2022 Archive : Te Wheke

Project Details

Fabric 1

Bainflate 210
Producer/Manufacturer: QCD Ltd.
Primary Use: Main Fabric

Design Name
Lisa Reihana

Installation Name
Lisa Reihana

Please describe the project specifications

Life like 14m diameter inflatable wheke (Maori word for Octopus). Custom designed in house from a client supplied sculpted 3D model. Stitched from over 1000 patterns and hand painted. 2 months of fabrication time. Pontoon and installation done by client.

Te Wheke was a display done by Lisa Reihana to be part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of The arts. It was one of six installations that made up the series, Kura Moana, focusing on Te Moananui-a-Kiwa, the great ocean, and celebrating the role of the ocean plays between Aotearoa and its Pacific neighbours.

What is unique or complex about the project?

It is not often you get to recreate an art piece this large and to this detail. There were complexities throughout the project and it was difficult not to let it run away. There was tight timing on the project, we had a limited amount of fabric and a thin roll width, the model supplied was very organic and non-repetitive. To save on the fabric we used as little baffles as possible and produced a lot of patterns to keep wastage down.

The form was almost identical to the clients supplied model and gave the painter the ability to produce exactly what Lisa and her team had envisioned. The whole inflatable was well balanced and intergraded well with the clients pontoon system.

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