“We draw on our collective years of experience as Kanaka, living in this place and observing the natural world,” says Hina Kneubuhl, one of the company’s co-owners.

Kealopiko, which sells its clothes for women and men online, has nine wāhine employees. “It’s their hands that choose the placement, how much ink to put on the screen, how hard to press, what colors to use. Everything’s hand dyed, so they mix colors that vary slightly. They really have a lot of choice and agency over how each piece is printed, so no garment is exactly the same,” says Kneubuhl.

Even the weather affects each piece. “The way it comes out might differ depending on how sunny or windy it is that day. Those elements influence how the fabric dries and dye comes through. Everything is touched by loving hands and unique in its making.”

thekealopikoshop.com

Diversity helps define Hawai’i, so it’s not surprising that a diversity of ideas and approaches from designers helps define alohawear, the clothing of Hawai’i.

When I talked with Island designers about trends in alohawear, they described several distinctions. One that kept coming up was the differences between alohawear worn by locals and some tourists and resort wear mostly worn by tourists. And they talked about their inspirations, among them the Hawaiian culture and the real stories of local people – not tourists’ illusions about the Islands. Another common inspiration is nostalgia – re-creating the look of an earlier generation of alohawear.

Alohawear “represents us, our lifestyle, our culture and our aloha,” says Tom Park, director and head of brand at Kahala, a local maker of aloha shorts and other alohawear since 1936.

Duke’s pareo from Kahala, left, is based on a 1960s design. Right, Craig Katsuyoshi, owner of Helena’s Hawaiian Food, partnered with Kahala to create aloha shirts inspired by favorite menu items.| Photo courtesy: Kahala

“It is an easy way for us to share our aloha with the world. In Hawai‘i, an aloha shirt can be worn casually or dressy. Kids wear aloha shirts to school, bankers and attorneys wear aloha shirts in the boardroom. It really is the most versatile piece of clothing you can wear here in the Islands.”

Park says Kahala’s designers get inspiration from all over the Islands, and their creations tell the stories of those places. “Whether it’s Uncle’s mango tree, the beautiful heliconias they saw on a stroll through the garden or the sea life off the shore of Hanauma Bay, they are always looking for inspiration from daily life.”

Outsiders often consider aloha shirts, Hawaiian shirts and resort shirts to be the same things, but they’re not.

Authentic Versus Inauthentic

Tory Laitila, Honolulu Museum of Art’s curator of textiles and historic arts, created the “Fashioning Aloha” exhibit at the museum, which runs through Sept. 1. He says the only connection some so-called “Hawaiian shirts” have to the Islands is they’re called “Hawaiian.”

A scene from the Honolulu Museum of Art’s “Fashioning Aloha” exhibit, which runs through Sept. 1. | Photo courtesy: HoMA

“Alohawear and aloha shirts are designed for people in Hawai‘i,” he says. “The Hawaiian shirt can be for anybody who came to Hawai‘i … even the shirt with the birds that’s referencing Central America with their patterns.”

Laitila compares these kinds of Hawaiian shirts to “Hawaiian pizza,” a Canadian invention made with pineapple and ham, and has nothing to do with Hawai‘i.

As for a loud, brash Hawaiian shirt created outside of the Islands, he asks, “Is it even Hawai‘i? Is it a Hawaiian designer? I don’t know, but they market it as Hawaiian shirts.”

Many of the people I interviewed say Hawai‘i residents tend to look for authentic storytelling and actual local colors and images in their alohawear, rather than the loud styles frequently worn in mainland offices on casual Fridays and by similarly loud characters on TV and in B movies.

Andy Reilly, a professor of fashion design and merchandising at UH Mānoa, says local residents look for alohawear “that isn’t your typical tourist Hawai‘i with the bright colors and the sunsets and the dolphin jumping in the background. They’re looking at things that are more representative of what Hawai‘i is, so maybe more greens, browns, blacks.”

Reilly says his research also shows that locals prefer clothing that represents Hawai‘i or Hawaiian culture accurately and are turning to local and Hawaiian designers for that look.

“With tourists’ shirts it’s less about the story” than the aloha shirts that locals lean toward.

Inspired by Native Plants and Chants

Sig Zane Designs, a Hilo-based design company, has been educating and sharing Hawaiian culture through design for almost 40 years. Creative Director Kūha‘o Zane says “the term Hawaiian shirts has taken on an aesthetic that was created outside of Hawai‘i.”

While discussing the difference between aloha shirts and Hawaiian shirts, Zane says he does not want to cede either term to outsiders, including Hawaiian shirts. “I don’t want to give them that term. I think we should own both terms. They can have resort wear. I don’t want the term resort wear, but we can own aloha.”

Zane has been working with the company for 21 years and has been helping his father, Sig Zane, since he was a little kid hanging around the Hilo shop. Sig Zane Designs integrates the teachings of Hālau O Kekuhi, the family hālau, into its work. The design of their shirts is inspired by chants, mo‘olelo, hula and nine native plants: ‘ie‘ie, ‘ōhi‘a, palapalai, pala‘ā, koa, ‘ōlapa, maile, kukui and laua‘e.

“In our hula kuahu, there’s a core of nine plants total. And those are our main inspiration, because those are the ones that we learned to make leis out of. They’re the ones that we use in our kuahu practices,” Zane says.

The inspirations for designs can be historical. “Sometimes it might be like a mo‘olelo that my dad hears from some kūpuna in the area about a specific plant, and it may have an additional use, or may be a part of a larger legend of that area. And so it ranges, but I would say a lot of it has to be based within cultural narrative.”

In fact, Zane says, an accompanying narrative is now expected in local designs. “We were able to shift what the norm is in Hawai‘i. … You’ve got to have a narrative behind it.”

Designs Beyond Clothing

Zane says he is constantly looking for opportunities to expand his designs beyond clothing. As an example, he says he was a part of the conversation when UH Mānoa planned new wayfinding signs on campus. Initially, the university had contracted two mainland designers and Zane sat in on their meeting as a consultant. During the meeting, a UH staff member said designers should not create a Hawaiian design without a narrative behind it.

Examples of how Hawaiian designs have moved beyond clothing. Left: The wall pattern was inspired by Kapa textures. Right: The bilingual building signs at UH Mānoa showcase plants from that valley. | Photos courtesy: Sig Zane

The resulting bilingual signs – in English and Hawaiian – that stand in front of various buildings were recognized with a design award as part of Fast Company’s 2023 World-Changing Ideas Awards.

Zane says aloha shirt designers can bring unique perspectives from their clothing into “all aspects of the design industry.”

“I would hope that no matter if it’s a developer from the mainland, or if it’s even a company from the mainland, that they tap into the talent of visual artists” in the Islands. Designers who make their living off of alohawear, he says, “can also help design the spaces within Hawai‘i.”

That’s what Zane and his father have done: Their designs have appeared in Louis Vuitton stores, the foyer of American Savings Bank branches and the exterior of Hawaiian Airlines planes.

“We’re using the visual artist talents that we have here and implementing them beyond just the platform of fashion,” Zane says.

“We use the aloha shirt as more of an aesthetic platform that can be almost like a storyboard to tell a story. But now we’re starting to take some of those values and some of those functionalities that we talk about in these narratives, and now we’re starting to implement those into our real world today.”

Bringing Back Vintage Designs

Alexis Akiona, owner and founder of the clothing company Lexbreezy Hawai‘i, says her mission is to inspire all generations to wear alohawear every day, not just on Fridays.

“Anytime I’m seeing somebody with their alohawear on, it gives me a sense of pride,” she says. “We live in Hawai‘i, we have the aloha spirit here. It’s a sense of home, it’s a sense of our culture. … It connects us to not only now, but generations.”

Akiona says she creates comfortable alohawear that shares the stories of Hawai‘i’s people, plants and patterns. But she says that when she started her business, “alohawear wasn’t really trendy. It was for lū‘au, weddings, family parties.” Now, it’s making a comeback – and that includes mu‘umu‘u or other vintage styles that people sometimes find in their tutu’s closet or at thrift stores.

Lexbreezy Hawaiʻi says it is modernizing alohawear for all genders, ages and sizes. | Photos courtesy: Lexbreezy

“I’ve seen it mostly with professionals or maybe people in their 30s or 40s and young people.”

At UH Mānoa, Reilly says he oversees the world’s largest historic collection of aloha shirts and other alohawear, a part of the university’s historic costume collection. He estimates it has 10,000 to 15,000 pieces, with clothing from the 1930s to today. People can study Hawai‘i’s fashion trends over the decades, including those inspired by 1970s pop art and the corporate ’90s, with their more muted colors.

The collection includes early alohawear made from rayon, often nicknamed “silkies” for its silk-like feel, from the 1940s and ’50s to contemporary versions of Hawaiian shirts, plus representative examples of clothing – including traditional pieces – from Southeast Asia, Pakistan, Turkey, Western Europe and other places or examples influenced by those places.

“In my role as curator, I’m looking at it as, ‘What is the story of the people of Hawai‘i?’” Reilly says. “A lot of other museum collections focus on pictorial garments and very high-end garments. And while we do have great examples of those, this focuses more on what the people were wearing.”

At left, this 1968 ‘Iolani fashion Hapa Jac shirt is showcased alongside more than 50 other garments in the Honolulu Museum of Art’s “Fashioning Aloha” exhibit. At right, a late 1950s Kahala tunic top for women from the HoMA exhibit. | Photo courtesy: HoMA.

So the clothes can be accessible to all on the web, Reilly is starting to digitize pictures from the collection, like palaka shirts worn by plantation workers in the 1940s and shirts made from rice bags in the 1950s. For now, access to the collection is solely through Reilly, and his busy schedule allows only an hour or so a week to accommodate visitors.

Old styles are coming back, Akiona says. “It’s kind of a new trend. It just reminds people of what fashion was years ago before it got all modern. … It’s just a reminder of their kūpuna.”

Kahala and Tori Richard are among the local companies bringing back historic designs and selling them as collector’s editions.

“We are always looking to our extensive archive of thousands of prints dating back to 1936 for inspiration,” says Park, the Kahala director. “A lot of what makes Kahala special is reintroducing our heritage prints to a new generation of aloha shirt fans.”

HoMA’s Laitila says that in his eyes, nostalgia will always be trendy, “whether you’re looking back on your parents or your grandparents.” At least 20 years must pass before nostalgia sets in, he says.

But the aloha shirt itself is a Hawai‘i icon, and Laitila predicts that won’t change.

“I know that fast fashion does exist, but there is opposition to fast fashion. So having clothes that are well made, and that can be serviced, is desirable, and a lot of our alohawear is. I know some sons that have inherited their fathers’ and grandfathers’ shirts, and they wear them proudly.”

Now, she leads Nā Lālā o ka Pūhala, a community organization that offers weekly classes on how to weave leaves from the native hala tree.

Segovia says attendees start by making bracelets, and eventually can make mats, bottle covers and pāpale – a domed or flat top hat.

The leaves come from hala trees across O‘ahu, Segovia says, including Pouhala Marsh in Waipahu.

The lau hala weaving tradition was passed down to Segovia by master weavers Gwen Kamisugi and Pōhaku Kaho‘ohanohano. Segovia says older generations are honored when their teachings are learned by younger people.

When students make their first hats, it’s the best feeling, she says, both for her and her students. “They will actually be in tears.”

Introductory classes are held every Wednesday at Nā Kūpuna Makamae Center on Ala Moana, near Keawe Street.

lauhala.org

It’s always been an up and down business, but Hawai‘i’s film and TV industry has done well in 21st century.

Many TV shows had sustained success. Production on “Lost” lasted from 2004-2010, “Hawaii Five-0” ran for 10 seasons, “Magnum P.I.” for five and “NCIS: Hawai‘i” for three. And all manner of movies filmed here, including “50 First Dates,” “The Descendants,” “Jurassic World” and “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”

But after thriving for years – including a quick bounce back from the pandemic – the film industry is enduring a dry spell.

“There were three or four different productions going on at the same time. Casting companies were fighting over having people to work for them,” says George Krumb, a local actor and member of the Screen Actors Guild. “All of a sudden, one by one, the shows started getting canceled. And now, we’re down to one show.”

In summer 2024, the only major TV show being filmed locally is Fox’s “Rescue: HI-Surf,” an action drama following the lives of lifeguards on O‘ahu’s North Shore.

“The truth be told is that our film industry here is not at its best” now, says Brian Keaulana, a producer, stunt designer and water scenes director on the show. The loss of “NCIS,” he says, was “huge” and left the industry’s Diamond Head studios dormant.

Keaulana, who’s worked on dozens of films and TV shows as a water stunts coordinator, estimates the cast and crew of “Rescue: HI-Surf” is 90% local hires.

“It’s not Hollywood, it’s not mainland or people from the outside. Majority of the film industry (here) is people from Hawai‘i,” he says, but now it’s “sad times.”

(A Netflix reality show called “Temptation Island” is also filming on Hawai‘i Island this year.)

The Perfect Storm

“All kinds of things brought the whole industry to a halt,” says Krumb. “It started with the writers going on strike last May. If there are no writers, there are no scripts. And if there are no scripts, there’s no show. So we lost programs from that.”

Productions continued filming with scripts they already had, but those ran out and caused a delay that was prolonged by the subsequent actors strike, which lasted from July to November 2023.

Krumb blamed the actors strike on producers who “didn’t want to give us the rights to our own image. So you’ve got the writers on strike, you’ve got the actors on strike, and then in August is when the fires in Maui happened. And then the focus all went to taking care of that, which is totally understandable. I mean, it was a devastating event. But for all those things to happen at once, it created the perfect storm.”

The Creative Industries Division within Hawai‘i’s Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism is the state agency dedicated to strengthening and advocating for Hawai‘i’s creative sector.

Georja Skinner, chief officer of the Creative Industries Division, says film production tax credits are one way to support the industry.

“Any expenditure that is subject to Hawai‘i tax, you can get a 22% credit or rebate back from your expenditures if you’re on O‘ahu, or 27% if you’re on a Neighbor Island. And the reason that there’s a bump up for the Neighbor Islands is because we want to be more equitable,” with more projects statewide, she says.

Productions must spend a minimum of $100,000 in-state to qualify for the tax credit. Another stipulation: “There is a workforce development component that requires the productions give 0.1% of their spend to a local public school or university, and 0.2% of their tax credit rebate must go to the Hawaii Film and Creative Industries Development Fund,” says Skinner.

Shocked That NCIS Was Canceled

After most productions worldwide ground to a halt in 2020 due to the pandemic, Hawai‘i enjoyed a quick comeback with “The White Lotus,” which filmed its first season on Maui at the end of 2020.

“It was filmed at the Four Seasons Resort, which at the time, was basically closed for business. So it was a good situation, because we were in a bubble there. We couldn’t leave the hotel. Not that that’s a bad thing, because it’s a five-star resort,” says Krumb.

The show, which premiered on HBO Max in summer 2021, achieved critical acclaim and won five Emmys for its first season. The show changes locations each year, so that season was the only one filmed in Hawai‘i.

“That was honestly my all-time favorite thing I’ve ever done,” Krumb says. “At least 100 people that worked on that came from here (O‘ahu). And then there were people hired locally on Maui. It was a boom for us at the time because there was nothing else.”

Reboots “Hawaii Five-0” ran from 2010 to 2020 and “Magnum P.I.” from 2018 to 2024. “NCIS: Hawai‘i,” which debuted in 2021, was abruptly canceled after just three seasons despite a loyal following.

Skinner says she was shocked by the move. “None of us really believed that that was going to happen up until the last week. It’s unfortunate, but there’s a confluence of things happening there that indicate it’s not just the viewership or the success of the show, and what the show brought in terms of its integration of diversity both in front of and behind the camera. Think about the fact that the parent company of CBS, Paramount, is for sale. So it really is a dollars and cents decision – not about the talent, the vibrancy of the writing or the show.”

Krumb says the decline in TV shows is especially troubling because the work it provides is “a regular, reoccurring thing” and a more stable source of income for local actors and production crew than a feature film or other work. “

It’s become feast or famine. It was like a feast, and now we’re kind of in a famine. The pendulum has swung the other way. But I have faith with the industry coming back to Hawai‘i and realizing that there’s no other place like us,” he says.

“The fact is, no matter what movie or show they’re filming, Hawai‘i is the star. They’re coming to Hawai‘i because it’s Hawai‘i, one of the most iconic places on Earth.”

Where Do We Go From Here?

Skinner says the good news for the local film industry is it still has a lot going in its favor. “We have a legacy of doing this work, and we have so many strong crews who know what it means to work on a series. The kindness of people in Hawai‘i – the aloha spirit, if you will – is an important dynamic for people that come from elsewhere to work with our crews here,” she says.

“Plus, we have the best water men and women on the planet, who are sought after worldwide. The talent, environment, support systems like food and beverage, hotels and hospitality, and our rich culture make Hawai‘i a great place to live and work.”

She also highlights the state’s support for the industry through initiatives like Creative Lab Hawai‘i, a program founded by DBEDT in 2012 and dedicated to nurturing local talent and developing a creative workforce.

“Creative Lab Hawai‘i is a premium entrepreneurs accelerator program that has really netted some great results for local screenwriters that still live here,” says Skinner. “And that’s our goal at Creative Industries, to find a way to ensure that our talent stays here. We encourage our actors to participate in writing programs and things like that. It’s almost as if you have to treat it like CrossFit for creatives. You need programs that do the whole entrepreneurial gamut.”

Keaulana says the local industry must become less dependent on outside productions coming here and invest in homegrown talent instead. He says that’s why he and his team started a nonprofit called ICAN – the International Cultural Arts Network.

The only TV series currently in local production is rescue: Hi-surf, a show about O’ahu North Shore lifeguards that premieres this fall | Photo Courtesy: Fox

“It’s grabbing and gravitating our actors here, into a level that could only be attained (before), I think, by going to the mainland and going to art schools and academies. But what we’ve done is bring a master class over,” with the involvement of high-level actors, says Keaulana.

“We have great actors that have come from here: Jason Momoa and The Rock, Bette Midler and Kelly Hu, Tia Carrera, the list goes on. And that’s what we’re doing with ICAN: asking those people to reinvest in ourselves.”

Unlike Hollywood, which has a cutthroat reputation, Keaulana says the industry in Hawai‘i is leaving a distinct legacy. “It’s different, I think, in the mainland, where people compete and try to step on each other. In Hawai‘i, for us it’s how do we elevate people around us? How do we push them further? For me, my dream is I wish someone would go further than I have.”

icanintl.org and creativelab.hawaii.gov

I Love Magic

It’s fun, funny and flummoxing all at the same time.

I’ve enjoyed extravagant magic shows in big theaters where audiences of many hundreds or even a few thousand people watched amazing large-scale tricks, often climaxing with lots of smoke.

And I’ve enjoyed magic shows in intimate venues, where a few dozen people watched up close as skilled sleight-of-hand artists made cards, live animals, jewelry and other things appear and disappear, well, like magic.

Photo: courtesy of The Magical Mystery Show

The Magical Mystery Show, at the Hilton Waikiki Beach hotel on Kūhiō Avenue, is a wonderful intimate show in a small theater that itself is an intriguing part of the act. When my wife and I went, Shoot Ogawa from Tokyo amazed us and about 20 other guests with his lively banter and fast-paced tricks, each of them leaving us wondering, “How’d he do that?!”

I soon gave up guessing and just let myself be amazed.

Ogawa directly engaged almost everyone in the audience – including kids and a 90-year-old woman from Australia who was celebrating her birthday with her family. Several people joined Ogawa at the front, where they lost and then regained personal items, picked cards that reappeared somewhere else and even seemed to do some of the wizardry themselves.

My Wife’s Ring Was Gone

When my wife briefly sat up front with Ogawa, her fused-together wedding and engagement rings disappeared. I held my breath, and for a heart-stopping moment I wondered if Ogawa made cash on the side dealing with Bags End Gold & Pawn on Kalākaua Avenue. But before long, like magic, the rings reappeared. My wife had been a foot away from Ogawa’s hands but couldn’t figure out how he did it.

I think my favorite moment was when Ogawa drew back a black handkerchief to reveal a goldfish swimming in a wine glass.

Laughter is a huge part of the performances at The Magical Mystery Show. | Photo: courtesy of The Magical Mystery Show

On Season 8 of the TV show “Fool Us,” Penn Jillette – one-half of the world’s most famous magic duo – called Ogawa “the best sleight of hand of anybody in the world right now.” After watching Ogawa’s show, I could see why.

He is part of a rotating series of performers at The Magical Mystery Show that includes its founder, Jonathan Todd, and longtime local magician Kekoa Erickson.

Todd launched the show in 2023 as the latest venture in a long career that has included work in TV and radio and many other enterprises, including Fleetwood’s on Front St., the Lahaina restaurant and bar he founded with Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood. Sadly, that great venue for live music was destroyed in the Lahaina fire.

An Homage to King Kalākaua

My wife and I and the other guests began the Magical Mystery evening in an anteroom filled with curiosities and antiques from around the world – all curated by Todd’s wife and company VP, Ruth O’Keefe, an interior designer originally from England. Todd says the anteroom and theater are designed to mirror the evening in 1881 when King Kalākaua, the Hawaiian monarch, was entertained by a sleight-of-hand show in the home of an English noble.

Minutes later, we entered the 64-seat theater, filled with more antiques and curiosities. Pieter Hofstra, who playfully dubbed himself “Peter the Great,” warmed up the crowd before Ogawa took over.

When I checked after the show, I found that TripAdvisor ranks The Magical Mystery Show as the top-rated attraction on O‘ahu, with 1,668 reviews, 97.5% of them 5 stars.

The show also gives back. “We benefit the Shriners hospitals for children through the Shrine clubs on Maui and O‘ahu and a part of every ticket goes to support that cause,” says Todd, who is a past president of the Maui Shrine Club.

Plus, locals, military people and Hilton guests who attend a show each get a ticket to a free magic class with three hours of free valet parking, Todd says. “Learning magic for kids helps with school, self-image, public speaking, critical thinking and keeps them off the street by giving them an artistic passion.”

Two shows nightly, though frequently closed on Tuesdays. Check the schedule at OahuMagic.com. Email info@Hotel-Magic.com.

It was a slippery slope. As a teen growing up in Kansas, Ken Kao would frequent the local video rental stores. Mainstream movie selections soon gave way to more sophisticated fare – classic films like “A Clockwork Orange,” and the works of directors such as Martin Scorsese and Terrence Malick.

“Godard, Fellini … really advanced I stuff I probably had no business checking out,” Kao says with a laugh.

Photo: courtesy of Jive PR+Digital

Kao, who lives in Honolulu, is the co-founder and president of film production company Waypoint Entertainment. He’s been a producer on a dozen feature films, including “The Favourite,” which was nominated for 10 Oscars, including a best actress win for its star, Olivia Colman. He worked with Scorsese on “Silence,” Malick on “Song to Song” and “Knight of Cups,” and Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe on “The Nice Guys.” He also produced “The Glass Castle,” adapted from the bestselling book by Jeannette Walls and starring Brie Larson and Woody Harrelson.

Prior to launching Waypoint in 2010, Kao was a lawyer, but in his early 30s, he quit. “I realized I wanted to wake up loving what I do every day. I took a hard left; I don’t have film school training. My love for film has spawned from being a fan of cinema. I wanted to be in service and build out a career in an industry that I love so much.”

So, what, exactly, does a film producer do?

“A good producer does almost everything,” says Kao. “A bad producer can get away with doing almost nothing.” With Waypoint, he says, “I wanted to create a one-stop shop that produces, that can finance, and that provides dedicated long-term project development, creative support and collaboration, and to do that efficiently without having to rely on a studio.

“With anybody working in the film business, you’re managing a lot of egos and creative needs, some of which are healthy and some of which aren’t,” he says. “Relationships are key. I am proud to work with some of the same people repeatedly. It means people enjoy working with me and the group. There’s a trust factor that helps in the creative process, and when you find that, you tend to want to work over and over with each other. It’s not that easy to find comfort and safety in this business, to get that shorthand you develop.”

“Stepford Wives” Meets “Rosemary’s Baby”

His latest producing credit is for “Cuckoo,” which premiered in February at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival. Written and directed by German avant-garde filmmaker Tilman Singer, the high-style horror movie stars Hunter Schafer, who came to fame on TV’s “Euphoria.” It’s slated to hit U.S. screens in August.

The Hollywood Reporter called the film “kind of like ‘The Stepford Wives’ meets ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ with side orders of Cronenberg, J-Horror and Lynch.” Kao says he was happy to dip into the horror genre but that overall, he is “genre agnostic.” He’s worked on coming-of-age-films (“Mid90s”); action thrillers (“The Outsider”); and period pieces like “Hostiles,” which was set on the 19th-century frontier.

“Hollywood tends to exhaust a formula,” says Kao. “My focus instead has always been to find something or a point of view that is fresh, that subverts a genre, that evolves it in some way.”

It’s not easy being in the film industry these days. Streaming services that once chased prestige are now more interested in mainstream fodder than independent films, says Kao, and if they do greenlight an independent film, it’s likely to be small budget. Added stressors include last year’s actors and writers strikes, which followed on the heels of the Covid pandemic.

The film business is a microcosm of the global economy, says Kao. “I am grateful that we are still standing after more than a decade [with Waypoint]. The main thing is to be nimble and adaptative.”

Up next: “Project Hail Mary,” a sci-fi film starring Ryan Gosling, set to shoot in the U.K. this spring and a modern adaptation of “Hamlet,” starring Riz Ahmed, which is in post-production.

Lots of Other Ventures

Kao is also a co-founder and partner at Los Angeles-based Parallel, a celebrity talent partnership studio and strategic investor that launched in 2020. It works with wellness and purpose-driven brands like HOP WTR, a nonalcoholic beverage; Happy Viking, a protein drink co-founded by Venus Williams; and investment funds Springbank and Amboy Street Ventures.

Kao comes by his entrepreneurial spirit honestly. His father is Min Kao, a co-founder of navigation company Garmin, and “not only in my immediate family but also in my extended family, we have a history of taking chances and creating,” he says. “I think there’s some creative DNA in me. But what fuels my entrepreneurial spirit is to find new ways to work with people, and to create.”

“I’m super grateful that Hawai‘i has allowed us to call it home. My daughter is in school here. We’re thriving on a personal level here.”

He also seeks to foster film-based economic opportunities in Hawai‘i. “There are a growing number of productions here and crew as well, but I want to foster above-the-line work” in areas such as creative development, production and direction.

“As a nearly 100-year-old nonprofit, we have a special obligation, commitment and connection to the community that we have to constantly nurture and strengthen and grow in a continual way,” says Norton-Westbrook, who became HoMA’s director in January 2020 – two months before the Covid pandemic began.

“Coming out of the pandemic, there’s so much in our society that is being reorganized, renegotiated and reconsidered. So, the business model has to be somewhat flexible. You must have a structure, goals and direction, but you also must be responsive to the fact that this is a time of massive societal change.”

These days, the museum is open until 9 on Friday and Saturday evenings so more working people can visit. And HoMA brought back the Honolulu Surf Film Festival as a fully in-person event this year at its Doris Duke Theatre.

Attendance is up 70% from pre-pandemic numbers and museum engagement has increased four-fold compared with the 2021-22 fiscal year. That engagement includes more people participating in its Art School classes, in-museum activities, tours, workshops, online programs, Family Sunday storytelling and other programs.

Before the pandemic, more tourists than residents visited the museum. Now the ratio has switched, HoMA says.

Among the things that haven’t changed are HoMA’s showcasing exhibitions from local artists and reflecting the diversity of the Islands. Recently, the museum helped launch the careers of Native Hawaiian artist Noah Harders and Korean American artist Lauren Hana Chai, Norton-Westbrook says.

“I think we’re on a good trajectory but there’s always more that we can do, such as getting the word out about the museum and all the different things to see as well as intentionally building local relationships with individuals and organizations.”

She says audience feedback helps the museum understand how to explain and present the nuances and stories of its art in a way that connects to people’s personal experiences.

“The arts contribute to a holistic, fulfilling life. As humans we need time for reflection and appreciation of other cultures and viewpoints. We need time to experience beauty to heal and process things, and I think the museum plays a critical role in providing that space for people,” she says.

HoMA has been doing that since it opened to the public in 1927. Its main funding comes from admission fees, philanthropic donations and the museum’s endowment. Its biggest expense is its staff of 150 employees, whose knowledge and experience the museum depends upon, Norton-Westbrook says.

“Museums are both a business and a mission-driven organization. You can’t let one outweigh the other. There is also the balance of honoring the history but envisioning a further future. In that way this nonprofit is more complex than a for-profit company.”

Norton-Westbrook draws on her own experience and expertise to help lead HoMA. Before coming to Hawai‘i, she was director of curatorial affairs and curator of modern and contemporary art at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. She holds a master’s degree in art history from Courtauld Institute of Art in London and a doctorate in museology from the University of Manchester.

One way people can support the museum is to spread the word, she says.

“It makes a huge difference to us when people bring their friends, tell their friends how much they love the museum, and become a member,” she says. “That really helps the entire operation and is meaningful to us in terms of keeping our nonprofit going and being here for another 100 years.”

Name: Ki-Lin Reece
Job: Luthier at KR Strings and Executive Director of The Kealakai Center for Pacific Strings

Origins: “My family was musical, and we grew up playing country and bluegrass and folk music, and I was interested in taking apart instruments,” KiLin Reece says about growing up in Bonny Doon, California, just northwest of Santa Cruz.

At 14, he entered an apprenticeship with a luthier – a maker and repairer of stringed instruments such as guitars and violins – and later worked for a guitar company in California. When Reece moved to Hawai‘i, his skills helped put him in contact “with this incredible community of musicians here,” he says. “I’m honored and blessed to be here doing this work.”

Process: At the company he founded, KR Strings, Reece repairs and cares for damaged or worn instruments, many of them rare or in families for generations. The work includes cleaning, sealing, patching and refurbishing instruments while retaining their original character.

“The first step is conversation with the family and owners of the instrument. Sometimes people are fixing instruments because they want to keep playing them in their band or for their family. Other times they’re fixing the instruments so they can sell them or pass them to their descendants.”

Reece tries to maintain ancestral practices. “We try to do everything using the original materials and tools that would’ve been used at the earliest stages of the instruments’ origins,” he says.

He says these instruments often carry the stories of people who have used them and the music they played, and are essential to keeping old musical practices alive and accessible for today’s musicians.

Repairing History: One instrument that stands out to Reece was an ‘ukulele given to his friend Doug Tolentino by the Prendergast family. “He is the caretaker of that ‘ukulele.”

Photo: Aaron Yoshino

It was played by Eleanor Kekoaohiwaikalani Wright Prendergast, who lived from 1865 to 1902 and composed “Kaulana Nā Pua” and other mele. Reece says the song, also known as “Mele ‘Ai Pōhaku,” was “an instrumental part of the resistance movement to the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and is still today an anthem of the sovereignty movement.”

“That ‘ukulele is a physical connection to those sentiments, and the lyrics and authorship of that song. We were honored to feature that song in an exhibition performance at the Bishop Museum.”

Other Passions: Reece also manages and directs the Kealakai Center for Pacific Strings and Pacific Strings Museum, a treasure trove of historic Hawaiian music, instruments and records – both on and offline.

“KCP Strings is the nonprofit that grew out of my experiences with this community of musicians here that led me to understand that Hawai‘i has contributed profoundly to the world of music as we know it today.”

Future Projects: Reece and KCPS President Noah Ha‘alilio Solomon are currently creating the Digital Pacific Music Archives and Pūmanamana Mele Index, online archives showcasing historic recordings, manuscripts, sheet music, photographs and Hawaiian language primary source materials.

“The dream is that for the first time, for a lot of people, these Hawaiian mele, or compositions, will be described by Hawaiian language scholars, kumu hula and cultural practitioners with a deep and thorough understanding of the Hawaiian language.”

For Reece’s luthier services, go to krstrings.com. To learn more about the Kealakai Center for Pacific Strings and Hawaiian music history, visit kcpstrings.com.

“I deeply admire Hawai‘i’s culture and find endless inspiration in the act of making and giving of lei,” she says.

Pemberton is from Virginia but moved to Hawai‘i with her husband in 2016. They live on O‘ahu’s North Shore.

In college, she majored in photography and film but a flameworking course solidified her interest in glass art. “I spent my entire senior year working in the glass studio every chance I got.”

Pemberton says she works with a Carlisle glass blowing torch that runs off a propane and oxygen mix and makes the 2,200-degree flame that she uses.

Her pieces are created with borosilicate, also known as Pyrex glass, that she melts and shapes in the flame using metal tools.

Her jewelry can be found at the Honolulu Museum of Art, Pua Hana in Kaimukī and at arlie-glass.com.

We asked Hawaiian language experts which pronunciation and spelling is correct: Lahaina or Lāhainā?

“If you listen to the older tapes with Native speakers, they say ʻLahaina,’ which if you were to write it out there would be no diacritical markings,” says Hawaiian language scholar and translator Kamuela Yim, who works with organizations on ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi topics.

These older tapes are known as Mānaleo Tapes, which Hawaiian language scholars reference for pronunciations, sentence patterns and even songs. They can be found in the archives of the Bishop Museum and online at the Kani‘āina educational resource.

“The overwhelming majority say ʻLahaina.’ And, that’s the thing, you might find an outlier. If 49 people say ʻLahaina’ and there is one person that says ‘Lāhainā,’ the thing to do is to accept what the critical mass says as the norm,” Yim explains.

“Understanding what the predominant norm is versus the outlier is humongous. To me, that is where the discussion is. Not what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong.’ It’s not to say one is wrong and one is right.”

Larry Kimura, a pioneer of the Hawaiian language revitalization movement and now a professor of Hawaiian language at UH Hilo, says he also defers to how mānaleo born and raised in Lahaina pronounce the name. In the ’70s and ’80s, he interviewed Native speakers for his radio show, Ka Leo Hawai‘i.

“The credence goes to the Native speakers of the language, especially our kūpuna and especially those born and raised there,” he says.

“Place Names of Hawaii,” a commonly used reference book written by Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel H. Elbert and Esther T. Mookini, and published by UH Press, also gives the spelling and pronunciation as “Lahaina,” but includes Lāhainā among the place’s old names.

Kimura says the authors don’t cite a source for listing Lāhainā as an old pronunciation, but the term with kahakō means “cruel sun.” The online Hawaiian dictionary at wehewehe.org also uses the Lahaina spelling.

The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority recently updated its website to use the Lahaina spelling. Prior to the fires, it used both versions. A note on its Maui recovery webpage says, “living kūpuna, mānaleo and recordings of mānaleo serve to demonstrate that the contemporary pronunciation is Lahaina. Heeding the call from the Lahaina community, HTA uses the spelling Lahaina across all platforms.”

Lahaina is not the only Hawaiian place name with disagreement about the correct pronunciation and spelling. For instance, some families for generations have called the island they live on “Molokaʻi” and other families who live there have called it “Molokai.”

And in some cases, people make up their own pronunciations, Kimura says. “Some people want to try and interpret the meaning of a place name and they start to break it apart and decipher it according to what they know, but it’s not the accurate pronunciation.”

The two Hawaiian diacritical marks – the ʻokina (glottal stop) and the kahakō (macron) – were designed to create spellings that would help people pronounce words in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi that they did not already know and to help differentiate between similar sounding words.

For example, the diacritics help differentiate among kālā (dollar), ka lā (the sun/day) and kala (to loosen). Another example is the island of “Lānaʻi” versus lānai (porch) and lanai (​​stiff-backed).

There remains a conversation about the inclusion of diacritical marks in written words. For instance, ʻIolani Palace, which strives to reflect the history and lifestyle of Hawai‘i during the reign of King Kalākaua, says on its website that it does not use diacritical marks in its written spellings because those marks were not used back then.

ʻAʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokahi – not all knowledge is found in one school – is a Hawaiian saying that ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi speakers use when discussing such matters. They recognize these conversations as complex and multilayered.

Noelle Fujii-Oride contributed to this story.