Atiu Fibre Arts Studio - the studio for traditional and contemporary textiles!
This year we celebrated the21st anniversary of our company!
Our light 80-sqm studio, gallery and shop is the ideal place to work in and to display our textile art. The enchantment of colour, shape, beauty and perfection begins at the doorstep. Our gallery bursts with creativity, from the extravagantly tiled floor (centre) to the art on the walls. You can also watch us at work.
We are best known for ourtivaivai (right), the traditional textile art of the Cook Islands.
Tivaivai means patchwork and is the general term for unquilted, mostly appliquéd, sometimes embroidered coverlets of about 2.50 m X 3.00 m.
Tivaivai "Orchid Tree " © Andrea Eimke (right)
Using both traditional and innovative techniques of sewing and embroidery,
we combine happy Polynesian colours and patterns with contemporary design.
We employ a wide variety of materials of natural fibres: cotton, silk and
tapa (bark cloth).
Wall tivaivai "Tavake" © Andrea Eimke (left)
Our company's founder and director, Andrea Eimke (right), designs most of our works. Her artworks have featured in several solo and group exhibitions at home and overseas. She enjoys the challenge of applying innovative techniques to private and corporate commissions. These include tivaivai, art quilts, textile collages and wearable art. Her interest in and dedication to the art of Cook Islands tivaivai also led to the foundation of the Cook Islands Tivaivai Association whose vice president she has been since 1998.
Tini Tivini (left) joined us in 1990 as senior seamstress and the company's "jack of all trades". She is a highly skilled embroiderer and machinist. Her sense of humour and organisational talent are invaluable assets to the Studio.
Another of Atiu's most skilled embroiderers of her generation, Teremoana George (centre) became part of the team in 1991. She has a great sense of colour combination. In our team she is the quiet one who keeps calm when chaos reigns at our Studio.
Banks, hotels, the National Culture Centre on Rarotonga and the Intercontinental Hotel on Maui (Hawaii) commissioned us to create artwork for them. The Victoria Art Gallery in Melbourne (Australia's National Gallery) acquired one of our tivaivai (right) for their permanent collection. Our works can be found in public and private collections in the Cook Islands and abroad.
"Weeds in the Pineapple Field" collection of Victoria Gallery, ©Andrea Eimke (right)
The Atiu Fibre Arts Studio has participated in and organised a number of national (left: Andrea discussing set-up of exhibits at the annual tivaivai show on Rarotonga) and international textile exhibitions in the USA, Europe, Australia and Oceania. Andrea has been invited to lecture and conduct several workshops overseas on the making of tivaivai.
We also conduct private workshops in our Studio. Our company is a member of the Cook Islands Tivaivai Association, Inc., the Atiu Tourism Society Inc., and accredited by the Cook Islands Tourism Accreditation Scheme.
Come and visit us on Atiu. Ask for information on specially commissioned textile art works. If you want to see more tivaivai, wall hangings and painted quilts,order our comprehensive catalogue which can bee-mailed to you for a fee.
