Modern poi coexists with traditional Maori poi and enjoys a broader, worldwide audience. Cores are often made of foam or crumpled paper, while skins consist of plastic or loomed fabrics, such as tulle. Today, most performance poi are made from durable and readily available modern materials. Tourist-friendly variations included miniature poi that could be worn in buttonholes and as earrings. In the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, a cottage industry developed from the manufacture of raupō poi for sale to tourists, especially in the Rotorua area. In this construction, the outer shell was made of finely woven muka using a pattern based on a fishing net these poi sometimes included strands that were dyed yellow to form a diamond pattern known as Te Karu ō te Atua (the Eye of God). Construction and design varied widely depending on regional, tribal, and personal preferences.Īnother variety of poi is poi tāniko. Occasionally, smaller tassels called poi piu were affixed to the base of the poi ball. The other end of the cord was often decorated with a mukamuka, a tassel made from muka formed around a smaller knot. Dampened strips of raupō stems were then wrapped around the ball and tied off around the cord, forming the covering. A large knot was tied at one end of the cord, around which the core was formed from the pithy middle of the raupō stem. Makers stripped and scraped flax to provide the muka (inner flax fibre), which was twisted into two strands to make the taura (cord) as well as the aho (ties). Originally, poi were most commonly made from harakeke (New Zealand flax, Phormium tenax) and raupō ( Typha orientalis).
Made of raupō and stuffed with newspaper. Early 20th-century Māori poi at the South Canterbury Museum in Timaru, New Zealand.
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