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Cook Islands Tivaivai — Cover

About Cook Islands Tivaivai

Tivaivai is the Cook Islands appliqué quilt tradition — a slow, collective art form made by vainetini women's groups across Rarotonga, Aitutaki, and Mangaia. Each quilt takes months or years to complete, presented only at weddings, funerals, and church openings. This design system captures the paired-contrast logic of tivaivai: rose-pink motifs on linen-white ground, emerald accents, and the soft radial symmetry of cut-paper frangipani and hibiscus silhouettes. Every surface feels like Sunday morning in a Rarotongan church courtyard.

Learn more about the Cook Islands Tivaivai style

Origin
Cook Islands (Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Mangaia), New Zealand diaspora
Era
1880s missionary introduction; vernacular flowering 1920s onward; living tradition
Key figures
Lynnsay Rongokea · Sonia Smallman · Mama Mii Tongia · Mary Tongia
Movements
Vainetini collective quilt-making · CICC gift tradition · Pacific Pioneers exhibition movement

Cook Islands Tivaivai design spec

Colors

Background
Surface
Primary
Secondary
Accent
Text

Typography

LoraHeadings
Source Sans 3Body
JetBrains MonoMono
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