Te Rangikaiamokura Wirihana Hetet (18 April 1937 â 18 November 2024) was a MÃÂori master carver (tohunga whakairo) of NgÃÂti Tà «wharetoa and NgÃÂti Maniapoto descent.
Hetet was born in 1937 to Charles Wilson Hetet and Lillian Hetet (née Smallman). He married Erenora Puketapu at Waiwhetà « Marae in 1960, and the couple had four children, including the weaver Veranoa Hetet.
Hetet was one of the carvers of the meeting house at Waiwhetà « in the 1950s, during which time he met Erenora Puketapu-Hetet, who became his wife. His grandmother, RangimÃÂrie Hetet was a weaver from Te Kà «iti, who passed her skills on to Erenora Puketapu-Hetet.
Hetet trained in the fraternity of carvers known as Konae Aronui under tohunga whakairo Tuhaka Kapua and later HÃ Âne Taiapa at the New Zealand MÃÂori Arts and Crafts Institute. He had only two apprentices, including Sam Hauwaho.
As his wife did, Hetet saw his art as having a spiritual dimension:
Hetet's commissions included a number of meeting houses, four waka taua (war canoes 60+ feet long) and a number of institutional pieces such as the one at LINZ. One of the 1989 sesquicentenary waka, Te Raukura, was subsequently involved in a legal dispute between the iwi who saw themselves as Kaitiaki of the waka (having housed,paddled and looked after the waka within the Waiwhetu settlement where it was carved) and the Wellington city council who wanted to take ownership of the waka that it has partly funded.
In 1986, Hetet travelled to the Field Museum in Chicago to demonstrate his craft in support of the international exhibition Te Maori, which toured the United States and New Zealand from 1984 to 1987. He also exhibited in venues such as the MÃÂori Art Market.
In the 2004 New Year Honours, Hetet was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services as a MÃÂori master carver.
Hetet died in Lower Hutt on 18 November 2024.