Cook Islands Ceramics Centre, 2024

The Cook Islands Ceramics Centre is a Design Initiative on the island of Rarotonga by Cook Island Spatial Designer Pouarii Tanner.  The idea is to establish a future of storytelling using Earth/Clay/Enua in the Cook Islands by Cook Islanders.

Guided by many of my Research findings, the Kaupapa (philosophy) of this Design Initiative is rooted in aspirations for female, Indigenous-led Cultural and Creative Industries in the Pacific and the pursuit of Pacific Design Excellence.   

The Goals of this Design Initiative are to:

- Extend and improve the infrastructure of the existing workshop to an accessible version that could produce a line of high-quality local ceramics for sale locally and internationally.

- Hold a pilot residency in Rarotonga to host two other Indigenous clay practitioners to help us set up our new workshop.

- Test, ship and fire local clay samples from sites on the islands of Mangaia and Atiu in order to determine if a local clay supply could be established here in the Cook Islands.

- Once the workshop is completed, host a trial first workshop titled 'Ipu Enua': Making an Indigenous clay Birthing Pot. This will be a FREE workshop for expectant mums/parents/families in Rarotonga to make a traditional clay birthing pot and learn about their history and use in Pacific indigenous birthing. 

This Design Initiative has been funded under The ACP-EU Enhancing capacity for the sustainability of Cultural and Creative Industries in the Pacific Project (CCIP) and complies with the Asia Pacific Caribbean (ACP), European Union (EU) and the Pacific Community (SPC).

The Ceramics Studio is set to be completed in May 2024.

Our first workshop is an Ipu Enua (Clay birthing pot making) with expectant mothers set for June 2024.

The Google Earth voyage can be found here: https://earth.google.com/earth/d/1sSe7NIXpkPYvDV_zVBq5i8M9FIE2whbc?usp=sharing