This website belongs to Kapa practitioner and teacher, Dalani Tanahy.

I do make kapa for sale.  Because of the nature of kapa making, the materials that must be grown, gathered, harvested and processed, and the time involved in making each piece, most of my work is currently done on commission.

Each kapa I make is the life of one or more wauke trees, so the trees I use must be ready to harvest at the correct time for the best kapa.

If you would like to order kapa, please contact me through this website or send a message to my Kapa Hawaii, LLC page at Facebook and I will be happy to work with you to create a beautiful, one of a kind piece of traditional Hawaiian art.  Please look through the gallery pages to get ideas on colors, designs, patterns, etc.  Maybe you have an idea of your own that you would like to express through the medium of kapa. 

With no written language in ancient times, Hawaiians used other ways to tell their stories... through the memorized and spoken word, through petroglyphs and tatoos, through wood and stone carving, and through kapa. 

I look foward to helping you tell your story through this art.

Kapa and stone club "Newa", from the story of How Maui Slowed Down the Sun

Kapa Classes/Lectures/Demonstrations

If you are interested in having me come and do a kapa class with your group or class, please contact me for fees and date availability.  Class content and time can be very flexible according to your needs.  I have been a kapa teacher for over 15 years and have worked with students of all ages, from Kindergarten to Kupuna.  I have also been able to travel and teach and demo in such places as the National Museum of the Native American Indian in Washington DC, the 2009 Festival of Pacific Arts in American Samoa and the May Day Ho`olaule'a and Hula Festival in Japan.  I will be organizing my own kapa course in early 2012.  It will be called Real Time Kapa, and will span the year, beginning with students planting their own wauke trees.  As the trees grow, they will spend the time learning about the history, de-history and re-history of kapa in Polynesia and Hawaii, as well as barkcloth traditions worldwide.  Students will also make their own tools, learn dye-making techniques and about softening and scenting kapa.  Then when the trees are grown and ready to harvest, everyone will make their own kapa.  If you are interested in this class please let me know and I will put you on the list.

Mahalo nunui for your interest in Kapa Making and the Preservation of this Art.

Dalani

Students at the 2009 Kapa class at Leeward Community College Continuing Ed show off their finished kapa