MANEA DESIGNS

The creative and performing arts are part of my family’s legacy. My second great grandfather was a master tailor from Denmark who turned to oil painting in his retirement. My grandmother embroidered, crocheted, sewed, quilted and was an organist in her church congregation for 19 years. Subsequently, my mum sewed, embroidered, quilted and created custom cross-stitched dresses for me as a child and was a violinist with the Utah Youth Symphony and Peninsula Symphony in California. I was taught to sew, embroider and crochet at a very young age and could make bound button holes and pockets before age 10 as part of the tailoring techniques passed down through the generations. When given the opportunity to take a Home Economics class (sewing) as a second year of Science in High School instead of Chemistry, I not only jumped at the chance, I finished the year’s requirements within the first semester, leaving me the freedom to do what I wanted – which was to tailor a fully-lined coat from a complex Vogue pattern. 

Off to university I went, knowing a degree in art and design wouldn’t be practical so I followed in my mum’s footsteps and studied Accounting at BYU-Hawaii and was fortunate to have a music scholarship for playing clarinet in the Symphonic Band. Though I received a number of awards for my oil paintings in high school, I knew keeping up that creative art would be too cumbersome far away from home, so photography became my substitute. By the time I graduated, I had been offered a part-time job as a photographer at the Polynesian Cultural Center, but had to turn it down to come home to the San Francisco Bay area to take care of my aging parents.

I have always been intrigued by design, fabrics and fashion. The flowing drape of an Indian saree, the majesty of a Japanese wedding kimono, the classic tradition of the Austrian dirndl, Filipino terno and Korean hanbok, are just some of the items I collected on my travels to over forty countries.

My design aesthetic attempts to marry the European/native American styles with symbolic Polynesian references to Cook Islands, Tahitian and Hawaiian quilting as well as traditional Cook Islands carving and tattoo motifs.  My late mother-in-law carried a noble Rangatira title for her tribe in Rarotonga and was known for her quilting skills. My husband Arerangi, is the former Director of the National Museum of the Cook Islands. My Maori marriage name of “Atuirangi” is in reference to my bridging the gap between the European and Maori worlds and connecting them together. My designs are meant to honor my heritage as well as my adopted culture’s traditions.