The iHub is more than an information centre for visitors to Raglan. It is a destination for anyone looking to buy that special gift that reflects the local community and its surrounds.
One of the local artisans displaying their work is Malcolm Cox who is a skilled stone carver based in Raglan. Although he doesn’t consider himself to be a master carver, he loves the form and culture surrounding the various types of stone he uses. The resultant beautiful pieces are from stone that can be locally sourced, or pounamu and occasionally some rarer types of stone.
Malcom explained that the stone we know as pounamu was called greenstone by Captain Cook and is generally nephite that was used for tool making due to its hardness. It was the ‘steel’ of the stone age. Not all pounamu is dark green as demonstrated by some of Malcolm’s examples. A lovely illustration is a translucent piece carved from a pounamu called tangiwai (bowenite) that was primarily for ornamental purposes. He has used a lighter green form called kokopu that has dark spots sprinkled through it resembling the skin of the native trout. It is the resemblance that gave the stone its name. Another, called Raukaraka, has yellow and orange hues that blend into greens. This stone shares its name with the Karaka tree due to those orange colours.
Locally, Māori used Karaa or Onewa , a type of New Zealand basalt. Although it is dark grey in appearance, a closer look displays tiny dots of green olivine. An interesting fact is that Mataa means (amongst other things) flint, quartz, obsidian, or the softer version chert. Hence the local name Te Mata represents another stone used locally by Pre-European Māori.
Malcolm values iHub collaborating with local artisans. Visitors and residents alike can appreciate the works and find out more by visiting the Museum next door where the stories behind some of the pieces displayed are expanded. In the case of the carvings, the tools traditionally used by Māori are on display along with more about the culture of the area.
You can find out more details about Malcolm and his work by visiting iHub 7 days a week between the hours of 10.00am and 3.00pm. Check out our website www.raglanihub.nz for more iHub news and we also have a FB page @raglanihub
