The crimson bloom of the pōhutukawa holds relationships across sky, land, sea, and wind. A symbol of resilience and remembrance, it speaks to cycles of life and cosmic connection.
The pōhutukawa is among Aotearoa’s most sacred trees, a sentinel that binds together the land, the sea, and the sky. Each year, as the summer sun ripens and Christmas approaches, its crimson blooms ignite the coastline in a blaze of colour. This flowering is not only a mark of the season but a signal of rightness in the natural order — a time when the sea gifts her treasures freely, when delicacies such as kina are at their sweetest. To stand beneath a flowering pōhutukawa is to stand within the rhythm of life itself, guided by the tohu of the natural world.
StoryTile - Pōhutukawa
StoryTiles transform walls into living stories. Each panel carries deep indigenous narratives — from celestial connections and ancestral wisdom to nation-shaping histories and pathways of mastery. Designed to rotate and combine, they offer endless storytelling possibilities: a single tile as a striking artwork, or many tiles joined as a StoryWall. Made in Aotearoa from recycled materials, StoryTiles merge cultural resonance with environmental conscience, bringing beauty, warmth, and meaning into everyday spaces.
StoryTiles are modular 1.2m x 1.2m acoustic art panels built on the Autex Cube™ system, a semi-rigid polyester panel made from at least 80% recycled PET bottles. They serve as both standalone cultural artworks and scalable wall solutions, depending on configuration:
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1 StoryTile functions as an art piece.
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2 or more StoryTiles become a StoryWall, delivering immersive cultural narratives.
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Each StoryTile can rotate in four ways, creating multiple interpretations of indigenous stories.
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A neutral, unprinted tile offers a more conservative option in large-scale installations. This tile is called a ChillTile.
Why a StoryTile exists: To integrate indigenous narrative, sustainable practice, and high-performance acoustics into architectural design — transforming surfaces into meaningful cultural canvases.
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StoryTiles are available in one timeless design, offered with a choice of four distinctive backgrounds — Crimson Christmas, Ocean Deep, New Zealand Native, and Seaspray — each reflecting the spirit of the season and the coastal world of the pōhutukawa.
