Tréology - Announced as winner of Silver, Best Design Awards 2024
Tréology | WEAVE Credenza, winner of Silver Award at Best Design Awards 2024
Furniture
The Weave credenza combines traditional craftsmanship with the skill and artistic form of three woven triptych panels created by Māori rāranga artist Bronwynn Billens, Ngati Tama, Te Atiawa, Te Arawa. The result is a contemporary functional art credenza that celebrates Aotearoa New Zealand design.
This credenza was inspired by Andrew’s observations of the patterns and texture used in traditional Māori rāranga/weaving and the stories told through this woven form. It looks to celebrate the design and patterns, setting the triptych woven panels in a simple frame, deliberate so as not take away from the individual beauty.
Each credenza door panel is hand-woven using harakeke/flax that whakapapa back to a replanted plant from the Rene Orchiston Collection. To ensure consistency, harakeke used to weave the three panels was harvested from the same Ate Whēke plant, carefully dried and prepared before being weaved. Although the pattern is the same, each door panel is unique by nature of it being hand-woven.
The weave pattern chosen for this credenza is called whakatutu– meaning to construct, build up and stand strong which was particularly meaningful following disruption of the Covid pandemic.
As beautiful on the front as the back, the credenza is made up of wooden slats wrapping around the back and curving around the sides. The careful blending of three traditional crafts into one seamless cabinet – wooden cabinet making, artisan metal work, and Māori weaving.
Image Credits | Tréology
The design story of the credenza is filled with layers. The first can be explored through talking about the curved ends of the credenza that are an abstract representation of a korowai, traditional Māori cloak. This handcrafted credenza is both elegant and sophisticated – telling another story about furniture through the decades. This handcrafted credenza tells another story, taking some design cues from the Art Deco furniture design period of the 1920s and 1930s.
The three hinged soft closed doors are finished with custom made knurled handles, and an adjustable timber shelf behind each door. The subtle but deliberate craftsmanship features include negative detailing, curved ends and timber slats that carry on around the entire cabinet including the back.
These handcrafted details highlight the precision required to bring a design to reality. All made in Christchurch, using similar techniques as cabinet makers 100 years ago – Andrew wanted to pay tribute to the skills of his great, great grandfather, who crafted some of New Zealand’s finest examples of furniture of his time.
THE BACK STORY TO THE DESIGN
The Why:
The purpose was to create a piece of functional art that celebrates traditional Māori raranga weaving.
We wanted to tell our unique Aotearoa New Zealand story by creating an opportunity to play with texture, materials and celebrate the traditional crafts of Māori raranga weaving, cabinet making and metal work through the medium of furniture design.
It is also representative of the importance of building whanaungatanga/relationships by weaving together three different crafts and two cultures into one seamlessly designed Aotearoa cabinet. Creating a functional art piece of furniture that by itself can be viewed as celebrating Māori weaving art, whilst being functional in its usage.
We wanted it to elevate a conventional furniture product, into a piece of functional art.
The Idea:
The idea was to ask ourselves – “where is art conventionally displayed?” Art is traditionally hung on walls within a wooden frame.
This design thinking led to conceptualising a credenza, in that it is a functional piece of furniture to store items. Doors on a cabinet allowed for the display of the weave panels as an art form. Inspired by the way triptych art told a story, the credenza was designed as a three-door cabinet.
The design idea needed to align with our brand values of family, (family of craftspeople, heritage), respect, adventure, nature, and excellence. Serendipitously, our design journey took us to a community art exhibition at the Pōhara Community Hall in the Golden Bay, where Bronwynn Billens, Ngati Tama, Te Atiawa, Te Arawa was displaying her raranga art forms.
The Design:
Aligning with our brand values, it was important that our intention to bring traditional woven panels into the furniture design was both sympathetic and culturally respectful, and not seen as tokenism. To do this it was deliberate that the design of the pattern and use of colour was guided by Bronwynn as the Māori raranga artist. If done well, the finished credenza should achieve the careful balance of respecting culture, whilst also being innovative.
The weave pattern chosen by Bronwynn is called whakatutu– meaning to construct, build up and stand strong which was particularly meaningful following the global Covid pandemic disruption.
Of equal consideration was using a raranga pattern that was repeatable both horizontal and vertical given the finished door frames required a 750mm width. The pattern created by the weave needed to be the hero, as no additional colours were added to ‘create the pattern’. Therefore, careful consideration was taken to ensure that the chosen pattern using only a single colour of harakeke fibres would create and enhance the pattern enough to show up on the doors.
Consideration in the design was given to how to use the three materials (wood, harakeke flax, and metal) in an innovative way – working together but not overpowering each element.
MATERIALITY
On Bronwynn’s Mohua / Golden Bay property, she has re-planted harakeke taken from the Rene Orchiston collection. The specific harakeke harvested for the panels was from her Ate Whiki plants. These plants whakapapa back to the pā harakeke (flax plantation) in Gisborne established in the 1950s from the foresight of Rene Orchiston, a pākeha woman who travelled around the various Marae collecting harakeke plants in exchange for her preserves and lemon curd.
FORM
The credenza takes some design cues from the Art Deco period when furniture was known for the inherent design qualities of relative simplicity, symmetry and unvaried repetition of elements and use of colour. The colour of the woven panels and metal details being painted gold, bring a luxurious feeling to the overall design.
The softness and round ends of the cabinet embrace the woven door panels like a korowai (cloak).
Pattern was used in three places within the credenza – the obvious use of pattern through the woven panels themselves, and in the precise placement of the repeating wooden slats. The knurling on the custom door handles is a discrete nod to the diagonal weaved pattern on the harakeke panels.
The design of the base supporting the credenza evolved, with the final design being a cradle with four feet creating lightness to the credenza by raising it off the ground. The precision laser cut steel legs were crafted to follow the line of the wooden cabinet.
TECHNICAL ASPECTS
The Ate Whēke harakeke was specifically chosen for its special leaf and muka (fibre) properties, durability, softness and strength, and raranga (weaving/plaiting) qualities. Of the harakeke varieties, this particular harakeke is good for whāriki (floor mats) and kete (bags).
The panels required a long leaf length and width making it the perfect variety to use. To ensure consistency across the three woven panels, leaves were deliberately harvested from the same harakeke plant. Like a tree, each plant has its own unique features, coloration of leaves, keels, margins and form. Bronwynn carefully selected the leaves to create whenu (a weave/warp) that were as consistent as possible. In addition, the design of the door height was dictated to same degree by the length of the available muka (fibre). The finished credenza is L 2800mm x D 500mm x H 670mm.
Another technical design aspect was determining how to frame the woven panels on the doors without damaging the fibres when opened and respecting the integrity of the woven panels and longevity once in use as a cabinet. The solution was to frame the panels with timber beading. Consideration was therefore given to resolve how to minimise someone touching the woven panels to open and close the credenza doors – acknowledging that it needed to also function as a cabinet for storage purposes.
Finding a design solution for door handles that didn’t overpower the overall design aesthetic was also key. The handle design was carefully considered to ensure the size and placement on the door frames was in balance. As we couldn’t find anything fit for purpose in the market, the result was to design and craft knurled handles – customising them specifically for this credenza.
This crafted detail looked both beautiful, but was also designed to be functional, for ease of opening the three soft closing doors.
What elevates the work?
The Weave credenza connects Aotearoa New Zealand’s cultures and elevates local crafts people.
It combines traditional craftsmanship with Māori raranga to form a piece of contemporary functional art that celebrates Aotearoa New Zealand design.
Like the traditional korowai which is revered as a taonga (treasured possession), this credenza has been crafted to be treasured by those who are the guardians of it.
“I am passionate about the weaving together of natural fibres in a traditional manner as passed down by our tūpuna/ancestors.”