{"id":307128,"date":"2019-09-03T06:06:39","date_gmt":"2019-09-02T20:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=307128"},"modified":"2019-09-03T06:06:39","modified_gmt":"2019-09-02T20:06:39","slug":"keeping-true-to-your-island-roots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/keeping-true-to-your-island-roots\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping true to your island roots"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bonitan Tasi Design\u2019s bestselling slides. (Contributed Photos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Setting up the online store Bonitan Tasi Design a few month ago was a way for Christi Warn to nurture her creativity and is a modern way for her to sustain her island roots.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Guam, Warn\u2019s parents and grandparents\u2014both maternal and paternal\u2014hail from the CNMI and her online shop enables her to keep in touch with her roots here.<\/p>\n

She said the online business actually began as a way for her to relax after a busy day at school. Now a fourth-year college student working on her degree in business administration, Warn said that Bonitan Tasi Design got off the ground when she started designing custom-made products for herself and her family. <\/p>\n

\u201cDesigning is my way of releasing stress from schoolwork. I\u2019m self-taught in both photography and designing and, through the infusion of both, it is where my product designs come from,\u201d said Warn.<\/p>\n

She then posted her designs on social media and that led to family and friends encouraging her to sell her products online.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, I thought many people would not like them because they are different. But my family kept encouraging me that I should because of that fact,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Bonitan Tasi Design\u2019s handbag designs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Warn, who lives in Washington state, first dabbled in shirts, sandals, mugs, wine glass, and keychains with a Guam theme. However, a little prodding from her mother led her to adopt CNMI-themed products as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole goal is to provide products to islanders here in the U.S. who are proud of their heritage and enjoy showing it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

So far, Bonitan Tasi Design\u2019s bestsellers are its slides that have floral designs with Saipan, Tinian, Luta, and Guam emblazoned on them.<\/p>\n

The online shop has now branched out to making sneakers, bags, and car seat covers with the now familiar island theme the CNMI and Guam are known for.<\/p>\n

Why did she name her online business Bonitan Tasi? Warn said she wanted something that reflects where she come from and as a tribute to her late brother. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe name \u2018bonitan tasi\u2019 means beautiful ocean. It’s something that reflects home because we have such beautiful beaches and I also named it in memory of Glenn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warn\u2019s online store can be found on the internet at https:\/\/bonitantasipd.com\/collections or on Facebook. Means of payment are through either credit card or PayPal. <\/p>\n

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Bonitan Tasi Design has now branches out to selling sneakers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Setting up the online store Bonitan Tasi Design a few month ago was a way…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":307129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-307128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}