Ko Tiki O’Brien ahau. Māori artist. Designer. Writer. Rider. One of the founding members of Tribal Nations MC. Most of my life has moved between the open road, creativity, culture and community. My work comes from lived experience, whakapapa, and years inside both traditional and contemporary Māori art spaces.

Q: What do you actually do? I create. Sometimes that takes the shape of art. Sometimes design. Sometimes writing, storytelling, branding, or kaupapa. I have moved across many creative pathways over the years. Visual arts. Design. Digital media. Publishing. Community kaupapa. Different expressions of the same current moving through different forms.

Alongside that journey has been a deep interest in technology, philosophy, cosmology, science, and the relationship between Artificial Intelligence and what I call Ancient Intelligence. One is trained. The other is carried through whakapapa, wānanga, memory, and lived human experience. Much of my work moves between those worlds. The digital and the ancestral. The visible and the unseen. My work sits somewhere between those worlds. Traditional and contemporary. Organic and digital. Seen and the unseen.

Q: Services you offer Depending on the kaupapa, I may be available for: • Commissioned artwork • Māori inspired design • Cultural and symbolic concepts • Branding and identity work • Creative consultation • Public speaking • Storytelling and memoir projects • Community kaupapa support • Creative direction and visual concepts.

Q: What makes your work different? My work is not pulled from trends or Tikitoc views. Much of it comes from origin. Such as whakapapa, observation, memory, and Te Ihorangi wānanga Māori. I focus on the deep meaning beneath the surface pattern. Not just the outer appearance, but what it carries. A symbol can speak long before words arrive.

Q: What is subconscise branding? It is a term I developed through years of design work. The idea is simple. People often feel something before they fully understand it. Subconscise branding works beneath the surface level. Through shape, rhythm, symbolism, and memory. It is less about selling and more about resonance.

Q: Do you consult with Māori clients only? No. Although the work I do is grounded in te ao Māori, I work with people from diverse backgrounds. Respect for the kaupapa and creative expression which is not subjected to one form only matters more than race and labels.

Q: What is Tribal Nations MC? Everything I do is connected to improving human suffering. Tribal Nations MC is a motorcycle club founded on values of whānau. Respect, loyalty, and service. Over the years the club has supported kaupapa connected to mental health awareness. Suicide prevention. Remembrance rides and community connection.

Q: Is riding a steel horse, motorcycle an important part of your life? Yes. For me, motorcycles were never only machines. The road teaches things. Brotherhood. Solitude. Weather. Risk. Presence. Reflection. A lot of my journey, and insights are both creative and personal. Viewed from the seat of a motorcycle.

Q: What is your memoir about? Te Ihorangi is part memoir, part reflection, part wānanga. It moves through creativity, Māori identity, colonisation, art, symbolism, motorcycles, memory, and the unseen threads connecting people together. It is not written like a normal autobiography. It is written more like a journey through layered worlds.

Q: Is mātauranga Māori (knowledge) relevant? With the present political and social climate, where indigenous and ancient intelligence is beginning to reawaken once again. Absolutely. More so today than ever. It is living knowledge. Living memory. A bridge between worlds. A reminder that humanity is more than the physical surface of Te Ao Kikokiko. Still holding relevance in how we understand and connect to our world, creativity, relationships. The Echoes of a bygone time before humanity drifted too far from the source.

Q: Do you use AI? Yes, at times. Like photoshop, word, AI is only a tool. It does not replace lived experience, whakapapa, intuition, or wairua. It only mimics it. The deeper direction still comes from a source it can never touch.

Q: How can people contact you? For artwork, speaking, collaborations, kaupapa, or creative enquiries. Select the contact form: [email protected]