Shoppers at any of The Warehouse stores can take home the work of artist Rangi Kipa if they need a bag for their shopping.

The Warehouse is currently raising money for its community partner The Parenting Place through the sale of limited edition re-useable bags. The $3 bags feature designs by Kipa, one of Aotearoa’s leading artists known for mixing customary Maori symbols and design with contemporary materials.

Kipa is trained in traditional Maori carving, a graduate of the Maraeroa Carving School, and holds a Masters of Maori Visual Arts from Massey University. His practice combines customary and cotemporary methods and materials. His work is held in a number of major collections in New Zealand, including Te Papa Tongarewa the Museum of New Zealand, Puke Ariki and The Dowse Art Museum in Wellington.

Kipa has donated four original prints that appear on the limited edition range of bags for The Warehouse’s national fundraising campaign for The Parenting Place. Money raised from the sale of the bags will go towards The Parenting Place’s Building Awesome Whanau programme.

Building Awesome Whānau provides a toolbox for families, drawing on the wisdom of mātauranga Māori. Designed for whānau raising children aged 0-12, the course can be delivered over a number of weeks, or as a wānanga.

The sessions in the programme covers material including:

• Laying the foundations – building your family on aroha
• Parents are the roof – protecting your whānau
• The walls of the whare – boundaries to keep the good stuff in and the bad stuff out
• Keeping it sweet – atmosphere is everything
• Cool kōrero! – communication
• Outside the whare – living in the big wide world

The CEO of The Warehouse and Warehouse Stationery Pejman Okhovat says stores are excitied to have such beautiful work available to customers as re-useable bags.

“Rangi’s generosity to Parenting Place means our customers can enjoy artistic shopping bags and support a programme purpose built for parenting in Aotearoa,” says Okhovat.

The limited edition bags are available at The Warehouse stores until stocks run out.