Tawhiri Solomon (Chip)

Kāi Tahu/Kāti Māmoe/Waitaha/Te Arawa

Tawhiri, who carves under the name ‘Chip’ Solomon, is a whakairo specialist from Ōraka Aparima. His early habit of sketching for focus led formally to Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and Te Puia’s National Wood Carving School. While grounded in traditional Māori forms and the stylistic differences of the seven waka, his practice now centres on reconnecting with a distinctly Ngāi Tahu visual language—researching regional artefacts and tribal kōrero to give ancestral stories new form.

His work has been exhibited in Gisborne, Rotorua, and Auckland, with a second-place finish at the 2023 Lake House Arts Centre Symposium. Returning home to create within his whānau, he approaches each piece as a taonga that carries whakapapa and mātauranga forward. He welcomes commissions and collaborations that treat tribal forms as living expressions of identity, not replicas.