TAV’s in Pacific tourism top ten

Elena Tavioni

The ability to mix creativity and local resources to produce a world-class visitor experience. These are among strengths which this month win local fashion designers TAV Limited more international recognition.
TAV Limited, of Parekura, has been named in the Pacific Magazine Tourism 10 — an annual listing of regional companies doing exceptional work.
Pacific Magazine, published in Honolulu and circulating internationally, says: “In a region of high expectations and mixed results, it is all the more important that examples of tourism industry success be recognized as ‘best practices’ that should be studied and emulated.
“That’s why we think the Pacific Magazine Tourism 10 … is so important.
“This year’s list is comprised of local companies—yes, they’re all locally based entrepreneurs who have made the best with limited resources—who are setting a high standard for Pacific tourism.
”These companies run the gamut from community-based efforts to train artisans and craftsmen, to sophisticated fashion design operations, to consistently high quality dive tour operators.”
Pacific Magazine’s section on TAV says: “Many tourists to Rarotonga no sooner alight from their planes then seek out locations where they can buy TAV-designed shirts and dresses. A TAV-designed outfit to the Cook Islands is what tapa prints are to Fiji and Tonga or dot paintings are to the Aborigines of Australia.
”Ellena Tavioni-Pittman is the name and face behind TAV designs and over the years she has refined her designs and prints around the vibrant and colorful culture of the Cook Islands. Tourists provide her with an important market, but also great marketing, as they often return home with her outfits to mark their visits to the Cook Islands.
”Tavioni-Pittman’s great eye for designs and motifs runs in the talented Tavioni family. Her uncle Mike Tavioni is a well-known master carver and a prominent name in the annual canoe festival in Hawaii.
”Born and raised in her island home of Atiu, north of Rarotonga, Tavioni-Pittman also has plans to invest in a multi-million dollar tourism resort. The Cook Islands Business & Professional Women’s Association crowned her the Cook Islands Woman of the Year for 2005.
“ ‘My papa taught me to work hard for anything I wanted, never steal, be kind to others and the list goes on. He was an excellent motivator and told me when I was only a little girl way back in the late 1960s that times had changed and career opportunities for women were no longer limited,’ Tavioni-Pittman said after her win.
“This year she will be back on stage at the New Zealand Fashion Week with her homegrown models to reveal her new season’s collection.”

- FMG