The Island
Why Nukuhiva is called Nukuhiva
Nukuhiva is a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean and it is a part of the Marquesas Islands. It is said that it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Floortje Dessing visited Nuku Hiva in 2005 and instantly fell in love. Once she returned home she decided to call her shop Nukuhiva because Nuku Hiva is a place where man and nature are perfectly balanced. Floortje: “It’s an idyllic island where life actually looks like in our dreams. I think it’s a nice metaphor for what I’m trying to accomplish with my shops.”
Marquesas Islands
Nuku Hiva is the largest of the Marquesas Islands, located between Australia and South America. With only 25000 inhabitants it is the most densely populated island of the archipelago. Stress and traffic jams are unknown on Nuku Hiva. It’s also rather difficult to get lost, since there are only two roads.
Paradise
Nature on Nuku Hiva is still pure and untainted. The rugged landscape offers sea cliffs, green valleys and waterfalls so incredibly high that water falling down will turn to vapor before it lands. You can find gigantic mango trees here as well as tropical rainforest. Pigs, horses and chickens can be found wandering around freely. So Nuku Hiva really is everything you’d expect from an ecological paradise.
Marae’s
Of special interest on Nuku Hiva are the Marae’s . These are the hallowed religious locations on the island where the indigenous inhabitants organized their holy ceremonies. Here, a very wide range of sacrificial offers was made, from fruit and vegetables to horses and even humans. Up to the end of the nineteenth century the people that lived on the Marquesas Islands were cannibals.
Inspiration
Not only Floortje has been inspired by the Marquesas Islands; French painter Paul Gauguin departed for the Marquesas Islands around 1900 in search of inspiration that only an untouched and uncivilized world could bring him. He found this on Hiva Oa, one of the Islands. Also Belgian singer Jacques Brel spent the last two years of his life on this island. Both men are buried in the Cimitiere Calvaire