Tivaevae love and a flower making workshop

Today after work I decided not to walk straight home as usual. Today, inspired by Simone Quentin de Manson's post about Christchurch on DesignSponge (long version here) and franz tormers' delightfully optimistic assertion that "Christchurch is the new Berlin", I instead went AWOL for a while and decided to concentrate on the things I do really like about Christchurch. Given that it was mid-afternoon, pouring with rain and thirteen degrees, that meant visiting a few exhibitions.

My favourite was a small but stunning exhibition at Our City O-Tautahi called Tiare Maori. This is part of the Island Summers exhibition and highlights the traditional Cook Island art of tivaevae. Tivaevae are quilts and these examples are absolutely beautiful. I've read lots about tivaevae, (my favourite book on the subject is The art of tivaevae : traditional Cook Islands quilting by Lynnsay Rongokea with photographs by John Daley because it tells the stories of the quilt-making women and I am very nosy!) but realised today that I'd never actually seen any in real life. The exhibition features examples of the many different styles of tivaevae and they are exuberant and vibrant and well, if you like that sort of thing just go and see them.

Also featured in the exhibition were examples of the relatively new but related art of cotton flower making. These are sooooo cool! And on Saturday 30th January there is a workshop where we can go and learn how to make them! I had so much fun learning how to make crochet flowers for Slip that this seems too good an opportunity to miss. Anyone care to join me? (Ignore the book by date, I checked today and there are still spaces.)

Go on, it'll be fun! Let's ignore the weather and make Christchurch the new Rarotonga!