Harakeke has a special place here in Aotearoa, but the native flax is also one of the strongest sustainable fibres in the world.
To develop a harakeke fibre product for the global market, 23-year-olds Ben Scales and William Murrell (Ngāi Tahu) have raised $1.5 million.
William Murrell and Ben Scales - cofounders of KiwiFibre Innovations Photo: Supplied
Scales and Murrell - co-founders of KiwiFibre Innovations - started exploring the industrial potential of harakeke while studying product design.
The fibres are incredibly strong, says Scales.
“[It has] almost twice the strength of hemp and linen, which actually dominate the natural fibre industry globally.”
In their research, he and Murrell talked to end-users of existing composite materials - people who build skis, boats and planes.
“We asked them what they would need as a natural composite material to replace fibreglass and carbon fibre and their observations basically informed what KiwiFibre is today.”
Composite materials are made by combining a fibrous material with resins such as epoxies and polyurethanes. These resins are "horrible, horrible things", Scales says.
“That's part of the composites industry that we are looking to solve initially, as well.
“But we're going one step at a time and starting with renewable natural fibre first. But there's a lot happening in the space."
Harakeke growing in Piha, West Auckland Photo: Public domain
A harakeke industry once flourished in Aotearoa, Scales says, and the newly formed Harakeke Industry Alliance (He Hononga Ahumahi Harakeke) is working to bring it back to life.
“We're looking to build a cooperative model quite similar to Fonterra or Zespri, but centred around using sustainable plantings of harakeke underway throughout the country in riparian zones, farmlands, iwi lands, government land, to serve as a tool for biodiversity and wetland restoration, as well as providing additional revenue streams for farmers.
“The harakeke plant is a beautiful resource, there's not just the fibre, there's also the gels, and oils and other extracts that come from the plant.”
Flax was once New Zealand’s biggest export, he says, with harakeke fibre used for rope-making.
"There's places up and down the country that still actually have all of these flax mills. And every once in a while, we hear from somebody … 'oh, my, great grandfather was a flax miller and it's awesome to see what you're doing'.
“It's an incredible piece of New Zealand history. And the Harakeke Industry Alliance is basically working to bring that back.”
KiwiFibre is working to create a composite fibre which can replace fibreglass and carbon fibre, Scales says.
“We partnered with a company to basically unplug the fibreglass from their manufacturing process and plug in our harakeke composite material.
“And it worked beautifully. And so it was a first trial, we've got a few companies that we're working with for initial products.”
This January, KiwiFibre opened a factory in Christchurch.
“We're building and modifying different pieces of machinery to be able to build the process from start to finish, from plants to a material that a boatmaker or ski-maker can pick up and directly swap for their for their existing materials.”
