Celebrate Hawai‘i Weekend: Fashion & Design

Traditional Hawaiian tattooing is an art form that doesn’t use machinery, just traditional, handmade tools—made of whale bone, wood, and fibers—to tap natural ink into the skin. Keone Nunes considers himself more of a cultural practitioner than a tattooist. He brought back the art of traditional tattooing to Hawai‘i in the 90’s, learning from the Samoan kākau (tattoo) master, Sua Suluape Paulo. The designs Keone creates relate to genealogies, protection or ‘aumakua (family gods), and the kuleana (responsibility) that goes with them. The placement and designs afford the person a connection with their ancestors and reaffirms that person as being kanaka (Native Hawaiian).

Meet the Curator
10:30 a.m., 1 & 3:30 p.m.

Come and chat with Curators from the Iolani Palace in this informal meet and greet.

Keone Nunes: Since the mid-’90s, Nunes has used a moli—a comb-like instrument—to hand-tap traditional Hawaiian tattoo motifs, using his years of apprenticeship to become the foremost revivalist of an ancient island art.

Micah Kamohoali‘i: As the kumu hula, or leader of the Halau Na Kipu’upu’u, a hula school on “the big island” of Hawai‘i, Micah Kamohoali’i is adept in the movements that make up hula and the fabrication of the regalia of the historic tradition.

Manaola Yap: Up-and-coming fashion designer Manaola Yap was born into a family whose cultural and artistic roots run deep. His ancestors were hula practitioners and artisans of traditional Hawaiian textiles and dyes. He is the first Hawaiian fashion designer to present authentic Hawaiian culture on a mainstream fashion stage and he recently became the first native Hawaiian fashion designer to be carried by Saks Fifth Avenue.

Bliss Lau: Bliss Lau’s internalized combination of two cultures manifests itself in each concept, thought, and creation in her collection. Raised in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, and educated in New York City at Parsons School of Design, Lau is currently based in New York City where she frequently draws inspiration from diverse sources.