OUR STORY

ĀHURU began at home. My brother was knitting a blanket, my māmā was crocheting bags for the whānau, and I wanted to be part of that rhythm - to make something of my own.

Once I started, I couldn’t stop. Knitting quickly became an obsession. I spent every spare minute with needles in hand, learning, messing up, and slowly getting better. One of my nearest and dearest trusted me to make her a jumper - even though I’d never made one - and from that act of faith came everything that followed.

That same spirit continues here, but the practice has deepened. This work now moves between knitwear and heirloom textile pieces, grounded in the full journey of fibre from fleece to finished piece. It is a shared process with the wāhine of the Te Māhia craft group - sourcing fleece, having it carded, and spinning it into yarn before it returns to me to be dyed, woven, or knitted. Along the way, they have passed on knowledge in weaving, dyeing, and working with fibre, shaping how I make.

The garments remain at the heart - including the knits that have always defined this practice, like the Marlon cardigan and balaclavas - now sitting alongside a new body of homespun work that carries this process more fully. Each piece is made slowly, shaped by many hands, and grounded in connection to place.

Made by hand, in small quantities, for every body.
Ka nui te mihi to each of you who wear these pieces and carry their stories forward.

First and third pictures by Dylan Martin

Second picture by Holly Sarah Burgess