"Will you be so lucky to hold in your possession one of Stevei Houkāmau’s ten kākano seeds? Amulets for a weary world. To grasp one between two hands is to feel the force not just of the whenua it is drawn from, but the radiance of its maker’s marks.

Stevei maps her kākano with life lines, patterns drawn from Aotearoa and reaching out through the Pacific, tracing ancestral routes back to Hawaiki.

A marvel of drawing, of ceramics and sculpture. These Origins express just a glimpse of Stevei’s indefatigable talent – cosmic wanderer, sustenance giver – these are incandescent objects for the soul." – Kim Paton

Stevei Houkāmau
Origins (Tekau), 2024
Hand carved white uku
70 x 70 x 50mm
Edition 10 of 10
$440
Courtesy of Masterworks Gallery

For a shelf, for your wall, for your hands – or to play like a kōauau.

We’ve commissioned five unparalleled makers to create their own unique series of Objectspace limited editions for Weekly Objects 2024. All proceeds go to the artist and Objectspace. Win. Win. 

Artist Bio

Stevei Houkāmau is a full time uku artist who lives and works within the Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington Region. She has worked with clay since 2011, preferencing uku because of its ability to convey our links to the geological and spiritual past – uniting tāngata, tūpuna, and whenua, while speaking to the critical connection tangata whenua have to place and earth. Houkāmau has exhibited and has works in collections both nationally and internationally. She has represented Aotearoa at FESTPAC, Guahan and Indigenous Art Gatherings, and has completed residencies in the United States of America, Australia and here in Aotearoa. Houkāmau is represented in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland by Masterworks Gallery.