Hooked on creating joy
Lissy and Rudi Robinson-Cole are spreading love and ma¯tauranga Ma¯ori in an unapologetically bright colour scheme, writes Kylie Klein Nixon.
Artists Lissy and Rudi Robinson-Cole are building a wharenui to celebrate Matariki 2022, but there won’t be a stick of wood in sight.
It will be a whare whakairo, a carved meeting house, with starspangled pou telling the story of the annual celestial event. But rather than chisels and mallets, the Robinson-Coles use hot wires and crochet needles in place of wood, polystyrene and miles of dayglo yarn, the brightest they can find.
With these very modern tools, they’ll create a full scale, fullycrocheted, Wharenui Harikoa ,a hand-made House of Joy.
‘‘It will be a gorgeous vehicle to tell the Matariki story,’’ says Lissy, whose enthusiasm for this project and sharing ma¯ tauranga Ma¯ ori, Ma¯ ori knowledge, with the world is infectious.
‘‘[The wharenui] will celebrate our beautiful culture, and our beautiful people, and our beautiful stories that are so unique to us here. It will be a joyful and welcoming space for all people.’’
The biggest project the couple has ‘‘brought to life’’ together, they hope to see the wharenui travelling the world one day – a vibrant, engaging and, above all, playful ambassador for all things Ma¯ ori, but especially art.
The project, which is supported by Creative NZ, has no set exhibition yet, but they’ve set their sights high. ‘‘We see it everywhere, Te Papa, the Auckland Museum, everywhere,’’ says Lissy.
‘‘I would love to see our whare in non-traditional spaces, too. So we are going to design it so that we can install-deinstall-install. It won’t be in one place.’’
This versatility is a feature of their unique style of sculpture, which involves covering carved polystyrene forms with crocheted textile. The process was inspired by the ‘‘yarn bombing’’ movement, where teams of crafters ‘‘graffiti’’ trees,
park benches, railings and fences with colourful crochet flowers.
Growing up, Lissy (Nga¯ ti Hine, Nga¯ ti Kahu) had ‘‘always, always been creative’’. Her dad was a fashion designer and ‘‘being around that creative energy was awesome’’.
After her first marriage ended, she worked in communications for a while, but crafting was always calling her back. In 2017, the call became too loud to ignore, and she left her job to make vibrant, body-positive, plus-sized fashion.
‘‘I love bright, beautiful clothes, I love to stand out. I just figure life is for standing out.’’
Then she discovered crochet and everything slotted into place.
‘‘I was addicted as soon as I started,’’ says Lissy. ‘‘You can actually make things pretty quickly, because I don’t muck around too. I’m really quick. That was really appealing to me.’’
A friend encouraged the couple to finally give yarn bombing a go for Anzac Day 2018, so they did, sneaking out at 5.30 in the morning to ‘‘bomb’’ a local motorway overpass in
Auckland with yarn poppies.
‘‘We drove past it five times just to look at our work,’’ says Rudi.
The couple’s work progressed to yarn bombing their car – ‘‘an
awesome experience’’, says Lissy – to using the same techniques to cover forms they create themselves, based on traditional Ma¯ ori carving.
‘‘I will cut and carve a form out of the polystyrene, and Lissy will cover it with crochet,’’ says Rudi.
Rudi (Nga¯ ti Ko¯ hua, Nga¯ ti Makirangi, Nga¯ ti Paoa, Ngaruahine, Nga¯ ti Tu¯ , Te Arawa) grew up in Kaingaroa Forest, in the Bay of Plenty. His background is in engineering and welding, but his heart was always in the arts.
Working at the Ma¯ ori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua, he helped to set up the first Ma¯ ori-owned foundry. Always interested in carving and sculpture, his mahi at the institute was to expose carvers to different mediums to work in. But he didn’t start carving and making sculptures himself until he started working with Lissy.
‘‘Rudi does all the crochet whakairo. All the design work
that you see on our pieces, Rudi has done and crocheted,’’ says Lissy.
The ultimate artistic and life tag-team – ‘‘I feel like [working together] strengthens us’’, says Lissy, ‘‘because we have a common goal we’re working towards’’ – they describe their work as a ‘‘true collaboration’’ and ‘‘a really magical, beautiful, process’’.
‘‘We know when we’ve got it, right, because both of us just know,’’ says Lissy. ‘‘We just go: ‘yes!’ That’s when we know a piece is finished.’’
The couple live and work in an ‘‘awesome whare’’, just a stone’s throw from the Ta¯ maki estuary. It’s a home they share with Lissy’s wha¯ nau, which helps ‘‘afford the Auckland rent’’.
A light, airy space, decorated with their work, with a veranda overlooking the water, and a brightly coloured vintage caravan/sleepout/tea house in the backyard, their home is as
joyful as their work. ‘‘The whole crochet buzz was to bring love, colour and art to our streets for our people and our community. That’s how it began.
‘‘Because there’s not a lot of art in the community,’’ says Lissy.
The vibrant colourways have since become a trademark of their work; a loud, joyful calling card. It wasn’t a random choice; neon has significant meaning for the couple, too.
‘‘Neon is unapologetic, right? You’re not going to miss it. Neon says: ‘I’m here, and I ain’t going nowhere’.
‘‘They’re really celebratory colours to tell our tu¯ puna, our stories, but they’re also used to denote safe spaces, as with hi-vis vests. They bring high visibility to our work.’’
One of the earliest pieces they made together played with this idea: a crocheted hi-vis vest, like the ones worn by school crossing guards, but instead of ‘‘mind that child’’ on the back, the vest said ‘‘mind that Ma¯ ori’’.
‘‘We’re vulnerable, we’re precious – ‘hey, look out for us, we’re here’ – as well as giving high visibility to our beautiful culture.
‘‘Our kaupapa, first and foremost, is love and joy.’’
The couple see their work as being accessible to anyone, no matter where they whakapapa back to.
Often non-Ma¯ ori may not know how to access Ma¯ ori art, says Rudi. They may be intimidated or overly cautious about over-stepping boundaries.
‘‘Our soft medium helps them to relate better, and opens up those conversations.
‘‘Also for Ma¯ ori, it brings those nostalgic feelings, being safe under a blanket that nanny has made. You hear that ko¯ rero as well.’’
‘‘On the whole New Zealanders are pretty conservative,’’ says Lissy of why their work has resonated with so many people, and why they want it to keep doing so.
‘‘But I think a lot of people would love to be more courageous with colour, but, for whatever reason, they’re too scared. So when they see it, they love it.’’