By Pip Osborne | Kaiārahi
I am excited to share that Professor Johnson Witehira will be joining us as a keynote speaker for the TENZ 2025 Conference in Wellington! This is a milestone moment, not just for our conference but for all of us who are passionate about authentic integration of Mātauranga Māori into technology education.
Professor Witehira is the new head of Te Rewa o Puanga School of Music and Screen Arts at Massey University. He is an artist, designer, and academic of Tamahaki and Ngāpuhi descent, has been a trailblazer in decolonising design and bringing Māori visual culture into the mainstream. His influence is seen across public spaces, typography, and education, where he has led work in developing design systems, spaces and products that are informed by mātauranga Māori. His work is not just about aesthetics—it’s about reclaiming identity, challenging colonial narratives, and ensuring Māori culture is represented and celebrated with mana and integrity.
How Professor Witehira Shifted My Thinking
I first encountered Professor Witehira’s thought-provoking work through a quote in Urbis magazine:
“You can take inspiration from a culture, or you can just take from a culture.”
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That simple yet powerful statement profoundly changed my perspective on cultural engagement. It made me critically examine my own approach to design briefs, tikanga and how they might look in an education setting. I began the process of ensuring that when I integrated Māori narratives and traditions into my teaching and learning programme, it was done with respect, understanding, and authenticity—not just as an aesthetic choice or a token gesture.
This reflection led me to embed Mātauranga Māori in my teaching and learning programmes in an authentic way. I started to move beyond simply acknowledging Māori design or loosely referencing Māori designers’ work as an aesthetic and instead integrated pūrākau (Māori stories) into my students’ design briefs. The result? More meaningful, context-rich projects where students weren’t just creating—they were engaging in cultural storytelling through design.
Table design by a year 11 student telling the pūrākau of Ranginui and Papatūānuku – legs represent Tāne separating the glass top from the floor.
Implementing Mātauranga Māori in Technology
Inspired by Johnson Witehira’s work and philosophy, I began delivering interactive workshops on Mātauranga Māori in Technology for kaiako. I wanted teachers and students to see the richness of Māori narratives as a foundation for innovative design. Some of the hands-on activities I developed encouraged students to engage deeply with Māori narratives and design principles. One approach involved designing with pūrākau, where teachers were asked to engage in a Māori story as the foundation for a design brief, whether it was a product, game, or piece of wearable body adornment. A key aspect of these activities was understanding tikanga in design, where teachers were able to examine the difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation through presenting their design idea on completion. Through this, they explored how tikanga (protocols) influence design processes, material choices, and storytelling, fostering a deeper respect for Māori perspectives in technology.
For me, this is not just about a conference speaker—it’s about a transformational opportunity for technology education in Aotearoa. I cannot wait to sit in that audience, listen, learn, and be inspired once again.
If you’re attending TENZ 2025, I highly recommend watching Professor Witehira’s talk from Decolonising Design in Aotearoa, Master of Design Speaker Series, ahead of time to get a glimpse of the powerful ideas he brings to the table:
This is going to be a conference to remember, and I hope to see many of you there, ready to be inspired, challenge perspectives, and take action in our own teaching and learning practices.
