We were lucky to catch up with Rika Traxler Tuikolongahau recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rika, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Risk taking is essential to success. If we do not take risks, we will never find out our true potential in life. If we make decisions that keep us safe then life may not ever feel fully realized. My life has always been about taking risks as far as my creative and business decisions. Understanding that I knew I was meant for more and had to take the chance to find out. Most recently, I took the risk of selling everything I owned in California to move to Bali 4 years ago in order to develop by fashion brand. I wanted to work closely with the village women in order to create traditional Indonesian batik fabrics with my original art and at the same time provide jobs for the local Balinese women. I then created clothing from the hand painted fabrics which I would describe as “wearable art”. Each piece took time and patience and was thought out. Quality not quantity is what is most meaningful in my brand. Slow and sustainable fashion. It has not been an easy journey and it is a slow process, but in the end, it’s worth it. I’m inspired by the fauna and flora of the tropics and that is where the art is inspired from. It starts with an oil or acrylic painting and then the design is sent to the batik artists to make the fabric. From there we send the fabric to the tailor and wallah! Wearable art. Now after 4 years of living in Bali, I am now back in California still running the business “Island Mana Designs”. I am now married and my husband and I both run the business and have plans to expand it in the future. Right now we are focused on the branding but hope to get future investors involved. Our brand is now 10 years in the making and started with Polynesian costumes. From Polynesian dance to costumes and now clothing inspired by the islands. It is all interconnected in a symbiotic circle as nature is. I love to work in organic ways of creative inspiration and expression and my wearable art expresses my vision to the world in so many ways as I continue to grow as an artist and designer.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve always been a creative person. I started as a fine artist who loved drawing and painting from a very early age which then took to me to art school and received my Bachelors in fine arts in Painting and then a Masters in Arts education and Theatre. I started dancing Polynesian from the age of 12 and all of these experiences lead into what I am doing now. It is all from my love and passions for the arts and culture. I was born in Indonesia and raised in California and wanted to reconnect to my roots so that is why I traveled to Bali. Which then lead me to discover the art of batik and I decided to take my art to the next level into clothing. I wanted to make beautiful dresses for Polynesian dancers and now I make dresses for not only dancers but for anyone who wants to wear them in the world. I don’t plan to stop. I want to create a legacy through my art and clothing and to emphasize the importance to perpetuate traditional art practices like Batik in our fast moving modern times. We can’t forget to slow down sometimes and not rely only on what’s faster because faster does not mean it’s better. We lose something in the process of trying to “rush” through things. We lose the quality and the uniqueness of what truly matters because we are in such a hurry all the time. But when we take a moment to reflect, slow down, think things through then we can connect to our inner-creativity and awareness for the world we are in. This is something very important to me and makes life worth living to truly be in the moment as creative individuals. My goal is this and if I can achieve this, then I have done my job as an artist in this world. To bring beauty, elegance and grace.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Being an artist makes you resilient and my journey has been just this. From the time that I was young, people wanted to make me be something I wasn’t in order to make more money or to have a more stable job. Art was looked down at as not a profitable or dependable income. I have struggled in my life to prove myself that I could make a living as an artist and I’m still here at age 47 doing it. It’s never easy but it is the most fulfilling career and I can’t see myself doing anything outside of the arts. I’ve never had a 9-5 job or an office job in my life. The only other jobs I”ve had was teaching and waitressing. Other than that, I have been making a living as an artist and designer. I am still growing as an artist and that will never stop. I listen to my heart and my intuition and don’t listen to people who don’t understand my journey and that’s ok. There will always be people who don’t believe in you because those are the people who fear in themselves. So I hope to only inspire others to believe in their own achievements and do what they love. So resilience speaks loudly to me when it comes to pursuing your dreams. It’s a life long journey.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

The most important thing for non-creatives to know is that everyone has the potential to be creative. As a human, we are born to be creative. It is a choice. But it is also how we were raised and the influences from learned behavior. I was fortunate enough to have a father who was an artist. I loved art from a young age and practiced it throughout my life. My parents allowed me to express myself in these ways. But it’s never too late to be creative and take up hobbies. You just never know until you try. I don’t believe that people are born talented. I believe in hard world to achieve talent. We are not a master when we pick up a paint brush. We have to paint sometimes several hundreds of paintings in order to achieve mastery and that’s time and hard work. It doesn’t come over night. In a world of instant gratification, we are addicted to this concept. Allow creativity to flow through you and don’t worry about the destination but be in the journey. It will take you to places that you may of never imagined and that is the inner- journey of the heart.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.islandmanadesigns.com
• Instagram: islandmanadesigns
• Facebook: islandmanadesigns
• Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/IslandManaDesigns

Image Credits
Photos by Anton. I have the rights to all images. Some photos by my Mom Suryati Traxler. Gabriel Encinitas took 1 photo. Personal photo by Stephen Wayda