Kōtuku

Client: AOTEAROA MUSIC CHARTS / RECORDED MUSIC NZ
2025

• Concept

• Project management

• Design & Fabrication: Te Rongo Kirkwood (Auckland)

We were tasked with conceptualising a new trophy to be awarded to artists that achieve exceptional success on the official Aotearoa Music Charts, and to mark the 50th anniversary of the Charts. Our brief included the desire for the new award to have synergy with the Tūī, the trophy award by the client’s other brand, the Aotearoa Music Awards.

The resulting concept centres on the kōtuku (white heron) feather, drawn from the whakataukī “He kōtuku rerenga tahi” – “a white heron’s flight is seen but once.” In te ao Māori, the kōtuku symbolises rarity, prestige and mana. As such, presenting an award with this symbol acknowledges the recipient’s exceptional impact and enduring legacy within Aotearoa’s music landscape. The bird analogy of the kōtuku also compliments the symbolism of the awards’ tūī trophy (both pictured in the final gallery image below).

From this concept, the design duties were passed to internationally renowned artist Te Rongo Kirkwood who sculpted the award in glass. The final piece measures nearly 60cm wide and its curved shape allows for it to be freestanding.

Artist photos by Topic Photography. Used with permission of Recorded Music NZ