www.missingpolynesia.com
Through their humble beginnings, Richard Vae continued to provide for his family working full time in the demolition and construction industry. He would come home to join Meilin and sometimes unpaid employees (family members) while they sat every night creating meticulously unique pieces of jewelry along with clay flowers by hand. The early success of their “one-of-a-kind” handcrafted jewelry and accessories began to broaden their vision. With the understanding and inspiration from the respected cultures of the Polynesian Islands, they knew they were near a breakthrough.
Richard and Meilin then took their newly expanded merchandise from places such as craft fairs and festivals to their tent they set-up three days a week (rain or shine) at the local swap meet. Continuing to work full time Richard still managed to wake up as early as 3:00am prior to heading to his day job to set up their flea market booth.
While Richard continued to focus on the production of their hand painted line, Meilin began to use her creativity as an artist and sketched out designs with a pencil and a notebook for what she envisioned to later become the boutique we now know as Missing Polynesia. Meilin focuses on her creative visions while drawing it out onto her sidekick sketchbook. After the first line was produced, they ventured out to open the official boutique location of Missing Polynesia. It was then that the couple decided to move forward in faith as Richard resigned from his day job to fully pursue in realizing he and his wife’s vision.
The name, Missing Polynesia, came from the feeling people would get when they lived, felt, or longed for the islands and wanted to take a piece of it with them however far or close they may be. From it’s meager inception, the Vae’s grew their little boutique into a flourishing shop full of style, fit for anyone. There are fewer opportunities to catch these two nowadays in the official store as they’re out living their dream of taking Polynesia with them to various festivals, fashion shows, and craft fairs nationally and internationally.
Content for this introduction taken from http://www.missingpolynesia.com/the-visionaries.html
Psalm 26:8 “LORD, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells.”