13 Dec 2012
Our Changing World - Saving old Maori cloaks
Te Papa holds the world's largest collection of Maori woven cloaks, dating back several hundred years. But age and a condition known as 'vinegar syndrome' are taking their toll, and many of the cloaks are becoming very fragile. Rangi Te Kanawa is Conservator of Textiles at Te Papa, and she's been collaborating with chemist Gerald Smith from Victoria University to find a way of preventing these valuable cloaks falling apart any further - using seaweed.