Bula Vinaka/Greetings,
My name is Tevita, and I am the founder of TEVITI.
I am originally from Fiji (Viti). Growing up on the islands, I watched my grandmother bring the women in her village together for community projects.
One of those projects involved the making of masi, commonly known in the Pacific as ‘tapa’, which is then stenciled with customary prints. Women spend countless hours producing this fabric – watering, flattening and stretching strips of mulberry bark to form large pieces of fabric. This is then stenciled with traditional designs, or left blank, depending on its use.
Tapa cloth is worn as a costume during traditional ceremonies, traded as gifts and also used for decorating homes.
The traditional masi skills, practices and designs
are slowly disappearing.
My grandmother’s generation has gone. Today’s generation is slowly losing focus on some of our important traditions like tapa-making and design.
TEVITI is driven to keep this cultural heritage cool, fun and relevant, ensuring its survival into the future.
Our website, teviti.com, shares with the world our design interpretations inspired by the tapa arts of the Pacific. Our designs are simple because we believe minimalism is cool. The vibrant colors add an element of fun, while evoking the happy and carefree spirit of the people of the Pacific. Our mission is to inspire the next generation to use modern technology to learn and preserve our traditional art and design culture.
T-shirts With a Purpose
For every T-shirt we sell, we give a blank T-shirt to our partner organizations in the Pacific. The idea is to empower them to continue to create art on T-shirts, using tools already available to them, with the opportunity for economic sustainability for the communities.
The mantra for TEVITI is ‘feels like home’. Bringing the community together for a higher purpose is home to me.
Bula. Welcome.
Ways to Get Involved
Sponsor
Your business can sponsor the materials to create art, help out women in a village in Fiji, or support the commerce website content. We can help you direct your donation to where it needs to go.
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