Pineamine "Pine" Taiapa (1901–1972) was a notable New Zealand wood carver, farmer, rehabilitation officer, writer and genealogist. He was one of the first students of the School of MÃÂori Arts in Rotorua under ÃÂpirana Ngata. As a carver he was part of over ninety-nine wharenui (MÃÂori meeting houses) around New Zealand.
Taiapa was born in Tikitiki, East Coast, New Zealand in 1901, to Tamati Taiapa and Maraea Iritawa Taiapa (née Potae). Of MÃÂori descent, he identified with the NgÃÂti Porou iwi. His secondary school education was at Te Aute College in Hawkes Bay.
His earliest carving teacher was master-carver Hone Ngatoto who invited him to work alongside him on the Tikitiki War Memorial Church. The building of this memorial St Mary's church in Tikitiki was instigated by NgÃÂti Porou leader ÃÂpirana Ngata in the early 1920s and is regarded as 'one of the most beautiful MÃÂori churches in New Zealand'.
Taiapa went on to be one of the first students under ÃÂpirana Ngata at the School of MÃÂori Arts in Rotorua in 1927 which became the New Zealand MÃÂori Arts and Crafts Institute. Between 1947 and 1940 Taiapa worked on over sixty wharenui (meeting houses). Taiapa was then a soldier in World War II, part of the MÃÂori Battalion. On his return he went back to carving and worked on a further thirty-nine wharenui.
He married Mereaira Te Ruawai Taiapa, by whom he had a child. His younger brother HÃ Âne Taiapa was also a carver. He died in Tikitiki on 9 February 1972, age 70.