Kia ora! Ko Aroha Tamihana tōku ingoa, he uri au nō Ngāti Ranginui me Ngāti Raukawa ki Te Kaokaoroa-o-Pātetere.

I am a Māori graphic designer passionate about promoting the Māori language and culture through unique designs, products and resources. I aim to help normalise the use of te reo Māori throughout Aotearoa using my background in graphic design and brush-lettering calligraphy.

I grew up overseas for the first decade of my life (born in the Philippines raised in Tajikistan). Upon our return to Aotearoa, I discovered that growing up separated from my Māori culture left me with many confronting emotions I had not had to deal with before – one being the ultimate shame attached to not speaking my own language. In 2015 I decided to do a one-year full immersion te reo Māori course with my pāpā, which was pivotal in my reclamation journey. Since then, I have been incredibly passionate about helping others on their own journey and making te reo Māori more accessible in everyday life.

There is a range of te reo Māori products available through my business Maimoa Creative (greeting cards, art prints, custom prints and more). I share content on my Instagram relating to the education of te reo Māori and empowering other indigenous people on their own reclamation journey. I am a self-taught brush calligrapher and enjoy creating unique custom typography pieces for customers that showcase their whakapapa (in the form of Pepeha prints) or kupu (words) close to their hearts.

As a designer, I take on a limited number of commission/collaboration projects a year that focus on promoting te reo / te ao Māori. A couple of notable projects I had the honour of being the graphic designer for was Kaupapa game by Kura Rēhia (a fun Māori board game for speakers and learners of te reo Māori), and a collaboration project with Konei called Kāri Māori (Māori inspired playing cards).

For custom hand-lettered print orders, click here.

For design projects, please email me at kiaora@maimoa.nz

For the upcoming intro to Brush Lettering workshops, click here.

Education:

2014: Bachelor of Media Arts, WINTEC

2015: Te Tohu Paetahi, University of Waikato

Links to mentioned design projects:

Kāri Māroi

Kura Rēhia