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Cut pile embroidered raffia cloth., These textiles are made by the Kuba people of the Kasai river area of Central Zaire. A plain weave raffia fabric was woven by the men and embroidered by the women with great accuracy and skill. The fine lines of the design are stitched with dyed raffia and the pile areas are stitched with groups of fine raffia fibres which are then cut to short even lengths. The abstract designs are often similar to wood carvings, house decorations and the ritual body scars of both men and women. These cloths display wealth and prestige on ceremonial occasions. They assume great importance at funerals where they reaffirm enduring social relationships and, as burial cloths, indicate adherence to belief in after life.

Broken kahawai lure, in two pieces. Two knobs on head of the shank. There is a curved point with an internal barb, and a notch on the external side of the base attached to the paua shell shank by muka.

Complete kaitaka patea cloak. Woven from muka (flax fibre) with horizontal aho (wefts). Narrow wool taniko borders on the side edges and a broad border on the bottom. Taniko is woven in black and white chevron and diamond pattern, with triangles in red, pink, green, and blue; faded throughout. The body of the cloak and the top border are undecorated.

Complete kahu kiwi (Kiwi feather cloak). Worked in single pair twine, shaped in middle, with a kiwi feather border, all sides but more narrow along the top, and there are single kiwi feather tags throughout the centre, like polka dots, There is brown twine above the bottom kiwi feather border.There are two purple ties that end in tassels at the top edge of the kahu kiwi, approximately 6cm from each side.

Complete kahu kiwi. Feathers are intermittently worked into the cloak. There is a vertical striped design; one brown, three yellow, one brown, three yellow, one brown. Cloak is worked in two pair twine, shaped at shoulders, has reverse weaving at selvages for finishing off black twine in selvages.

Kete Muka woven from natural muka (flax fiber) using whatu aho rua (two-pair weft-twining). Cast on using decorative looped whenu (strands). The body of this kete is decorated with whenu (strands) left loose in order to give a ruffled decorative effect. Muka cord formed using the miro (rolling) technique has been added as handles. Frill work woven outer edge.

This Kete is unusual due to the orientation of the feathers, which is upside down when compared to most kete huruhuru. One side features native orange tipped kaka feathers with intermittent kereru feathers featured throughout. The opposite side predominantly seems to be woven using primarily duck feathers of varying species. The cast on for this kete is also unusual, as it appears to have used a base cord for the brim, where whenu (warps) have been attached by creating a loop and pulling the tail ends through. The muka for this kete is dyed black, most likely using paru (iron rich mud) which is beginning to show signs of breakdown. The yellow dye is most likely achieved using raurekau/kanono bark.

Fragments of tapa. The edges of the cloth are frayed along the base, with a straighter edge along the top. The proper right is missing a large portion of the cloth. The proper right edge is completely detached.

Fine woven Kete Muka woven from natural muka (flax fiber). Woven using Whatu aho patahi (single-pair weft-twining). The kaupapa (body) of this kete is decorated with mawhitiwhiti (woven cross stitch) patterns. Frill work woven edge attached after initial weaving. Two muka cord made with miro (rolling) with tassels have been added to function as handles.

Complete putatara, with conch shell body and wooden mouthpiece intact. The wooden mouthpiece is carved, two ridges down either side, with curved ridges linking them around the front, creating a mouthpiece that looks phallic in shape. There are two circular paua inlay on the front and back. One inlay appears to be adhered with red wax. The mouthpiece is attached to the shell with fibre and wax. There is a perforation through the outer lip of the aperture that has a length of fibre twine through it. On the outer whorl of the body there is a large repair. An oval piece of wood has been fixed to a hole in the wood with four lengths of fibre twine that has been waxed to fill in any gaps. At the distal end of the aperture there is a perforation.

Complete one-piece fishhook. Intricately carved knob on head of shank, with a perforation through knob. Perforation through base. Length of fishing line remains lashed around shank.

Kete Whiri, a basket woven from an internal base whiri (braid). Woven with natural and dyed brown harakeke (flax) in takitahi pattern (over one, under one) with a flat bottom adaptation. Finished with an external whiri (braid) around the brim before whenu (strands) are trimmed. X2 three ply whiri (braids) have been threaded into the weaving to act as handles.

Complete piupiu waist garment made from undyed flax. Scraped flax sections create approximately seven square motifs with a horizontal band either side. Small tassels have been attached throughout the flax tags. The waistband is approximately 11cm wide with a 3 ply whiri (plait) at the top. As extensions to the whiri, twisted whenu (strands) make up waist ties. These extensions are finished with large tassels.

Fragment of woven harakeke (flax). Woven with undyed fine whenu (strands) using a takitahi (over one, under one) pattern. Tapiki (finish) along three side edges fits techniques used to complete whariki (mat) edges. Fine remnants of hukahuka (tags) woven from two ply muka (flax fiber) using the miro (rolling) technique visible towards the centre.

Unfinished paepaeroa cloak, in process of manufacture. The paepaeroa cloak is supported on two weaving sticks (turuturu). The starting decorative (taniko) border forms a side of the cloak (kahu) when worn. The body of the cloak (kaupapa) is twined row by row from left to right, and red wool is worked in to form a decorative finish for the neck edge on the right of the cloak. The warp (whenu) for the lower taniko border is attached at this stage and lies ready at the left to be worked when the rest of the garment is complete. The cloak is then turned back 90 degrees and the taniko border worked. The taniko on this paepaeroa cloak is 5cm wide, using dyed black wool, with a triangle pattern worked in white and red wool. The weaving sticks taper slightly at the bottom, and reduced at the top with knob to secure the paepaeroa to. Between the two weaving sticks the paepaeroa is secured to a metal rod.

Complete piupiu. Garment made from flax, scraped and unscraped, dyed (black, gold) and undyed (natural). Tags fall from various levels of kaupapa. Tags have scraped and unscraped sections forming a pattern of 4 horizontal bands across skirt. All unscraped sections are incised with cuts, some horizontal, some diagonal, some with criss-cross pattern. Kaupapa is approx. 230mm long with 17 weft rows (black) of single pair twining. Waistband has 4 weft rows (3 natural, 1 gold) of double pair twining. Top of waistband is 3 ply plait from warp extensions of kaupapa. Ties at each end are extensions of 3 ply plait. One has gold and natural flax fibre worked into it, and is knotted in several places.

Complete kahawai lure. Curved wooden shank with notches at head and base for lashings. White iridescent shell inlay, broken near the centre. Muka lashings at head and base. Twisted cord attached at head with a nail sticking out of the cord. Some feathers attached to muka at the base. Curved bone point with internal barb.

Sample of muka (flax fiber) cloth. Decorated with mawhitiwhiti (woven cross stitch pattern work), decorative 3 looped whenu cast on, and a decorative border frill finish. Woven using whatu aho rua (two-pair weft-twining).