Post #393485 by tikitony on Sat, Jul 12, 2008 4:34 PM

Paipo and NZ artists, so sorry to hear this, especially since I was vending right next to this guy at Hukilau, and they seemed to sell a ton of there necklaces. I had a funny feeling from the guy, and was looking at one of the stolen designs (which I didn't know at the time) and almost bought it, but I followed my gut instinct that something was not right and passed on it.

I'm always amazed when someone rips off a Tiki design from another person on purpose, especially since the Tiki community and market is quite small. Well, welcome to the list of Tiki artists who've been copied on a professional level! I've been copied by Trader Joes. Crazy Al, Bosko, Shag, Munktiki, and more have been ripped off and copied professionally. It doesn't make sense, it feels horrible when you find out, and it probably won't ever go away. Bringing this to light will probably turn them away from doing it in the future though.

Keep up the fight, and keep working on new stuff to show just how inventive you can be!