"Its important to use natural resources because this is the true value and representation of us as Cook Islands people - we are blessed by the gifts of the land and the sea, and we should be proud as Pacific people that we have all these resources, as most people don’t have these things.”

Toka Toka

Toka Toka is a Manihiki-born costume and fashion designer whose work celebrates the natural materials and culture of the Cook Islands' Northern Group. As a boy, he collected shells on the beach after school to sew into his own dance costumes for local competitions; the beginning of a lifelong practice that has since grown into a full fashion line. His pieces are built around black pearls, mother of pearl, and other motifs drawn from Manihiki's lagoon, the island famous for cultivating the Cook Islands' black pearl. "I'm a very proud Manihikian and we are the only Island that grows the pearls from the lagoon, that's why I want to use it in my work: to promote my island as well as my work," he has said. His work has taken him from fashion shows in Rarotonga to a showcase in Auckland and an invitation to London Fashion Week, celebrating all Pacific body types and sizes along the way.  Toka is also on the Cook Islands National Youth Council,  with this experietise and that eye for turning natural materials into cultural storytelling is what Toka brings to his role at KO, helping the organisation express its environmental and cultural mission through creative, visual means.