Auxetic kōwhaiwhai designs bring new dimensions to kiwifruit growers

Toioho ki Āpiti Māori visual artist Maihi Potaka, Ngāti Hauiti, Ngāti Manawa, Te Ātihaunui-ā-Pāpārangi, and School of Food Technology and Natural Sciences packaging expert Dr Eli Gray-Stuart have joined forces to design packaging that incorporates Māori motifs for Māori Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated (MKGI).

MKGI recently launched their Collaborative Marketing programme in Hawaii, which sets them as the exporter of Zespri kiwifruit into the Hawaiian market. The packaging is auxetic, meaning it expands rather than contracts when stretched as normal packaging does. The designs is currently featuring at an exhibition in Palmerston North at Square Edge Arts Centre until 7 January 2025.

The packaging was developed for a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Smart Ideas project entitled Kōwhaiwhai pūtoi koiora – Kōwhaiwhai based biomaterial packaging that was funded in 2022 for two years, in conjunction with Professor John Bronlund and Professor Robert Jahnke.

The $1 million collaboration set out to combine design with packaging and materials expertise at Massey, Scion and Callaghan Innovation, to develop packaging applications using contemporary auxetic kōwhaiwhai designs that are consistent with its use, while positively promoting and embracing Māori culture.

Mr Potaka spent the first year of the project creating new kōwhaiwhai designs. The design was to be used in new packaging, and the selected design was selected was based on the Amokura bird. This bird has significance for Māori, is known as the red-tailed tropic bird and is most commonly observed over the open ocean on its travels. Mr Potaka also wanted to embed an underlying narrative to universally acknowledge Aotearoa New Zealand and take something representative of Indigenous New Zealand to the world. The packaging is protectable under trademark and copyright acts.

Over the course of the project, science-based methodologies to design kōwhaiwhai-based materials with unique properties was developed. While there is a need for sustainable food packaging to reduce plastic use, it must be also be practical. For the fruit industry, it needs to be strong and cushion the fruit to allow transport, often via great distances if being exported, as the fruit ripens and becomes more susceptible to bruising and damage. The packaging the team designed allowed the fruit to have increased shock absorption protection, by utilising the materials' auxetic properties.

Mr Potaka and Dr Gray-Stuart then worked together to provide packaging styles as a proof of concept, eventually choosing the applications as a box style insert. MKGI used the packaging as a koha as part of its Collaborative Marketing launch in Hawaii in June 2024.

RUN creative provided the graphics and postcard insert for the box as they were commissioned to do a rebrand of MKGI and the in-market campaign for the Hawaii launch.

The Collaborative Marketing programme enables MKGI to collaborate with Zespri to export New Zealand-grown kiwifruit to the Hawaiian market. The market was chosen due to the Indigenous connections between Māori and Kānaka Maoli. The packaging is not yet being produced commercially, but a partnership has been established and opportunities are being explored.

Mr Potaka says, "This has been an interesting and enlightening project to be part of. To innovate the visual language of kōwhaiwhai in ways of functionality that can be beneficial to te iwi Māori and Aotearoa is massive. Seeing the kōwhaiwhai breathe and come to life when applied to its kinetic form is a taonga to share."

Dr Gray-Stuart says it has been a privilege to be part of the project and contribute to the unique packaging.

"Auxetic kōwhaiwhai materials are not only visually stunning, which often elicit an emotive response, but they also have great functionality which can be tailored to suit different applications."

The MBIE project has recently concluded, with the final report submitted and publications being drafted. Beyond the project, the designs are being shared with te Ao Māori to enhance and innovate in the kōwhaiwhai area, as they can be adapted into architecture and other forms for use.

One area Mr Potaka has explored has been interior design, using the kōwhaiwhai pūtoi koiora in lamp shades and furnishings. Scientifically, the modelling and mathematics of the designs could also be explored to assist future designs, with projections into three dimensions for applications.