We talked with Lehuauakea, the artist behind our Hawai'i Single Origin Dark Chocolate Bar about their art and inspiration behind the packaging on WCF's bar.
WCF: It's the first Hawai'i bar that Wellington Chocolate Factory has made; is it the first time your work has been released in New Zealand? I see you have a forthcoming show in New York, how does it feel to now have Kiwis seeing your art?
Lehuauakea: I believe this is the first time I've had a project in Aotearoa/New Zealand; the closest I've come to showing work in this part of the world is Australia, where I've shown at Queensland Gallery of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Victoria, and have work in both of their permanent collections. I've had many opportunities to share my work with audiences all over the world, and many in the Māori community know of my work through social media, but I hope to have an exhibition in Aotearoa/New Zealand soon -- perhaps this is a precursor to that!
WCF: What are the origins behind the artwork; has anything in particular inspired the story behind it?
Lehuauakea: I am most known for my work in traditional Hawaiian barkcloth, or kapa. I create large-scale installations, wearable garments, and paintings on kapa. This piece is part of a larger body of work spanning the last seven years of my journey with kapa, using earth pigments I gather myself to create patterned works on the barkcloth material. These pieces, including the one used on the WCF wrapper, represent many things, including my relationship to the lands from which I gather my materials, and traditional and contemporary Hawaiian motifs that symbolize protection, ancestral stories, and the environment that surrounds us.
WCF: Was it originally created on bark cloth and then translated into the wrapper??
Lehuauakea: The piece (original image attached below) was originally created on barkcloth, then the digital image was adapted into the design for the wrapper.
WCF: How important is cocoa to the Hawaiian people? Has it had any particular influence on your life?
Lehuauakea: Cacao has become a specialty crop in Hawaii. It was introduced in the 1830s, when a Guatemalan cacao tree was planted in King Kalākaua's royal gardens. Since then, it's been cultivated in small batches, and is particularly of interest on my home island (Big Island / Hawaii Island). With the greatest range of biomes and ecosystems of any of the Hawaiian islands, the Big Island has so many different environments in which cacao is grown, and you can taste the difference in the chocolate produced from cacao grown in each of the different districts around the island. I've had the opportunity to taste chocolate from all over, including making my own chocolate from Peruvian-grown cacao during a trip to Peru last year, so I've started to notice how regional cacao really is and see the differences in all of the flavors.
WCF: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Lehuauakea: Nothing else to add, just really grateful to partner with WCF on this design and highlight Hawaiian kapa history alongside Hawaii-grown cacao!
