Kuku Kapa and Pilina ʻĀina
Barkcloth-Making and Relationships with Nature: A Celebration of our Kūpuna Kapa Practitioners
In the Spring of 2023, I interviewed five kapa practitioners to learn about the pilina they share with their practice and with the ʻāina that provide both materials and inspiration for this craft. Historically, kapa was the fabric of Hawaiʻi, created for uses such as bedding, clothing, ceremonial purposes, and funeral shrouds. It is crafted using the bast, or inner fibers, of tree species, the most notable being wauke (paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera). The bast is fermented in saltwater and freshwater, which helps break down the fibers. Once ready, it is beaten with a hohoa, a rounded wood beater, on a pōhaku anvil to soften and spread. Several pieces of bast are laid atop each other on a kua lāʻau, a wood anvil, and felted together by beating with an iʻe kuku, a carved wood beater, resulting in a sheet of kapa. Finished kapa is often decorated with plant dyes and local soils. The importation of European textiles beginning in the late 18 th century resulted in a dramatic decrease in kapa production. This tradition laid dormant until the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1960s and 1970s, when several pioneering Kānaka ʻŌiwi laboriously researched kapa to bring it back to life. Today, kapa enjoys an ongoing resurgence with growing numbers of haumāna across our pae ʻāina.
Beating retted wauke bast with a hohoa on a pōhaku.
This StoryMap was created to celebrate the stories of these five kūpuna, who are kumu to incoming generations of cultural practitioners. My interviewees were Roen Hufford, Verna Takashima, Wes Sen, Kaʻiulani de Silva, and Dalani Tanahy. Interviews took place on Hawaiʻi and Oʻahu in the locations seen in this map.
Kapa endures through the interconnected pilina these practitioners share with diverse ecosystems and communities. Numerous locations were identified as vital to their craft, including other Pacific islands such as Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa.
In the following sections, questions I asked during our interviews are followed by their words, images of their work and the ʻāina-based elements they depend on, and maps of places they hold dear. These relationships are found to be as beautiful and complex as the finest of kapa.
Tell me about your relationship with making kapa?
Wes
It was at that time (1980) that I met Mary Prichard. And so, Mary Prichard I had asked, I said, “Well, I would love to learn siapo (Samoan barkcloth).” Because I met her here in Honolulu. Beatrice Krauss was her dear friend. She introduced me to her. So when I went down to Samoa, I asked Mary, I said, “Would it be possible if I can learn?” And she said, “Sure, you just come over and I'll teach you.” So for 10 years, she mentored me, taught me everything, everything that needed to be done with siapo.
Kapa art by Wes Sen
Wes
One of the main things we wanted, I wanted, was to have costumes. Because so what, you make a little sample? You put something on the wall and all that? I said, what about costumes? So when we had our first exhibit was at the Merrie Monarch and Roen and all of us, all made pāʻū and each of our models wore them.
Photo of kapa pāʻū. Credit to Nina Kuna.
Kaʻiulani
Well, I think any kind of passion begins in a very personal space from personal experiences and mine really came from growing up here. As you can see, my home is in the middle of the forest. I'm very connected to Mānoa because I grew up here. The morning Tuahine rains, the rainbows, the gentle breezes, you know, it surrounds me and it affects me. … And so it just enhanced my appreciation for plants, for nature, for our environment, for what is really true and Indigenous to Hawaiʻi. And I think that that has always shaped what my hula practice and my kapa practice are.
Rainbow in Mānoa Valley
Kaʻiulani
For me, the first priority has always been to make kapa to be used in traditional practices. … My project with Hālau I Ka Wēkiu for the men to learn to beat their own malo. … I made kapa lehu for funerary purposes. I've been inspired too by other people's creative forces. With hula there's always a chant or story that drives it. What's the story behind it? What's the message? But my first and primary has always been let's make it functional. Let's make it usable, wrap a baby in it, you know, all these different things that you can do with kapa. ~Kaʻiulani
Kapa art by Kaʻiulani
Verna
(Marie McDonald, Roen's mother) had a block of kauila that she wanted to have planks made for her iʻe kuku. … my brother (Solomon Apio) pulled out his book, J. S. Emerson’s Material Cultures. And he uses that as a reference. He wanted to see the different dimensions and how it was cut. In this book, it has mentioned select kinds of wood. So as he was going through this book, he found our ancestor's names. J.S. Emerson, this is about 1887 to 1889, while he was a surveyor in South Kona he had collected various items from people in that area, but in this book is a notation of my ancestors. It's Mama Kahunaʻāina, J. W. Kahunaʻāina. Her brother, Kamahiaʻai and her nephew or grandson, I think he's Keoni Kaʻai. So this, it's big, he collected about 164 items of various tools, but mainly with Mama Kahunaʻāina, who's my fifth generation grandmother, and her mother's and grandmother's kapa. I took down all the numbers, the Bishop Museum numbers of the kapa and their tools, and we were able to go to see Bishop Museum and look at the collections. But when my brother saw this, he told me, he said to me, “Our tūtū made kapa so you got to make kapa.” He says, “I'll make the tools, you make the kapa.”
Kapa piece made by Pumaia, mother of Mama Kahunaʻāina. Courtesy of Bishop Museum.
Verna
But, you know, I said, I don't know how to make kapa. I don't know anything about kapa. And he said to me, my brother says to me, Oh, don't worry. I know somebody. So within that month, within a month, he had all my tools ready. He called his friend, he called Kaʻiulani de Silva who is my kumu.
For me, making the kapa strong is my goal. To make it as good, as least as good as my kupuna. And although I know I won't be able to, I still strive to do the best, try to make it the best. Still not quite there yet…
Kapa art by Verna Takashima
Dalani
I was pretty much just learning from DNA and grit. I had my tools and was pounding on a lumber four by four, once those trees actually grew. I was really kind of making it up as I went along.
Having to learn on my own was hilarious. I used to roll up the wauke and go take it down to the beach and put it in the tide pools and leave it. Or I'd tie all the wauke strips to a juice jug, then tie it to undersea boulders while I was surfing. … That was probably the best part of trying to learn was having to figure it out for myself. It's easy to say, "Oh, my kumu taught me," but it's another thing to say, "Yeah, we stuck it in this raging river. We left it in the tide pools. We tried all the things we read from the old books.”
Kapa art by Dalani Tanahy
Dalani
I did learn a lot from watching the kids. They would just talk and pound, some so focused, others less so, but the kapas are spreading out. And I'm watching and thinking, "Hmm, m-my first kapa didn't look like that! What's the difference here?" Probably the freedom of being eight years old. … And we're in Nānākuli. This is all Polynesian kids, the DNA. DNA coming through them, making them all practitioners already.
A child beating kapa
Roen
(Referring to her mother, Marie McDonald) She insisted I do it. That was the initial spark. She said, "You gotta do this."
It starts with the beating. To beat out a nice piece of kapa. That is the first thing is, to challenge myself to do it, nicely. … Then the design happens. And I would say that I'm first a student of art, as opposed to a maker of stories about, we're drawing inspiration from nature or anything like that. I look at this as, is the color balanced? Or do I need to repeat this shape? In here? Or, you know, do I need a darker line? That's how I approach it.
Kapa art by Roen Hufford
Where do you source your wauke?
Roen
I have manalima and I have poʻaʻaha. (Manalima) was originally what my mother started with. That she brought with her from Oʻahu, her original plants were from Kualoa. And then she got some poʻaʻaha, I'd say in the late '90s and I'm told they came from the University of Hawaiʻi, by way of Maile Andrade. Hiko Hanapi bought it from Maile, and it's been planted here. At this point, I like the poʻaʻaha a lot.
Manalima variety of wauke, with lobed leaves
Roen
The poʻaʻaha that we planted last year in April and now we were harvesting it. You know, after we ʻōʻū (prune), and watered, and fertilized and all this kind of stuff, and we were stripping it off. I mean, everybody was just so happy! It was coming off! And then, to be reminded that, they're gonna have to beat it. We're gonna have to soak it, and we're gonna have to beat it out. And look what you grew! You know, that, to me is like, that's a major success. We grew this. And now we can make something out of it. It's just like the farmer, you know, he puts in his time, and he plants the seed, and he takes care of it. And he harvests it and he eats it!
There's a dormant period, and that's usually in the winter months. So from November to April, the wauke is kind of, there's not many leaves out there. And it's really difficult to get the bast off. If you go out there and cut down a tree just because it looks like the right size and everything, the bast won't come off, it's just stuck. It has to have a full canopy of leaves. … the best time was at the beginning of June.
Poʻaʻaha variety of wauke, with heart-shaped leaves
Kaʻiulani
… I would go to Roen and Marie's and they would allow me to harvest and beat, and I think that's just wonderful. That's sometimes what we need you know, you don't have tools? I'll loan you my tools until you make your own, until you do things. I think that's the beauty of just sharing and the generosity of spirit that comes from kapa making and from nature.
Manalima patch at Roen's farm
Verna
So my brother planted in his yard. I had another friend who lived in Wahiawa, he had planted and so when he found that I was making kapa, he would gather for me and bring it to me. So I, you know, through the years, I had several sources, and of course, we would go to Big Island, Roen would be so generous in giving us wauke. So Kaʻiulani and I both went up several times. And we were able to you know, go up and visit with Marie, which is always special. We really enjoyed it because we could talk kapa you know? … When I need wauke and I don't have because I'm not growing it… the phone rings or somebody will have wauke. So we find it somehow.
… the first plants I had came from Marie. … Marie actually gave me some of her poʻaʻaha. Keikis, you know, so I still have that planted.
Poʻaʻaha trees at Roen's farm
Kaʻiulani
I have wauke in my backyard. But I also help (Hālau I Ka Wēkiu) grow it and I harvest it every couple of weeks and make kapa and so it's wonderful to have our own resources. And that way you really get to know the fiber. It's consistent. You know, you understand the cycle, the year cycle, because it is seasonal. You get to know your own season at that place.
Wauke bast freshly stripped off the tree is rolled into a bundle to ret, or ferment, first in a bucket of saltwater, and later in freshwater
Dalani
I have the laumana that I got from Kaʻala Farm when I worked for them, also the same type I got from Kawai. It has the split leaves like fingers, hence the name. The ones from Kaʻala came from Malia Solomon back in the 80's, who I believe got them from Tonga. I also have a couple of varieties from Maui, one from Roen and one from Lisa Schattenburg-Raymond, also one from ʻĪao Valley and one from a student who grew them in his yard in Wailuku, they are amazing ones. Those are all poʻaʻaha type, meaning the type with the red vein and rounder leaf ... Oh, and then I got some that I stole from UH, from the School of Hawaiian Knowledge. So they had a few, I think Maile had planted them.
Laumana variety of wauke, which is another name for the manalima variety
Wes
And so one of them, the source was Dr. Kilolani Mitchell, who was an instructor at Kamehameha Schools for a long time. When I went to his house in ʻĀhuimanu, he had wauke plants that he had gathered up above Mokulēʻia.
Manalima patch at Roen's farm
Wes
The other wauke that I did get came from Lapakahi. Lapakahi had two kinds. They had the one growing at the Kohala side of the park, and it had ovate leaves. They received [the other one] from Malia Solomon. Malia Solomon got it from Samoa.
Wes
(Discussing poʻaʻaha patch) Pua Van Dorpe, Sam Kaʻai, and Wes Wong went up into ʻĪao Valley. Somebody said they saw a wauke over there. So they did, they found an area where it was all wauke, māmaki, and tī leaves. And so they brought it back down.
Wauke poʻaʻaha
Wes
So where we are right now, this is called Waolani. This is where the chiefs would come in. And there was a rainbow at the entrance, right as you came into the valley, and that rainbow, when they would come would open like a curtain. And then they would enter and then it would close again. And they said that you could hear the drums and there would be those two sticks with the white tapa on them to signify that it was sacred and kapu. So this area has a long history. And it's recorded that wauke was grown out here. Today we call it Salt Lake but Āliapaʻakai in that area, there was wauke that was recorded growing in that area. Moanalua would have been an area where they would be making kapa. ~Wes
Wauke bast retting in a bucket
Tell me about your tools and the woods they are made from?
… my brother (Solomon Apio) was able to go up to Puʻu Waʻawaʻa to gather kauwila. … It was trees that were burnt in a fire years ago. So it's all these dead trees. My brother went up several times and each time he, they went, he got people to... Because you gotta plant first and then you can go get, right? And that's what he did every time they went up. They helped build, when we first went there was hardly anything planted. … When we first went up, it was only a small section with a few trees. Then after several years later, when we went up, it was all the way down to that building… it’s like, Oh my gosh, look! This is what we helped to do… ~Verna
Puʻu Waʻawaʻa Cinder Cone, Hawaiʻi Island. Left imagery from 2006, right from 2023, showing significant increase in native forest. Imagery courtesy of Google Earth.
On harvesting at Puʻu Waʻawaʻa: (John Keakealani) would say, “Okay, that one there, kauila,” he said, “How much you need?” Oh, we need this much. Then okay, he have the cowboys cut 'em. Then we said ʻuhiʻuhi. He went, “ʻUhiʻuhi?” Yup. He'd have 'em cut the uhiuhi. Then he said, “That ʻiliahi?” I said, “ʻIliahi?” Then he said, “You want one?” I said, “Yeah.” So when they cut it, because it was dried already, they cut it, all the dust had the smell, you know when the chainsaw went through it and dust blew. ~Wes
Puʻu Waʻawaʻa cinder cone
… through this book (Sol) looked at what kinds of woods that our ancestors used or grandmother used. And it was mainly kauila, koaiʻa, māmane, I know there's all kinds of different woods that they would use. So my tools that he made, was mostly of kauila. ~Verna
Kauila (Colubrina oppositifolia) produces a dark, dense wood
… we're going through the book again, and (Sol) starts out with our Mama, our grandmother, who made her iʻe kuku of kauila. … about 10-15 minutes later, he gets a phone call. Somebody's on the other side saying, “Sol, I got some kauila, you want it?” … Then on another day, another time, he says, “Oh, your kua”. … he says olopua. Again, the phone rings. This guy on the other line, and he's on the Big Island, and he says, “Sol, I got this log, a olopua. Can you make a kua for my wife? You can have the rest”... Okay, so then, again, he's looking into the book, “Oh, koaiʻa.” And the phone rings again and I am like, okay, I don't think we have a choice here. You know, there's some workings going on, because every time you mentioned a word or you said a wood or you said something, that phone is ringing. So all the supplies that we have was provided out of the blue. ~Verna
Koaiʻa (Acacia koaia), another preferred wood for kapa tools
I named my tools. The funny side story is Uncle Sol Apio, who helped me with much of my toolmaking, he used to give me a tool, an iʻe kuku or something, and I would sleep with it at night. … because it speaks to you, it gives you that energy. And there is an energy from using these things. ~Kaʻiulani
Tools belonging to Kaʻiulani
And each one has a different characteristic. So for very fine, soft wauke fiber, you can use certain ones, my lama is a nice one for that, and even my kamani. But for others that are stronger, the kauila I love, the naio, the olopua, there are so many beautiful Hawaiian woods and just to use them is just heaven. ~Kaʻiulani
Well, before I was in kapa, I'd been studying lua for a couple years, which is the Hawaiian fighting arts. So, when I started doing kapa and I already had experience working with native woods. They had the ability to go to Big Island and go gather the kauila, and the ʻuhiʻuhi and stuff that had fallen. And we made our tools out of that. So, you know, it just segued right into tool making for kapa. ~Dalani
Tools belonging to Dalani
I appreciate the fact that once people knew I made kapa, folks would bring me wood and logs or tips where to find them. We would chase down the tree trimmers and screech to the side of the road at the site of an old log. Sometimes I might buy something special from the Wood Craft Shop, like an African hardwood. I love the native trees but I know we have to teach students to think sustainably and use comparable invasives like Eucalyptus and lychee, among others. ~Dalani
(My mother’s) kua was made by my father, William McDonald. And it's koa. … Her first two tools are a hohoa and a iʻe kuku made of ʻuhiʻuhi, which is really hard, dense and black. But you know, she had the help of various woodworkers and carpenters around here, who managed to get some things, some designs cut into it. Other tools are made by Solomon Apio. And she would tell him, you know, how long she wanted it and he made a whole bunch of them out of various woods. Out of koaiʻa, kauila, ʻuhiʻuhi… She has a set, a hohoa and a iʻe kuku, that were made out of eucalyptus and gifted to her by Kanaʻi Keawe. ~Roen
Tools belonging to Roen and her late mother, Marie McDonald
Yes, I have two (favorite tools), at this point in time... The initial blank was cut by Solomon Apio. And it was carved, the lines were cut, and the designs in it were carved by one of my students, Puakea Forester. ~Roen
Roen's two favorite iʻe kuku
When I have to re-line on my beaters because I've beaten it so much it's wearing down, just re-lining those is important. And I found that just using a saw blade or something to do it can't get the same effect as a niho ʻoki with shark's teeth. The shark's tooth is V'd and you really get a better use and a better product if you use the natural shark's teeth. ~Kaʻiulani
Niho ʻoki atop wauke shavings
Tell me about the plant dyes and ʻalaea you use?
I try to stick to the natural native dyes. So it would be like, ʻōlena, of course, ʻukiʻuki, hili kukui, all the different colors. I use ʻakala. I use nāʻū seeds… ʻAlaea, all the different soils. Each island has so many different colors! ~Kaʻiulani
Kapa art by Kaʻiulani
The kōlea is beautiful. It has that reddish, say reddish-brown, pinkish almost. So I would just get it, put water in it and let it sit, could sit for years, and then you use it. You know, you just strain it or you cook it. ~Verna
Kōlea (Myrsine spp.) bark can produce a beautiful dye
(Discussing favorite dyes) Kukui. I just dyed... a piece in palaʻā. When I lived on Oʻahu, the palaʻā was everywhere. And it's not quite so available on this island. I like ʻōlena and I would do noni… You need the inner bark of the root of the noni and that's quite an operation, to get that. I used a lot of maʻo hau hele. One of my absolute favorites is maʻo, the native cotton, the blossoms from the maʻo. We can't grow it at this elevation but my mother obtained some seeds and got her brother on Maui in Waiehu to grow it. ~Roen
ʻŌlena dye on kapa, resulting in a vibrant yellow
To get maʻo flowers... it doesn't grow so well in Mānoa because it's so wet. It likes hot and dry. So I have friends in Waiʻanae who allow me to go there and harvest during the summer, when the flowers are just blooming. I dry them and I can use them for dye all year round. And this is something that was traditional. ~Kaʻiulani
Maʻo (Gossypium tomentosum) is our endemic cotton. The flowers produce a deep green dye.
We knew a good place where you could get (palaʻā) in the mountains. And we picked the brown dead ferns and soaked them for a long time to make the dye. I remember making a bucket of that, and it was just beautiful, brown, nice dye. ~Dalani
Kapa dyed with palaʻā fern (Sphenomeris chinensis)
I was going in the early '80s down to Kalapana. And I was getting lauhala, tons of lauhala along the ocean… it was probably '87/'88, and it still had black sand. All the noni trees were abundant in that area, all we needed to do was just pull them out, just dig a little bit and pull them out. We scraped all the roots. And we made the dye right there. ~Wes
Kapa sample by Verna, dyed with noni (Morinda citrifolia) that has been treated with lime, resulting in a bright red
We use ʻukiʻuki and we harvest the berries when they fruit, but I always take the juice and then take the seeds and replant. Part of my ethic is you never waste. Everything goes back or you replenish as much as possible. ~Kaʻiulani
ʻUkiʻuki (Dianella sandwicensis)
I like seeing (dyes) change. Oftentimes, especially those really bright colors like blue greens, and purples and pinks and stuff. When they calm down after a while it's easier to take. ~Roen
Kapa art by Roen Hufford
I used a beautiful purple dye that I made from ʻiliahi seeds. Stunning, gorgeous, which lasted for about a year and a half and then it started to be fugitive and turn a little browner… but it's still beautiful. ~Kaʻiulani
Ripe ʻiliahi (Santalum paniculatum) fruits can be used to make dye
We pass plants all day long and we go, "Oh, that's pretty. Oh, that's nice. Oh, look at that". But you know, when our kupuna passed the plants it was like, "Here's the medicine, we'll get that later. This wauke looks good, we can make your malo now. This thing over here with, the guys are going to cut those too, you know, redo the roof of the house"... the plants had meanings… If you want to make dyes, you need to see the things that are growing around you. Understand the plant and when to gather, and how to harvest, and how to save it. ~Dalani
Maʻo hau hele (Hibiscus brackenridgei) flowers result in a blue-green dye
(You can find kukui) in Hāmākua there's all kinds of gulches you know, and if you know what to look for. You look for those light, silver green trees that are growing into gulches usually where there’s small streams and stuff. And you want to go after there's been a heavy rain and there's no water running in those streams. But the rain has washed out, wash the rocks and the soil from, exposing some of those roots. And you just kind of follow the trunk down to the roots that are exposed, and you scrape away the bark and look for that red color of the inner bark. And you know you've got a kukui root. ~Roen
Kukui (Aleurites moluccanus)
(On creating dark kapa): First we have to dye it in the kukui. The first shavings that we strain off the kukui, that's for printing, because that's pure juice. And you have to use pure juice to mix with the black soot. You don't water it down. And then I'll put it into the mud (at Kānewai). And then it turns jet black. ~Wes
Hili kukui, crafted from the root bark of the kukui tree, is a deep red-brown dye
Okay, I mainly use kukui. And kukui can give me black or it can give me brown when I put the lepo ʻalaea. And the lepo ʻalaea I usually get from Kaua'i. I used to go get myself when I went up in Kokeʻe. I went into the mountains and there will be certain veins of that in the side of the mountain. But today I have people, they know where to go and then they go get the ʻalae because it's used for medicine as well. ~Wes
Chunks of ʻalaea, ocherous earth
My kumu, Kaʻiulani had given me this red ʻalaea, can't find it anymore. I know it came from Kauaʻi but it was that deep red, almost like that. And although I've asked people, they've given me ʻalaea from Kauaʻi but it's not that same, so it's from a certain vein. … I treasure it, I think I only have like this much, very little left and I only use it for special, special pieces. ~Verna
Kapa piece by Verna, decorated with ʻalaea
I have ʻalaea too. I have lots of ʻalaea. It can flake off after, if you print with it. So there's, you just have to work with it. Some of the kapa makers tell me to mix coconut milk or some kind of protein in it. I don't eat eggs so I don't have any egg whites or whatever. So I don't have that. I'm told that the Hawaiians might have used spider eggs. ~Roen
Ground ʻalaea alongside ʻohe kāpala (bamboo stamps) and lapa (bamboo liners), used for decorating kapa
There are so many colors of clay on Kahoʻolawe. I was so lucky when I went there, they let me gather some from an area that they said they cleared of the bombs! Most exciting dye gathering ever! ~Dalani
Colorful soils of Kahoʻolawe
What are some processing and design techniques?
(Discussing the hāʻukeʻuke stamp design): The sea urchin. The hāʻukeʻuke. … by doing it, I started to find the moʻolelo. Because the hāʻukeʻuke has that little thing in between, that's made with the hala fruit. You get the hala fruit, you trim down to the bottom. And so that little thing there, they dipped it in the dye and then they went like that. Okay? And it looks like a net and then inside the net you got the hāʻukeʻuke. Okay, it says, "Pala ka hala, momona ka hāʻukeʻuke." So, when the hala is ripe and fall down, then we know you can go gather the hāʻukeʻuke because the fat is ready. ~Wes
Kapa piece made by Malia Solomon for the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, exhibiting the hāʻukeʻuke stamp design
When someone asks me to make a kapa for them, they usually want a story in that design. I try to create a specific story for that person, place, or idea. We don't really know the meanings of the designs that we see, or even if there are meanings. But I will use those designs to create a story as I see it and feel it. For the most part I don't even really create new designs for ʻohe kāpala, because there are just so many. If you try to replicate everything that Peter Buck collected and put in the Bishop Museum, that'd be the rest of your natural life. ~Dalani
Kapa piece by Dalani Tanahy
The basic color background is put on with a brush and once in a while I'll use ʻohe kāpala, which I've inherited from my mother. … I am very fond of using plant stems to make designs. One of my favorite ones is sansevieria, or mother-in-law's-tongue. I've used bird of paradise, I've used banana but I like mother-in-law's-tongue a lot. ~Roen
Stamping paper with sansevieria (Dracaena trifasciata) and ʻalaea
Because in all the old records, they said they got the ʻohe, they cut, peeled back and the word is kolekole. Kolekole means that they get the outer bark, and they just peel like that. ~Wes
Roen demonstrating the kolekole method of separating the outer skin of the wauke from the inner bast
I would ask my students, “Do you know what ‘E Pluribus Unum’ means?” And since no one paid attention to US History class, they usually don’t. It means “ From many, one”, meaning the creation of the United States from many countries and peoples. I reformed it a little bit to talk about how to think of using ʻohe kāpala by saying, "Unum e pluribus unum, or roughly, “One becomes many, becomes one." Because this one stamp stamped 100 times, shoulder to shoulder, creates one new visual entity. ~Dalani
Kapa art by Dalani
What are some changes you have observed to the landscapes you rely on?
What are some challenges in making kapa?
Resources are fundamental to the kapa-making process, whether it's for native woods for tools, whether it's the wauke or the fiber that you beat, whether it's the dyes in the soils, the fruit, the leaves, all those things that you use as a kapa maker. Those were the hardest things to get for a lot of kapa makers who started. And so, you know, the first kuleana is, "grow it." ~Kaʻiulani
Collection of Kaʻiulani's ʻohe kāpala
Oh, I have a very difficult time with (naming kapa pieces). So I call up my cousin's husband... I'll send him a digital image. If it really needs to have a name that's special, I'll just send him a picture of it and he'll give me a name... Kēpa Maly will, he'll help me with the name since sometimes, you know, he'll say, "Well, what do you think?" And I'll give him my opinion, and he'll translate it into Hawaiian. ~Roen
As an artists, I loved illustration and creating things that moved or breathed fire or galloped into the sunset. When I began printing kapa and realizing that the designs were composed of lots of geometry, all my math terrors came back to me. So essentially I've had to express my artistic self in a form that I do not love, don’t always understand, and sometimes I'm not really sure if it's nice when I'm done. People say it is, so I guess it’s true. ~Dalani
There's many challenges. And I've had many students, or haumāna drop off, because you have to commit, it takes a huge commitment. Then they don't have the tools because of... Then they don't have wauke, so the first thing we ask, do you have wauke? Because they go, Oh I want to learn how to make kapa. Okay. Do you have wauke or do you have a resource for that? No. Do you have tools? Oh, can we buy it? No. ~Verna
Assemblage of kapa tools on a pōhaku
I think that the younger that we can impact people, the kids, and teach them and just get them excited about it, the better. Because for us, you know, I talked about aloha ʻāina being a personal experience. I think that's what we have to make sure our kids experience. And by our kids it's not just my children, but everybody's children. ~Kaʻiulani
You have to balance the commercial and traditional aspects. At some point in my kapa making life, I realized that I had been a professional kapa maker since the beginning, when I was hired to teach for Ka’ala Farm. Then I would get paid to do demonstrations and then people would ask me to make kapa for them, and they would pay me for it! I was amazed all the time that I actually became not only a professional artist/ practitioner but that I was able to do and create something meaningful from my culture, able to share it so that it wouldn’t be a “lost art” again, and support my life and family in the process. ~Dalani
On the importance of community and sharing information and resources.
When kapa makers get together, they like to pick each other's brains to, you know... (laughs) We watch each other, how we beat you know, it's like, Oh, she beats going up and down and out, middle to side and left to right. … she holds it at a 45 degree angle. And you know, we're always checking each other out. ~Roen
… that's part of the tradition that used to exist in the ahupuaʻa, you know, and mauka and makai would share, or if not, from your ahupuaʻa, what does another one have that you can appreciate and trade? You know, that is the reciprocity that we talk about always giving back. ~Kaʻiulani
Assemblage of dyes and tools
… our ancestors, they had a village. They had a kapa hale. So they had a hale, where the women would go in and you had many women all beating, helping each other. … having a hui or hālau of kapa makers all together, you can have a project and say let's do a pāʻū, let's do a kapa moe and everybody starts beating. That's what I'd love. … and I think that's something that could be for the future. ~Verna
Final words of wisdom.
But you start to really become more aware of everything around you. It's that awareness, that ʻike, it's not just seeing a green hedge, you start to see, okay, you know, that's kou. And I can pick those seeds and I can make a dye out of it. Oh, that's this or that's this, and you start to really appreciate everything around you in that way, right?
And I think that Western science, informed by Indigenous science or knowledge is the best. … the local people, the residents, the native Hawaiians, knew their area, they knew their plants, they knew their environment so well. Probably better than Western science, because they had to depend on it for living, for their lifestyle. ~Kaʻiulani
Kou (Cordia subcordata)
The first third is, you know, getting through the mechanics of doing all of this. The second part is developing a relationship with the other kapa makers. And the last part is enjoying how people feel about what you do. When I recently was in Honolulu, that I made it a point... I was doing this talk in front of a group of people and I pointed out that they're as much a part of this whole process as the kapa makers and the wauke. Because they fuel the kapa makers. Because they enjoy our work, and they want to see it happen. ~Roen
Kapa art by Roen Hufford
We will all always be haumāna. ~Dalani
Concluding manaʻo
Kapa relies deeply on the pilina practitioners share with myriad communities, human and ʻāina alike. These five kūpuna understand the need to mālama ʻāina, the necessity of pono stewardship, and the importance of fostering meaningful relationships between people and place. Reciprocity perpetuates this and other cultural practices far into the future. At the heart of it all are our cherished kumu kapa – Roen, Verna, Wes, Kaʻiulani, and Dalani. Their love and dedication are the flames that keep this practice alive. E ola kapa!
Additional resources
Mahalo for joining us in exploring the stories of our beloved kapa practitioners! For those interested in learning more, the full transcripts of these interviews will soon be archived with the Center for Oral History at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The following websites and articles are an excellent collection of information to continue exploring kapa.
Dalani Tanahy's website: https://www.kapahawaii.com/
Roen Hufford's website: https://www.roenhufford.com/
Maui Magazine article about Pua Van Dorpe: https://www.mauimagazine.net/kapa-fabric-culture/
Digitized version of "Specimens of Hawaiian Kapa" No. 20: https://archive.org/details/specimensofhawaiiankapacollectionno.20
Digitized version of "Specimens of Hawaiian Kapa" No. 29: https://archive.org/details/specimensofhawaiiankapacollectionno.29
Moʻokini Library talk-story with Avalon Paradea on kapa collection, "Specimens of Hawaiian Kapa": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83xuigVUGZE
FLUX magazine article interviewing two kapa artists, Nanea Lum and Lehuauakea: https://fluxhawaii.com/kapa-makers-in-conversation-nanea-lum-and-lehuauakea/
Mauna Kea Hotel welcomes home kapa made by Malia Solomon: https://www.hawaiilife.com/blog/mauna-kea-hotel-welcomes-home-hawaiian-kapa/
Kapa Kulture blog: https://kapakulture.com/2013/03/01/hawaiian-word-of-the-day-kilohana/
Museum of New Zealand's kapa collection: https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/2319
National Endowment of the Arts celebrating Roen Hufford: https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/roen-hufford
Maui Magazine article by Shannon Wianecki: https://www.mauimagazine.net/beauty-in-the-bark/
Moʻolelo of kapa: https://kealopiko.shorthandstories.com/MooleloKapa/index.html
Nupepa article on the famed wauke of Kuloli: https://nupepa-hawaii.com/2019/05/27/the-famed-wauke-of-kuloli-okoe-south-kona-1923/
Avalon Paradea's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avalon.dawn.art/
