Restoring Waka Excellence to Tamaki Makaurau, Aotearoa and the World

With the support of the NZ Maritime Museum, Pou Kapua Creations will create a centralised, Tōhunga-led hub for all aspects of waka culture based in Tāmaki Makaurau. This will be a safe, inclusive, innovative space for creating and maintaining waka, and sharing holistic learning of waka culture.

Our Vision

Pou Kapua Creations will create, manage and run a centralised, tohunga-led hub for all aspects of waka culture based in Tāmaki Makaurau: a safe, inclusive, innovative space for creating and maintaining waka, holistic learning, safeguarding mātauranga Māori, knowledge transmission and knowledge sovereignty.

The building and facilities will incorporate a canoe building and carving workshop equipped to create waka of all types and sizes using both customary and cutting-edge materials.

This physical space will be extended into the digital assets and curriculum development to further extend access and participation into the broader national and global community.

Our objectives include:

• Returning waka to the waters of Tāmaki Makaurau and restoring the vitality of waka cultures in the wake of colonial destruction

• Creating a purpose-built space for tōhunga, iwi, hapū and whānau to exercise their rights under Te Tiriti to tino rangatiratanga over mātauranga and tāonga,including waka

• Sharing our unique waka knowledge and Mātauranga Maori through public demonstrations, workshops and wananga

• Enabling access to the water for Māori and Pacific residents of otherwise landlocked Auckland suburbs

• Nurturing relationships among Māori and Pacific communities that honour and celebrate ancestral connections through waka voyaging

Waka Creation

We create all types of waka in many mediums

At our hub at the Percy Vos Shed located in Tamaki Makaurau we fuse a diverse array of knowledge traditions to create an incubator and living repository for innovation and excellence in all aspects of kaupapa waka, toi whakairo and tarai waka. Our bespoke waka workshop will allow for the construction of all kinds of waka, from the smallest waka tētē to the mighty waka taua, to the ocean-going double-hulled waka hourua of our ingenious voyaging ancestors and everything in between, including the innovative Waka Taniwha Class of waka.

Expanding access to kaupapa waka through tōhunga-led, culturally safe, educational activities, micro credentials and curriculum development, mentorships and apprenticeships will provide a vital pathway for safeguarding our waka mātauranga; ensuring the resilience and sustainability of tohunga toi ake, tohunga whakairo and tohunga waka.

Waka Conservation

We understand that waka are taonga and must be cared for and protected throughout their lifetime. Taonga have wairua, each has mauri, a life-force that must be nurtured and nourished. Kaitiakitanga, care and conservation of waka is a critical element of our work which includes ongoing comprehensive evaluation, assessment, and maintenance of each and every waka.

BERLIN WAKA