As part of the latest release from Specsavers in support of The Fred Hollows Foundation, the local tattoo artist is branching out into a unique eyewear range that will serve the wider Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa whānau.
It’s been nearly two years in the making for an ambitious alliance between local Māori tā
Tasked with designing frames that work for both reading spectacles and sunglasses, Moko’s creative contribution is a series of firsts — the first brand partnership for the 36-year-old Tāmaki Makaurau tattoo artist and the first collection that features a unique notching detail on its frames. Indeed, Moko’s work is also part of the fabric of a wider cultural revival and exploration of Te ao Māori values in a modern world that is exploring and maintaining everything from weaving and carving to language, music and fashion.
While brand collaborations can sometimes feel incongruous and tied to marketing departments looking to box-tick, this convergence of art, fashion, culture, design and philanthropy is what makes the Specsavers annual limited-edition frames in partnership with The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ (FHFNZ) a connective thread grounded in authenticity.
Moko joins a distinguished alumni of artists who have previously collaborated with Specsavers and The Foundation including Aboriginal artist Sarrita King for the Foundation’s Indigenous Australia Program, providing much-needed fundraising for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health; and in 2022, with renowned Samoan artist Fatu Feu’u (ONZM), who was tasked with designing a limited-edition collection.
Harnessing the method of tattooing created by hand using traditional Māori and Polynesian hand tools known as the Uhi, Moko’s distinctive approach combines a deep respect for the origins of the art form with his own personal style.
“What’s inspired me is having more modes of seeing our patterns and seeing our design world out in the community. I’m really passionate about that,” he says when we catch up in his contemplative studio space at Corban Estate Arts Centre in Henderson. “The process has been great for extending our modes of creation, and to see the actual physical object of the glasses in hand after several meetings and discussions makes this launch exciting.”
Trained under the tutelage of prominent tattoo artists Croc Coulter and Inia Taylor, Moko’s own journey entrenched in the art form has helped his linear and geometric pattern style evolve into one that connects both past, present and future, working with both hand-tapped and hand-poked methods of tattooing. With an original intention to work with the art of Māori tattooing and its classical representation, Moko’s learning in the Pacific and the art of tatau helped him shape the evolution of his style.
“Learning in the Pacific Islands was logical because the tools and the patterns are linear, so it was a safe way to learn to use the tools. From there, I had to find my own way of relating to these patterns. So I imagined myself working more with linear patterns from tuktuku, taaniko and whakairo, and eventually aspiring to one day do more curvilinear work. This has been the learning process to the point where I gained confidence and the physical skills to do curvilinear.”
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Advertise with NZME.However, the demand and the desire for more linear work from clients and the community has informed much of Moko’s work, which is celebrated in the designs he has created for Specsavers.
“I find that really exciting because I see that it’s a beautiful way of linking back to Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa ancestry and our cousins, and finding something fresh for our people for today. I then step into the meeting point for curvilinear when it’s appropriate. It’s a style that bridges both classical Māori moko and what could be seen as closer to what our tupuna had, who landed on the whenua all those hundreds of years ago.”
The two main methods of hand-tapping and hand-poking are key features of Moko’s work, with both methods requiring not only physical concentration but a spiritual one too.
“Hand-tapping is the technique our tupuna have used for thousands of years within the Pacific. Some of the oldest tools are found in Tonga, which are 4000 years old, but they also extend into Asia, the Philippines, Northern India, Indonesia, the Pacific and Hawaii. That’s almost a third of the world. For an extensive technique, it’s also very rare.”
“Hand-poking is generally a needle of a sort or a group of needles and that’s plucking ink under the skin, a method found through Asia, North America and parts of Europe. Whereas in hand-tapping, one hand holds a comb and the other hand holds a stick for tapping that places the ink under the skin. It’s a really beautiful process.”
Translating centuries of tattoo technique and art form into a contemporary realm is a challenge Moko met head-on with his design for Specsavers, which launches this Friday, November 24, challenging the makers to a motif notched into the frames known as taratara notching, featured on the temples of the glasses. Moko’s own experience in bone carving allowed him to tap into his love of sculpture.
“I chose the notching pattern because it’s a pattern that’s seen throughout the Pacific; from Samoan, Tongan and Rarotongan tattooing, to even here in Aotearoa where our use of it is as a genealogy marker.
“We see it in our wood carvings and the old toki poutangata — sacred adze blades — where the little taratara notches were shaped on the side as a way to recite genealogies. When it is carved in that trio, it represents previous ancestors, current generations and future generations. It’s a way of linking our people from Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa, representing us moving forward in unity.”
The frames also feature a Karu o te Whenua pattern, a Maniapoto pattern that comes from the Hetet whānau who have been integral to maintaining traditional weaving in Aotearoa.
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Advertise with NZME.“There’s a relevance to eye health with karu being the eyes, honouring the fact that we need to look after our knowledge holders who, through their cultural practices, are also looking after the land; and also maintaining knowledge that pertains to land and culture. It’s a pattern seen through the Pacific in weaving too. I liked that it had a visual precedent in those islands too. It’s familiar and relatable.”
Part of the success of this partnership relies heavily on giving back to communities and being guided by the goals of The Fred Hollows Foundation. By purchasing one of Moko’s frames, $25 goes towards ending avoidable blindness in the Pacific through eye consultations, eye surgeries, education and qualifications for eye doctors across the Pacific, along with donating glasses to those in need or who are in remote areas and unable to easily get to a clinic.
Last year alone, The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ helped deliver more than 79,000 eye consultations, 6000 surgeries and supported 29 graduates to become fully qualified eye doctors in the Pacific.
It’s a collaboration that helps uplift those in need, and a critical part in Moko’s decision to branch out into his first brand partnership, a terrain that is not always easy for indigenous artists to traverse.
“I was lucky in that Specsavers had already worked with Fatu Fe’u and several Aboriginal artists previous to me, so there’s a bit of a groundwork laid by them in terms of approaching these things respectfully, making sure my voice was heard, making sure my personal boundaries and limits were stated and respected. I felt really like there was a good transparent and healthy way to communicate.”
“Communication is really important in these situations. Understanding your principles and boundaries is important. My first principle was asking whether as a Māori and as the artist I have control of the pattern and the design; and secondly, questioning if it does give back to the community it comes from. Though it doesn’t give back directly to the Māori community, it is the Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa community, which I feel is one and the same.”
With a newly resorted studio space, a new collaboration that will help amplify and celebrate indigenous tattooing to an entirely new audience and, at the time of our interview, the impending arrival of a second child with celebrated multi-disciplinary artist, architect and designer Raukura Turei (who also played a pivotal part in designing Moko’s studio), this new collection is perhaps symbolic of a fresh chapter in Moko’s tattooing career, one he has been practising since his early 20s.
Because tattooing is also a meditative process, what has his practice taught him about himself?
“I’ve definitely grown into the person I wanted to be, which was really satisfying,” he says reflectively.
“I remember my teacher Inia saying how my other teacher Croc had grown to become very similar to his teacher, the revered Samoan tatau artist Su’a Sulu’ape Paulo, and it implied that maybe it’s the tools and the process of doing this mahi that shapes you. You end up becoming it and therefore becoming someone who holds sacred space, who cares for our people, who helps in the various ways that this art form requires.”
For Māori and Pacific artists finding themselves being courted by brands or organisations to work with, Moko’s first major brand partnership already proves that such partnership can in fact be done correctly and with integrity.
“For me, it’s given me standing in the world. It’s given me a way to give back to our people and be of service, and have a purpose as well as being in a beautiful feedback loop and seeing where our people are at and what we want, and then trying to interpret it and come up with artistic responses. It’s a satisfying process that allows you to inspire, and ask, ‘How can I push it further this way?’ and seeing how people react to that. There’s a strong healing aspect to the mahi.”
Specsavers is hoping to reach their goal of raising $1 million dollars in donations to go towards The Fred Hollows Foundation NZ this year. By purchasing this year’s limited-edition frames, featuring the work of tā moko artist Mokonuiarangi Smith, $25 of proceeds go towards ending avoidable blindness in the Pacific. To purchase from Friday, November 24, visit Specsavers.co.nz, or to donate, visit Hollows.org.nz.
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