Hone Taiapa

Who was Hone Taiapa?

Hone Te Kauru Taiapa, also known as John Taiapa, was a Māori wood carver and carpenter of Ngati Porou. He was the younger brother of master Māori carver Pine Taiapa. The two brothers worked closely with politician Sir Apirana Turupa Ngata on reintroducing Māori sculpture to the country after World War II. Both men, for example, demonstrated Māori carving skills by carving traditional homes on the North Island in marae as part of a program by the New Zealand Department of Education to educate teachers to reintroduce Māori arts to school children. New Zealand poet Hone Tuwhare included a poem about the wood carver, "On a theme by Hone Taiapa," in his 1973 collection Something Nothing.

He led the team of carvers that carved most of the pieces for Arohanui ki te Tangata in Lower Hutt, which was opened in September 1960.

He was made a member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the 1960 Queen's Birthday Honours.

He was the head of the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute Carving School at Whakarewarewa, Rotorua when it opened in 1967.