An essential guide to wood carving from esteemed craftsman Stephen Myhre

Wood Carving: Tools, Techniques & Concepts

Stephen Myhre

After spending decades devoted to the art of carving, acclaimed New Zealand artist Stephen Myhre shares his expertise in his second book,  Wood Carving: Tools, Techniques & Concepts.

This how-to guide covers every aspect of wood carving from selecting the right wood to understanding patterns and achieving the perfect finish. 

‘The kaupapa (purpose) of this new book is to meet the need for a coherent description of how to prepare, maintain and use a set of wood-carving tools to produce competent, good-quality work,’ Myhre writes.

‘Not all carvers need to become professionals, so this book is not aimed at them, but there are still many who want to carve and the teaching resources to do so are few and far between.’

Wood Carving surveys the diversity and richness of European, Māori, and South Pacific carving styles, applying traditional and modern techniques to create pieces including a waka huia (treasure box). 

Superb colour photos take the reader through every step of the carving process, and include examples of the author’s finished work. 

Like his first book Bone Carving: A Skillbase of Techniques and Concepts, which was in print for over 35 years and sold more than 50,000 copies, Wood Carving will be an essential guide to this craft.

The Author

Stephen Myhre is a renowned artist who has been carving in wood, jade, bone and other materials since the 1970s. After many years living overseas and absorbing a range of Pacific, European and Asian influences, he now has his studio in Paraparaumu Beach. 

Publication Date: 14 August 2025 |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004283-6 |  RRP $49.99

Paperback, 250 x 185 mm portrait, 160 pages colour

Classic guide to traditional Māori designs comes back into print after many years

Māori Rafter & Tāniko Designs

W.J. Phillipps

In the more than 80 years since Māori Rafter & Tāniko Designs first saw the light of day, the book’s clear text and sumptuous colour patterns have served legions of readers and craftspeople. 

 

Now Oratia Books is bringing this classic work by W.J Phillipps back into print, enabling a new generation to access a work that until now had been hard to source. 

This handy guide provides a detailed exploration of important patterns used in Māori architecture and textiles, focusing on the intricate designs of rafter carving, tāniko weaving and tukutuku panels. 

 

With an all-new layout, updated text elements including macrons, and inclusion of new colour illustrations, this edition aims help readers easily access the designs.

 

That supports the aim Phillipps outlined in his introduction, namely ‘to analyse Māori rafter patterns and discuss their component parts in such a manner that a clearer understanding and a greater appreciation of them will be the result.’

Māori Rafter & Tāniko Designs is on sale now in good bookstores nationwide.

This new book adds to Oratia's range of arts and craft books from Oratia, including Hirini Moko Mead's Te Whatu Tāniko: Tāniko Weaving Technique and Tradition and Te Toi Whakairo: The Art of Māori Carving.

The Author

William John (W.J.) Phillipps was born in Oamaru in 1893. In 1915, he joined the staff of the Dominion Museum (now Te Papa Tongarewa), Wellington, where he worked as an ethnologist, ichthyologist, ornithologist and scientific illustrator. During a career that spanned five decades, he published some 200 scientific papers and authored several books in the fields of zoology and anthropology. He passed away in 1967.

Publication Date: 10 June 2025 |  ISBN: 978-1-99-004279-9 |  RRP $39.99

Paperback, 250 x 185 mm portrait, 72 pages colour