I was browsing through the "Hukilau Images" thread, wishing I'd been there, when suddenly I came across this:
On 2008-06-15 20:45, Benzart wrote:
More Hukilau pictures from the Vending area
PAIPO..Check out These Photos. I didn't see the similarity until I was posting them. There's a wood one too!
Well, I noticed the similarity straight away...
Paipo Stone Tiki #10 "Niku" - posted in my thread Sept. 19 2006 and sold in the marketplace shortly thereafter.
Resin version of #10 with paua inlay, sold in the marketplace exclusively in 2006 and 2007. I no longer produce this design after damaging my mold.
But there's more - I'm sure I've seen this before....
I don't forget a piece this awesome in a hurry:
Tiki Mask by Tongan born NZ resident carver Silivenusi Funaki. It was also posted in the marketplace, in November last year.
I'm seeing a pattern here...?
So, I emailed the TC member who posted that particular piece (who I have known for many years outside this forum), and she informed me that some of the other pieces pictured were also copied from her listings - designs by one of NZ's best known master carvers in bone, Norm Clark...you may have seen his work listed in the marketplace too. She has passed on all the information and images I have to those two carvers, but declined on getting directly involved due to previous harassment in these kinds of disputes.
So, who was selling these counterfeit copies of Kiwi carvers' work?
City Buddha, supplier of the official Hukilau pendant, also selling under the name Eternal Luau. Here on TC he uses the moniker "papa oo maumau", but in the real world his name is Larry Collins. Larry PMed me not long after he joined, and expressed an interest in having my designs reproduced by his carver/s. Right around the time I was selling my Niku resins in the marketplace. after a brief email correspondence, where I suggested that I would require more than a few wooden copies of my piece in payment (which was basically all he offered), he lost interest and we went our separate ways...until now.
I have emailed Larry a couple of times - I was curious to at least hear what he had to say for himself before I posted this thread. Very little as it turns out...he refuses to take any responsibility and is instead passing the buck to his supplier. In fact the entire response from his end has added up to about 4 sentences. You would think at the very least an apology would be in order.
Unless he was misleading people he spoke to at his table during the Hukilau, it is my understanding the pendants are carved by member/s of his wife's family back in Bali, and that he has close creative control over what is made. Customers were also told that these were his original and exclusive designs. Regardless of who supplied the images to the carver, he is still responsible for what he sells to the public. Even after I sent him a detailed description and clearly titled images of the pieces above he emailed back and asked me to "clarify" which designs I was talking about. I could see I was getting nowhere fast, so here we are....
Anyway, sorry for the long-winded post, but maybe this will prompt people to think closely about what they're buying with Oasis and a pile of other great events coming up. I just want people to know this stuff is out there and being sold at major events, and that work posted here is being actively targeted by unscrupulous types. Keep an eye out for dodgy product, and support your local/global tiki artists and the companies that pay them fairly for their work. Like the tiki temples of old, they will soon disappear without your patronage!
PS: Ben - without those photos I would never have known this was happening. I really hope I can thank you in person some day for all you do around here.
[ Edited by: Paipo 2008-07-04 13:58 ]
