru.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · New Zealand national ICH list; Te Puia heritage designation
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