Page Chang

I am an artist, designer, teacher, and kapa maker.  As a Kapa maker, I am a kumu, a mahi‘ai, a mea okioki, and mea kāpala.

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I am a Native Hawaiian diaspora, born and raised in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.  

Hawaii always called to me, and became my permanent home 31 years ago. Since moving home to Hawai‘i, I have dedicated my life and art to the reclamation and protection of Native Hawaiian people, places, and practices, and to inspire other Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians to do the same.  

Although I have been trained in the European traditions of art, painting and printmaking, my work and life are focussed on mea Kapa these days.

 

I embrace the Hawaiian values of aloha ‘āina and mālama ‘āina and sustainability.  With the help of my ‘ohana, I grow  the Wauke trees used to create the traditional textile, as well as the plants used to create the dyes.  We carve the tools used to process the Wauke trees into Kapa, then paint and print the Kapa textiles with traditional Kāpala, transforming them into works of art to display or to wear, like earrings, bracelets, purses, hat bands and more.  Even our packaging is harvested from local neighborhood Coconut Palm Trees and is crafted by hand to display each pair of earrings.

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We have brought the practice to numerous schools and institutions in Hawaii and beyond, even creating  Kapa and dye gardens and taking students from growing and harvesting Wauke  to pounding Kapa to designing the finished product. We also conduct Kapa making workshops for adults and families in our home garden.

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I have a home studio in Waimānalo for the creation of the textiles, and a studio showroom, Pūko‘a Studios, in Chinatown, Honolulu where we fabricate the wearable Kapa Jewelry and accessories. You can learn more about my work at Pūko‘aStudios.com.