KauriKunda is a lovely new grid-based tangle pattern from Swiss CZT, Tina Hunziker.
Tina is located in Olten, Switzerland, “Olten’s railway station is within 30 minutes of Zürich, Bern, Basel, and Lucerne by train, and is a rail hub of Switzerland.” Tina is one of three CZTs in Switzerland.
In English we know the “Kauri” as Cowry or Cowrie shells and Wikipedia tells us this about them:
“Cowry or cowrie, plural cowries, is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. The word cowry is also often used to refer only to the shells of these snails, which overall are often shaped more or less like an egg, except that they are rather flat on the underside.
Many people throughout history have found (and still find) the very rounded, shiny, porcelain-like shells of cowries pleasing to look at and to handle. Indeed the term ‘porcelain’ derives from the old Italian term for the cowrie shell (porcellana) due to their similar translucent appearance. Shells of certain species have historically been used as currency in several parts of the world, as well as being used, in the past and present, very extensively in jewellery, and for other decorative and ceremonial purposes.”
Hmm … snails seem to have gained instant popularity in the Zentangle® world these days with the recent introduction of the sweet little Bijou.
According to Tina,
“Kunda means ‘family’ in Wolof, one of so many languages of West Africa. My pattern reminds me of a kauri-family, this shells are everywhere in Africa. …
I was born in Switzerland, and after many years of travelling I came back. Art has always been a part of my life. I believe that dreams become true, so I have to be careful what I’m dreaming about (daydreams)…. I have 2 wonderful daughters, I know their father since the year 2000, he is one of the greatest people I know. I started to discover Zentangle in August 2013. Last december we visited Oman (the father of the girls) in Gambia, that’s where he’s living in a big garden. I had alot of time for drawing patterns. When in January 2014 I was back in Switzerland, I contacted zentangle, and snatched the last place for the CZT – seminar 15 in June 2014. So happy that I could make this experience and meet all this wonderful people. life is wonderful.“
Tina has taken the familiar shell and abstracted it into a grid-based tangle and as you’ll see below, KauriKunda can be drawn on several types of grids or on its own as a grid “seed”.
The basic shape for KauriKunda is like an egg. If you have trouble judging the size to draw those Kauri shapes in Step 2, try drawing the “Chillon“-type thin rice shapes first and then you can fit the Kauri into the remaining space.
Here Tina illustrates the step-by-step instructions for drawing KauriKunda and features it in a pretty monotangle with some great shading.
Image copyright the artist and used with permission, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may use this image for your personal non-commercial reference only. Republishing or redistributing pattern deconstructions in any form is prohibited under law without express permission of the copyright owner.
Here are two more Zentangle examples of KauriKunda where Tina shows it done on a triangle variation of a diamond grid. If you’d like some tips about drawing the underlying grids, see this tutorial on TanglePatterns with a free PDF download of grid instructions.
Check out the tag tinah for more of Tina’s patterns on TanglePatterns.com.
Update: You can also find this tangle on Tina’s new blog here.
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August 27, 2014 | 
More like this: 
Love this thanks!
In 1903, my great grandfather returned from the Philipines (soldier in the war) and brought with him some of these shells. My grandmother, who was 3 years old at the time and met her father for the first time) kept those shells in a bowl in her living room. When I was a little girl in the 1940’s, my brother and I used to visit her. With the blessing of my grandma, we would gather all the chairs from throughout the house and build a train in the living room (with my fabulous grandpa as the conductor). Grandma had a silver tray with a domed lid. We would put the shells in the tray and walk along the train selling our “potatoes” to the passengers. Oh, the memories of a wonderful childhood and Grandparents who loved us.
Nice; there is something about it that reminds me of a Nightmare Before Christmas. Maybe it’s just me.
It’s cool looking though.
Thanks!
nightmare?
Gotta try this one!
Yea Tina! Congrats! Looks like a fun tangle!
so great to see kaurikunda on tanglepatterns.thanks for your comments, i fully appreciate it.and thanks to linda farmer.