Tui Emma Gillies is a Tongan New Zealand that makes tapa cloth. Learning from her mother, Sulieti Fieme'a Burrows, who she often collaborates with, they are regarded as scholars of the art. Their shared passion and close relationship is evident in Tui's work, with a hybrid style harmonizing traditional tapa with contemporary elements. Tui's practice often involves adding colour pigment onto designs that are customarily black and brown, and dealing with themes that deviate from the standard of geometric grids and floral motifs, often featuring themes of femininity, nurturing, protection, and spirituality. Gillies strives to utilize as many natural resources as possible in tandem with modern materials. Tapa cloth itself is entirely decomposable, and the glue used to paste each piece together is mixed with tapioca starch, half-cooked until the texture’s right. The main modern adaptations in creating tapa art include Indian ink and acrylic paint. 

The mother-daughter duo have presented, exhibited, and sold their art to museums and private collections around the world and were the recipients of the 2018 Creative New Zealand Heritage Arts Award. They have works in collections around the world including The National Maritime Museum, Auckland War Memorial Museum, GRASSI museum in Germany, National Gallery of Victory in Melbourne and Pick Museum of Anthropology in Illinois, USA.