 Even during his time as a school teacher, he increased his knowledge of Polynesian designs by researching them in Tahiti and Hawaii, where he had access to anthropological archives stored at Bishop Museum of Honolulu.Manu has been tattooing professionally since 1991, after he left his job as a school teacher in order to fulfill his passion.He took over his father’s tattoo shop in Papeete, Tahiti, and renamed it "Mana’o Tattoo".