Page 63 - Constructing Craft

(baskets) to raise funds to build a marae. In the 1950s she married Rangi Hetet

who was the grandson of Rangimarie Hetet. He was a master carver. Rangimarie
helped educate Erenora in korowai or cloak-weaving techniques. She became well

known for her use of non-traditional materials, an example of which is a steel wire
and paua-shell cloak made on the theme of the Maori fishing rights settlement,

which was exhibited as part of the ‘Eternal Thread’ exhibition that toured the United
51
States in 2006.

Erenora Puketapu-Hetet. Photo: Museum of New Zealand
Te Papa Tongarewa.

Matekoraha Te Peehi Rangihika (nee Jaram), known as Bessie, was born in 1902
at Whiritoa in the North Island. Her father’s iwi was Ngati Maru. Her mother,

Mihimere Mokai, was the great-granddaughter of a Ngati Pukeko chief who signed

the Treaty of Waitangi near Whakatane. It was here that her mother, who was very
knowledgeable about plants, taught her how to weave and how to identify suitable

plants for weaving. Bessie married Narsay Jaram, an Indian from Bombay. She
promoted Māori arts and crafts by encouraging Māori women to display their hand-

Constructing Craft