Tikirau is a proud Kura Kaupapa Māori graduate and has been educated in total immersion Te Reo Māori institutions from day one.
He grew up in media, music and moving pictures and fell in love with the arts industry, which battled with his very science oriented brain. The arts though gave him an early start to his working life when he picked up a television camera at around age 10 and ended up working as a camera assist in telly. He would go on to give front of camera a go as well, scoring a lead role in the first New Zealand children’s feature film Kiwi Flyer. He was just 14. Tiki has featured on tv shows like Swagger and Miharo as a presenter and also worked as a camera operator for Cinco Cine‘s flagship production Pūkana.
But his true love has always been the visual and the science. So he took the two things he loves and held on to his dream of being a graphic designer despite a multitude of obstacles, one being a teacher who told him to quit.
So once school was done and dusted he pushed his graphics love to the tertiary level, completing his Bachelor of Creative Enterprise in 2019 and graduating, due to Covid-19 delays, in 2021.
He’s now working at one of the most forward thinking Māori graphic design houses in the world – HAUMI – and has added a bunch of other real graphics experiences to his life including starting his own label ToiTiki, working as a junior motion graphics artist at Mediaworks and being one of ArohArt Authentic Māori Art Gallery’s most exceptional artists as well as co-owner.
Tūhoe, Ruapani, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngā Puhi