Emily Schuster: Master Weaver and Heritage Guardian

Tūhourangi, Ngāti Wāhiao, Ngāti Hinekura, Tūwharetoa

Emily Rangitiaria Schuster OBE, QSM was born in 1927. She was a master of the art of raranga (traditional Māori weaving) and devoted her life to nurture, develop and preserve weaving techniques in the traditional ways. Emily learned the art of weaving from her family – the famous Guide Rangi was her aunty – and the elders she grew up around at Whakarewarewa.

Because Emily began learning the skills at an early age, she considered them to be a natural part of life. She learnt how to harvest and prepare harakeke (flax) first, and then the more intricate part of weaving as she grew older. Her whānau taught her the importance of carrying on the traditions in the customary and correct ways. Emily became aware that the skills she took for granted were starting to disappear, so she worked hard to bring other weavers together to share the mātauranga (knowledge) of weaving.

Emily went on to become a weaving tutor at New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute, which operates out of Te Puia, and helped train other iwi (tribes) in the cultural practice. She travelled the world sharing this knowledge and formed weaving collectives, such as ‘Aotearoa Moana-nui-a-Kiwa’, and later established the national weaving body ‘Te Rōpū Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa’.

Emily was involved in many community activities and committees, including the Women’s Health League. And, she managed to do all of this while being a mother to six children! In 1983, Emily was awarded a Queen’s Service Medal (QSM), and, in 1994, she was made a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), in recognition of the work she had done for her community.

In 2004, Emily worked on an exhibition titled ‘Toi Māori: The Eternal Thread – Te Aho Mutunga Kore’ with another master weaver, Cath Brown. This was the first major exhibition of Māori weaving to tour New Zealand and then the rest of the world, attracting 81,000 visitors. Emily’s own weaving can be found in collections around the world.

This story comes from the original Great Te Arawa Stories website created by Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru (NPeW) Education Trust in 2018. Whānau members made minor updates to the text before it was added to the new site.