Tribewanted: Vorovoro

bula sia, everyone! and congrats on the eve of the BBC2 premiere!

i wanted to add my own excitement into the mix, as it looks like i have won the vote of confidence to represent the tribe as april chief. i’m very grateful for the opportunity and am so thrilled to try out a project that’s a bit different! as my manifesto stated, i’m aiming to produce, with the help of the community, a limited edition of 50 baby zaishu chairs, the proceeds of which will go to benefit the mali school. i wrote more about the history of the zaishu and its founders in this blog:

http://www.tribewanted.com/users/259/blogs/779

but i wanted to tip my hand and share what i’m thinking for the artwork:

i want to capture a broad swatch of the artwork and patterns in fiji today. this means starting with the oldest tradition of masi, or stencilling, onto tapa, which is bark cloth. these patterns have meaning and history and are used on special occasions. i think the top of the zaishu should have a pattern like the one on the right.

we can pick two patterns for the sides. one of them, i’d like to incorporate the woven mat patterns, which are more specific to the north of fiji and we have used on vorovoro.

and lastly, i want to use a symbol of what modern fiji has come to embrace, the ubiquitous flower patterns seen on bula shirts everywhere. if i can (with the help of new member, elana, my best friend), i’d like to add the silhouette of vorovoro into the flower pattern on the right, so we have our own version of this classic.

next up: getting the materials shipped, finalizing the patterns and making silk screens, so that everyone can participate, and then we’re off to the races!

here’s my manifesto blog which has a video of how to assemble a baby zaishu as well as more details:

http://www.tribewanted.com/users/259/blogs/900

vinaka!