Super Nan keen to market Maori dolls

Robyn Kahukiwa found the cost of producing the dolls a headache. Photo / APN

Artist Robyn Kahukiwa is putting on her Super Nanny cape as she tries to get 1000 Maori "Supahero" dolls made for children.

Also a children's author, Kahukiwa, 72, has been trying for 10 years to get film makers, publishing houses and manufacturers interested in Hina and Maui, the twin brother and sister combo who are the stars of a book, Supa Heroes Te Wero, which she wrote and independently published a decade ago.

Kahukiwa, who has 11 mokos, said it always annoyed her that her grandchildren played with Action Man or Barbie but had nothing that reflected where they came from.

So in 2000, with her husband Dooley, she launched her book at Rotorua Primary School.

She said the pupils "absolutely loved it and said, 'Can we have cartoons, can we have action figures, we don't want to do Dragon Ball Z any more.' It was great feedback."

"I just felt like everything else was about looking overseas, especially when we've got such a rich culture here. Maori children see themselves reflected in them - that's a huge thing when you're a child."

Ever since, the Te Aitanga a Hauiti artist has tried to interest backers in producing dolls - even going so far as having a year-long dialogue with a Chinese company, which sent her prototypes, before it disappeared and she couldn't track down its leaders.

Cost has been prohibitive, too. An early option cost $13,000 for the first doll and then 2c for each successive unit. While that scale of production might suit products that sell millions, Kahukiwa said it was a fee she couldn't pay when her run would be much smaller.

Facebook - which her mokos got her on to last year - has given her wider powers now to target her market directly.

On Sunday last week, she asked her 1301 friends if they would order the dolls at cost, for $20. Kahukiwa has found an American company that will make 1000 at that price.

Her push has been given a little bit of juice as two sisters have offered to pay for the manufacture of the first 100 dolls. Through her Facebook page and an associated Maui and Hina page she has just about taken orders for that many.

"I'd give them away for free if I could," Kahukiwa joked.

She has loved dolls for years - she's treasured an African Barbie she picked up more than 30 years ago, and a Wonder Woman doll is pictured checking out the twins on her page.

Kahukiwa said dolls allowed children's imaginations to run. Hina and Maui adventures are filling her head at the moment and she hopes to write follow-up books.

"I've got all these stories in my head and I can't wait to tell them."