Ch. 02 The Workshop in Papeete From bolt to wrap
Slide 07 / 14
Section · Process

How a pāreu is made

01

The ground is dyed first, never printed white.

Cotton bolts soak in fuchsia and coral vats for two full days — the colour has to read from across the lagoon.

Coral vat · 48 h
02

Hibiscus and tiare are cut as silhouettes, not drawn.

Each block is carved flat with no shading. If a petal doesn't read at six metres, it's recut from scratch.

14 carved blocks
03

Whites are stamped last, by a single hand.

One printer walks the bolt end to end so the silhouettes line up — a second pair of hands always breaks the rhythm.

One printer · one pass
04

Sun-cured on the line for a full afternoon.

Salt air, four hours of trade wind, no machine drying. The pigments set bright and the cloth keeps its hand.

Line-cured · trade wind
Mahana & Co.
Pāreu Atelier · Papeete
07 / 14
This is the Tahitian Pareu Print design system, applied by Curio Design — a design-style library for AI agents. Full Tahitian Pareu Print guide → designbycurio.com/learn/tahitian-pareu-hibiscus-print