3 Best Shopping in Bora Bora with Maupiti, French Polynesia

Alain & Linda

Paofai Bay

The gallery's French owners came to Bora Bora 38 years ago on their honeymoon, loved it, and returned a few years later to live there. The lovely thatched building displays both their works—she paints on canvas and he specializes in hand-painted pareos—and the work of local artists (painters and sculptors) who they nurture and promote. The gallery also sells etchings, tapas (Polynesian painted cloth), and books.

Alain Despert Studio

This French artist moved to Bora Bora in 1986, and from his hillside studio above Matira Beach, paints vivid Bora Bora scenes and depictions of tikis, using acrylic and enamel on canvas. He achieved international fame for his painting of a bottle of vodka floating in the Bora Bora lagoon to promote Absolut vodka.

Chez Garrick Yrondi

Amanahune

Garrick Yrondi is a Frenchman who has lived on various islands of French Polynesia since he was two years old. He paints oils and watercolors and sculpts in a Mediterranean style villa studio 4 km (2 mi) south of Vaitape. His 2-meter rose marble statue of a woman, known as Vahine E ia is displayed on a tiny island in the lagoon just near Bora Bora airport. You can't miss it.

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