Mauri – Kawakawa Toki

I named this set Mauri for all the story it has to tell. Mauri is the word for life force or our vital essence. This set does capture the mauri of the couple that is made for.

This set was made for a Mother and Father, from their 5 adult children.

It all starts with a conversation then a design. It is important to get it right at this moment. You can see how the koru in the Mothers toki evolved from the original design, this was add character as well as to add strength.

It was important the pieces both came from the same slice of Pounamu, from side by side. This is how the couple have lived their life and this is a such a strong representation of that unbroken connection.

The koru in both represent the people in their lives. They are always giving what they have to help others. Bringing people into their home and raising them up to be the best that they can be. Koru are a symbol of nurturing and whanaungatanga and will be a constant testament to the kindness these people have shown to others.

There are 5 notches on the matching side of each toki. These are for their five children. A notch on a toki is a very tactile thing and will be a reminder of their whanau when ever they brush their fingers over the notches.

The point at the top under the lashing is for their Maunga. It represents their connection back to the turangawaewae, where they are from.

The Mothers toki has some extra wear marks on the cutting edge. This is to represent her unrelenting stubbornness in the pursuit of living her life as it was meant to be lived.

You can see the steps to take the raw pounamu through to the shape for the toki. The tools used for each stage of grinding, sanding, and polishing can be seen in the background of the images.

Carving the korus, notches, and toki lashing bits takes a lot of time and patience. Especially sanding the small parts to get them smooth. This is all done with a rotary hand tool and a variety of burrs. Then with silicon carbide sanding sticks.