Nga puawai

Tu Tangata, Issue 20, 1 October 1984, Page 17

Nga puawai

by Huia Wilson

He iwi

Floristry is an art form few maori people have considered as a career, for one woman it’s her lifeswork.

Hineuru Blanche Amiria Jones Robinson is 33 and for 13 years she has been working in the florist industry.

Recently she decided to extend her career by opening her own florist shop in Wellington called Hineuru Florist.

However floristry was not Hineuru’s first choice for a career. She wanted to become an interior designer but on leaving school in 1968 she discovered there were no courses available in New Zealand at the time. As an alternative she studied a course in fashion and textiles.

Her floristry career “happened” whilst in Gisborne taking care of a grandaunt, Mrs Heni Eade, who was herself a Gisborne florist shop owner for 40 years.

Hineuru was offered a position by a leading Gisborne florist and from there her career had begun.

Her natural affinity with nature was nurtured at an early age by her parents, Mrs Maaka Jones and the late Mr Pax Jones, and her late grandfather, Rev Paul Delamere.

This affinity has complimented her study of floristry which she feels is “an art form which is a conscious appreciation of the unconscious ecstasy of all created things.”

With her shop she wants to promote a New Zealand type of floristry as she feels the industry at present only caters for the pakeha, using the conventional designs.

“No florists cater for the ethnic communities in this country, she says, “and not every ethnic group wants something pakeha.”

She has developed her work by incorporating an indigenous art from using traditional themes of the Maori race, relating to the design. She has interpreted the culture using flowers and foliage and utilising harakeke gourds, and native flora as distinct accessories.

“Harakeke has a geneology of its own, certain tribal areas used it for clothing, kete, or furnishings," she says.

She plans to use harakeke for the containers and decorations.

While working for other people Hineuru would make designs for relations using her knowledge of both her culture and craft.

“If you make people what they want they go away happy,” she says.

Her husband Arnold gives her a hand with some of the designs, like helping to wire the harakeke.

“He supports me in all my work and any big function we have he transports everything.”

Throughout her career Hineuru has gained most qualifications in the industry.

She worked for her junior and senior certificates in Gisborne then shifted to Dunedin to get more experience, with a leading orchid florist.

She holds a diploma with the Society of New Zealand Professional Florists along with the British Diploma.

She is training as an examiner with the Society of N.Z.P.F. and was recently appointed to Soroptimist International of Wellington, this group is a professional womens club and Hineuru is the florist industry representative.