Collection: Thomas Ratima

Thomas was born in Te Puna, Tauranga and later moved to Tokoroa to attend high school.  As a young adult Thomas attended a number of courses seeking a way to make his mark in Aotearoa. In 1991 Thomas attended a bone carving course, then a Waiariki course in Rotorua, and came to the decision that art was the way and better than being on the dole. Thomas completed his visual arts education and practised wood carving at NZ Maori Arts and Crafts in 2000.  

At the Jade Factory in Rotorua, Thomas was introduced to pounamu carving. This is where he upskilled his carving talent with wood, bone and pounamu carving.  These skills have paved the way to collaborations with many artists throughout the Bay of Plenty and Aotearoa.

Thomas' work is based on traditional designs like Pekapeka (NZ native bat), and he specialises in Manaia, a stylised figure based on the shape of a bird. He is also talented with contemporary designs.  He still carves wooden pieces such as taiaha (a weapon) and hoe (paddle-oar) as well as bone.

Thomas loves the hands-on aspect of his work, “keeping your hands on the material, creating from the initial design to carving, stoning, oiling it to reveal imperfections and cleaning it up’.