Wood carver makes good kina from craft

KWILA, ebony and rosewood trees are not only logged but crafted with traditional designs which fetch high prices for a determined woodcarver like Lake Moyabona.
Mr Moyabona also uses copaifera langsdorffii tree, also known as diesel or kerosene tree, which is mostly found in the tropics along the coasts of Papua New Guinea.
“Ebony is very hard to carve as well as Kwila,” he said as he was neatly laying out his handcrafted artifacts during the two-day second Pacific tuna forum that ended last Thursday in Port Moresby.
Mr Moyabona is the managing director of Tokesa Crafts and Design Ltd based in the city.
Many of his wood carvings on display were those of marine life such as dolphins and turtles and animals such as pigs and crocodiles, among many others.
He said he enjoyed what he was diubg as the designs on the handcrafts were a reminder of his tribe’s traditions that had lived on for many generations.
He had also crafted the designs on office furniture for the Fisheries Commission.
The National caught up with Mr Moyabona, a typical Trobriand Islander from Okaiboma village within the Losuia district of Milne Bay province, during the conference.
He exhibited some of his products bearing yet again the unique Trobriand designs.