New Zealand
I develop, test, and theorise indigenous technology systems — design frameworks, tools, and platforms grounded in mātauranga Māori that don't just serve Māori communities but produce genuinely new approaches to how design and technology is conceived, built, and governed. My research sits at the intersection of product design, creative technology, game design, typography, and AI — not as separate disciplines but as a unified inquiry into what it means to make things from an indigenous worldview. I'm a Professor of Toi Hangarau (Creative Technology) at Massey University's Toi Rauwhārangi, College of Creative Arts, where I lead research across physical products, digital tools, immersive media, and language technology. With James Prier, I co-founded PAKU — a design studio where research becomes real products. PAKU's gardening tools swept the Best Design Awards in 2022 and received a Core77 Award globally. At the centre of this work is the pātai: What does it mean to design from Māori function and tikanga, rather than applying indigenous aesthetics to existing product frameworks? That same question drives the rest of my research. The Digi-taonga project develops health and wearable wellbeing devices rooted in Māori notions of hauora. A game project, Dawn of Tides, tests a new indigenous framework — Te Aronga Taketake — for culturally authentic approaches to integrating mātauranga Māori into interactive media. And with type designer Kris Sowersby, I've been developing Matarongo — a new Māori typeface that takes seriously what it means to make te reo work across different contexts: resolving the rendering of digraphs, building new typographic conventions for uniquely Māori terms, and developing a design language that doesn't just accommodate te reo but is shaped by our history of engagement with the written language. Inquiry into how indigenous frameworks govern the making of things extends into digital infrastructure and AI. My research on Tiaki Taonga develops kaitiakitanga as a rigorous basis for AI ethics in cultural heritage, arguing that active custodianship offers something more substantive than existing frameworks for how taonga held in GLAM institutions should be governed in an AI era. I serve on the board of the National Digital Forum, where I'm interested in how Aotearoa positions itself at the leading edge of indigenous digital governance. I've also served two terms on the board of the Game Developers Association of New Zealand, and on the board of my iwi trust, work that grounds everything else I do in real accountability to people and place.
With my experience in mahi toi Māori (Māori visual arts) and the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) sector, I'm helping to bring Māori and indigenous perspectives to the board and its related events.
Guiding strategic vision, I collaborate with the board to craft guidelines for respectful engagement with indigenous communities and incorporate indigenous designs, fostering diversity and cultural sensitivity in game development.
Co-founder and co-design lead at PAKU, an innovative design company that focuses on bringing mātauranga Māori into product design in Aotearoa.
IDIA was established in December 2017 to support indigenous growth and excellence in the areas of design, communications, technology and innovation. At the heart of IDIA is a kaupapa that focuses on designing futures through an indigenous lens.