Kowhaiwhai - Geometry of Aotearoa

Kowhaiwhai
on marae, the inside roof of the wharenui (meeting house) is usually
ciecorated with beautiful rafter patterns called kowhaiwhai.
All kowhaiwhai patterns have
lhe shape of the koru or fern
h"ond.
Other shapes and patterns can be made from the koru.
kOwhai ngutu kaka,
ilower of the kaka beak
koira, a pattern inside itself,
like "the breath
kape, two stems
together or sometimes marama
(moon)
of liJe"
oatiki, the flounder
rauru, the spiral
puhoro, the split koru,
meanlng speed
The colours used are white, red, and
black. The
koru pattern is always in white. Use a grid to make
up some koru patterns.
Try to have parts of your pattern touching so that
r-ou have some closed spaces.
.'
( ,;,
-:,_
,.
-'t-
Use black and
red to colour it.
mango pare, the ha rruner head shark
{\t
-/
)a >
a
\
l
Kowhaiwhai
The pattern that you have drawn can be copied in many different ways to
starting pattern
Translating
Start'with a koru pattern. Shift it along and copy it, Iike this:
-)
ShiJt
-)
it along and copy it. Shift it along and copv
it,
and so on...
Reflecting
Start with your pattern,
reflect (flip) it and copy,
and so on...
Shift the pattern along tr,,'o blocks and copy it.
This is the same as reflecting it. Can you see why?
Rotating
3:*il'hl'i::if il'Jilffi :'iilf Jilfi il::i?:iff
E-rrr=.dFt
jilK-,**AI
-trE-- -'--.;
Draw the pattern again.
Make it a half turn ciifferent frorn the
first.
@w@w
Shift the pattern along two blocks and copy it.
Make up your own kowhaiwhai pattern, using these ideas. you might like
to use the same sfarting pattern for each method.
Which design looks best?
10
.90