ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON once wrote: “All the time our visits to the islands have been more like dreams than realities.” He wound up living the dream, moving from Scotland to Samoa, out of his love for the wisdom and beauty of this way of life. Look through Polynesian eyes, and you’re surrounded by geometry, personality, and flow.
Māori
HAE WHAKAREWA TYPEFACE
The curving, textured type was custom-created for the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute (NZMACI) based in Rotorua. Says designer Stacy Gordine: “Like all Māori art, the design was deeply rooted in te taiao (‘natural environment’) and guided by a sense of connection to our history, our present, and where we’re heading.”
POUNAMU CARVING
This semi-translucent, blue-green stone, found only on the South Island of New Zealand (Te Wai Pounamu), holds deep significance. Each pounamu item absorbs the mana (spiritual power) of its owner, which grows as it’s passed down through generations … so old pounamu tools like chisels and fishhooks are often recarved into ornaments. The design pictured here is a manaia, a guardian spirit seen as a human profile and a bird-headed man with a fish tail.
WOOD CARVING
NZMACI trains Māori artists from iwi (tribes) across New Zealand in three different schools: Bone & Stone (Te Takapū), Weaving (Te Rito), and Wood Carving (Whakairo). The chisel and mallet are used to shape the beams holding houses up, to record the historic events of ancestors, to craft canoes out of native timbers, and to decorate space with reminders of what is important and beautiful in life.
Fiji
A Dancer’s Fighting Fashion
You might see this traditional Fijian look at a dance performance, when men come out to do a meke, or warrior’s dance. (You might also see the dance, or the related haka, done by the national teams of Fiji or New Zealand before a big game.) But, like cargo pants and M-TAC jackets, this fashion is designed for combat … island-style.
Warriors of the….
By Porthole Cruise and Travel
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