| Hi, I'm glad you have found me. Here is a little history about myself. My name is Luani Steele, a mother of three lovely daughters. I was brought up and raised in one of the Polynesian countries called Tuvalu. I was exposed to and learned to weave Tuvaluan traditional art from my family, as well as from Tuvaluan artisans in the Island Council School of Nanumea. I learned to love weaving when I was 10 years old, and helped out my mom and my sister in weaving headpieces, leis, baskets, fans, mats and hats for profit. I realized how important weaving was for a Tuvaluan's life. It wasn't only weaving for profit, but it was also part of our way of living in Tuvalu that kept me weaving. I have been voluntarily working around schools and retirement centers here in the Okanagan where we raised our kids. Life changed when I came to Canada, but it didn't change my heart and my hands from wanting to weave. I was so happy to see that there were so many flowers around in Canada and was sad to see that I couldn't find any materials that I used to weave with in Tuvalu. I started searching and testing out local materials, and found that thin wood strips were good materials to weave with here in Canada. My search for local materials continued until I tested to weave with ribbon, and it worked out perfectly. Thanks for visiting. |
