A balance of traditions with contemporary approaches to conservation.
Conservators. Caring for Culture. Caring for Collections.
We are a community-centred conservation practice, located in Melbourne’s south-east.
We work across a range of objects, decorative artworks and with cultural heritage collections and heritage communities throughout Melbourne, Victoria and Australia. By creating space for active, collaborative conversations, we are able to customise our conservation services to meet the needs of our community.
WHY WE ARE HERE.
Tiaki, means to guard, to keep, preserve or protect and is the stem of the Maori word, Kaitiakitanga, meaning custodianship, guardianship, preservation or protection.
The practice of Kaitiakitanga, promotes the protection of resources, including cultural heritage for the long-term benefit of future generations. Notions of care and protection are at its heart and give Kaitiakitanga its conservation ethic.
Tiaki Objects Conservation is a conservation practice that we’ve formed around this concept and looks to work closely with individuals and communities, with their cultural heritage. Our conservation services aim to embed cultural knowledge, customs and processes, with professional practices, ethics and codes of practice.
Embedding cultural knowledge and transparency in conservation guidelines, will achieve a balance between the scientific and cultural understanding surrounding use, display and preservation of cultural material.
A balance of traditions with contemporary approaches to conservation.
At Tiaki Objects Conservation, we value:
+ Making connections
We are big on meaningful, enduring, family-like relationships. We are talking about face to face, old-fashioned-like conversation over a coffee or two. We believe in connecting the dots and putting a face to the name and establishing a connection that clears the way for honest communication and collaboration.
+ A more holistic approach to conservation
A strong belief in cultural values is at the core of our business. The tikanga (principles) of kaitiakitanga | guardianship, whanau | family and manaakitanga | reciprocity, humility and respect to all things, underpins our ethical framework. Integrating scientific method and tikanga allows us to better understand our connection to the world around us. To achieve a balance between the scientific and cultural understanding surrounding use, display and preservation of objects, we embed traditional processes and transparency in our approach to objects conservation.
+ Respect for Elders, respect for culture, respect for community
We believe stories function as a tool to pass on knowledge, and our material heritage is the invaluable embodiment of this knowledge. Together, they intimately connect us with our past and tell us our story of culture, of belonging, of place, and of identity. They are taonga | treasures, inherited from our ancestors, teaching us how to understand and experience the world around us. Our purpose is to preserve knowledge with material heritage; in safeguarding both tangible and intangible values, we engage in a two-way sharing and dissemination of knowledge that contributes to our ongoing narrative.
+ Empowering others with knowledge
We love what we do and nothing gets us more excited, than sharing what we know and how we do it, with you! We decipher the terminology, and facilitate practical learning, showing you what works and what doesn’t, so you will feel confident and empowered to care for your material heritage, when we are not around. Know however, we are never far and will always be on hand to support you, no matter what.
We believe and hope that this approach, our passion and Kaitiakitanga will play a key part in us achieving our goal.
Erina McCann
Founder. Conservator. Museum and Exhibition Cultural Consultant.
It is hard to single out the exact moment, when my passion for cultural heritage was piqued. Maybe it was running my hands over the carved grooves of my ancestors in our tipuna whare | ancestral house as a child, or tracing my fingers over the smooth flax surface of the tukutuku panels | ornamental lattice-work beside them. It could have been one of the many times, my grandfather shared stories of his childhood in India, or listening to my kaumatua |elders recite our family genealogies; whenever the moment, it has inherently shaped who I am, and influenced my career, to this day.
Getting here, hasn’t been a straightforward journey; more like a fortuitous amble.
My career in Heritage and Museums spans 22 years, from my humble beginnings as an arts student at The University of Auckland, New Zealand, studying Anthropology, Archaeology and Māori Studies, to an Honours degree in Māori Material Culture, and eventually a Masters in Cultural Materials Conservation at The University of Melbourne, Australia.
During my professional career, I have worked in conservation, collection preservation, collection relocation and collection management positions. Each stage of the journey has allowed me to contribute conservation services to cross-disciplinary initiatives, that have focused on developing and implementing collection preservation strategies, through collection access, maintenance and long-term preventive conservation management. Since going solo, I have helped some of Melbourne’s and Australia’s significant heritage organisations, continue to care for their collections. It goes without saying – cultural heritage is precious. I believe that if we immerse ourselves in the stories of the objects, from collection of materials to manufacture, it allows us to better understand the physical and intangible value of each taonga | treasure. And, I bring you, our community, along with me every step of the way.