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| Art by Keahi Raikes |
Last month I went looking for a tattoo artist. No, I am not a tattoo kind of girl, but I love the artwork! Especially the Polynesian swirly freehand tribal look with an Asian influence. So I went on Instagram and did a search for #HawaiiTattooArtist. Thousands of photos flooded my feed! I started scrolling through them and started noticing a trend. Most of the art I was drawn to was by the same artist! I just really liked the swirliness of his freehand work. To me it seemed yin and yang. Masculine and feminine. So as people do these days, I IG'd him. (left him a note on his Instagram). A few days later he called me and we chatted. I loved how open he was to my idea of me using his artwork to use on a line of bags. Within days we had a contract signed allowing me to use his art and he sent me the info I needed to be able to have his prints professionally manufactured into fabric.
Keahi Raikes is a Maui boy and when he isn't working as a tattoo artist, he is sketching new ideas he has. He reportedly has 100's of drawings! We have started out with a small selection. I ordered the fabric samples a few weeks ago and they arrived today! I can hardly wait to see how the art fits with my ideas and designs.
I love how social media has made it possible to reach out to people who I otherwise wouldn't have a chance to meet.
I am so very excited about using his art because it will speak to a whole different audience of people than some of my other work has done. I am thrilled to see where this new effort will lead me into the coming year.
You know what I always say.....Dream Big...then wake up and go work your butt off to make it happen!
If you would like to see more of Keahi's work, follow him on IG @KeahiTattoo or @SasakiBags to see the designs I come up with!
a hui hou
