Analysis of tensors in oblique Cartesian coordinate systems always requires the definition of a set of orthogonal covariant basis vectors called the Reciprocal basis. This increases the complexity of the analysis and hence makes the method cumbersome. In this work a novel method is presented to effectively carry out the various transformations of tensors to and between oblique coordinate system/s without the need to create the covariant reciprocal basis. This will simplify the procedure of transformations involving problems where tensors are required to be defined in the oblique coordinate system. This work also demonstrates how the analysis of contravariant tensors can be applied to hyperelasticity. Continuum material and damage models can integrate this approach to model anisotropy and non linearity using a much simpler approach. The accuracy of the models was illustrated by matching the predictions to experimental results. A finite element analysis of material and damage model based on contravariant tensors was also carried out on a simple geometry with a re-entrant corner. © Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence.