The modest master carver recognised in the King's Birthday Honours

Monday, 1 June 2026

Christchurch-based master carver and tohunga moko (Māori tattoo specialist) Riki Manuel has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in the King's Birthday Honours for his services to Māori art.

The 65-year-old artist has dedicated more than five decades to traditional and contemporary Toi Māori/Māori art and is credited for helping to drive a national renaissance of Tā Moko/sacred Māori tattooing, together with establishing a strong foundation for Māori arts in Canterbury, and creating significant public artworks.

Manuel’s honour was announced alongside recognition for a group of fellow South Islanders who have been made Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM). They include Ashburton’s Richard Ashford for his services to the textile craft industry, Wānaka’s Colin Mantell for health education, obstetrics and gynaecology, Arrowtown’s Ann Small for speech-language therapy, and Glenorchy’s Dr Leslie Van Gelder for conservation and dark sky sanctuaries.

The South Island ONZM ranks now also include Christchurch recipients associate professor Nicola Austin - recognised for work in children's health and Jennifer Hughey for community law and governance. Two Lincoln recipients also receive the ONZM: Archna Tandon JP, for her work with ethnic communities and women and Dr Keith Woodford for services to agriculture and agribusiness.

Manuel (Ngāti Porou) remains characteristically humble about the royal accolade.

“I'm just slightly confused about the whole thing,' he said. 'I don't know what it means. Doesn't happen in my life, but being recognised for my work after having been doing it for over 50 years …”

The honour’s true value comes from his community, Manuel said.

“I was named by people that know me, so that's what matters,' he said. 'And you know, happy birthday to King Charles, but to be nominated by the community … because they actually know me and my work.”

Fellow master carver and long-time collaborator Fayne Robinson said Manuel's technical skill was unparalleled, noting their mutual West Coast links, with their families having known each other for decades.

“I would liken him to a freak of nature. He is amazing,” Robinson said. “It's just his vision, his mindset … he's always thinking outside the box.”

Robinson credits his colleague with laying a solid foundation for the art form in Canterbury, highlighting his 1990 carved wooden pillar/poupou in Victoria Square and their work together on Te Whare o Wheke at Rāpaki Marae, which opened in 2010.

Tutehounuku (Nuk) Korako was chairperson of the Rāpaki Marae building committee for the project and described Manuel as “a cultural visionary”.

“It is both an honour and a privilege to acknowledge the extraordinary contribution of master carver Rik Manuel to our people, our marae and our wider cultural legacy,” Korako said.

“Through Rik’s vision, skill and commitment, the whare became more than a building, it became a living embodiment of our ancestors, our histories and our identity as Ngāti Wheke.”

Manuel was born in Ōamaru in 1960 and raised in Rakaia, before moving to Cobden on the West Coast when he was 10. He attributes his early artistic interest to a local Māori cultural group, as well as a school bank book featuring a traditional Māori food storage house on its cover, the design of which fascinated him.

He was accepted as a teenager into the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua, training under renowned master carver Hōne Taiapa.

In 1984, Manuel established the Te Toi Mana Māori Gallery - a crucial hub and platform for Māori artists at the Christchurch Arts Centre, which operated until the 2011 earthquake.

Manuel was a founding member of Te Uhi ā Mataora, a national collective established in 2000 that spearheaded the revival of traditional tattooing.

Tamahou Temara, general manager of Toi Māori Aotearoa, said Manuel “has been part of the revival and renaissance of Tā Moko since the 1980s, and has left an indelible mark of incredible skills and architectural design seen in his many carved meeting houses”.

Manuel’s intricate works have a global footprint. Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton owns one of his prints, the late Nelson Mandela received a carved walking stick made by the artist and Manuel created a conductor's staff that the New Zealand Army Band presented to the late Queen Elizabeth II.

His overseas reputation included the completion of carvings for the permanent Māori Garden, Te Putake, in France.

“The most fun ones,” however, Manuel’s wife Viv said, “are the commissions he’s done in schools and in the community”.

Manuel has designed kapa haka uniforms for children including those at his former school in Rakaia and his window frosting adorns such buildings as Addington Te Kura/School Taumatua, together with Christchurch and Burwood hospitals.

Today, Manuel works out of three studios on his Richmond property and is currently restoring a meeting house for the new Canterbury Museum.

Putting down his chisels was not an option, he said.

“Even if I was retired, I'd still be working and I don't know what retired means.”