Aldio Pita lives on a tiny island in Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands. In 1996 he was under intense pressure to sell his family rainforest to international loggers. He had 5 children, a large extended family and needed an income. Today, unlike many others, his rainforest still stands, all 5 kids have had a tertiary education and they now have a small ecolodge and gallery on their island. Aldio chose art and craft over logging after he joined our technical training workshop in 1994 and went on the establish Vakiki Art. The craftmapping process enabled him to recognise the value of his cultural and environmental heritage. Through our skills training programme he learned to make paper from waste forest fibre and used his carving skills to create woodblock prints to illustrate cultural stories and images from his surroundings. We have continued to encourage and support Aldio to attend international festivals, stage museum exhibitions and pass his knowledge to the next generations. His, and his sons' work is now in held in museum and private collections around the world, and is available for sale by visiting the Vakiki Gallery or through Craftmapper. (photo of prints)