Kauaʻi Lei Makers: Tapa Andrade of Wailua Homesteads

Photos taken by Erika Taniguchi

Welina Mai, to the Lei Club 2024 blog series.

This year, we focus on sharing the moʻolelo of Kauaʻi lei makers and discovering what they love about the art of lei making. In this installment, we talked with Tapa Andrade. Tapa hails from the mountains of Wailuanuiahoʻano. At 19, he immersed himself in various styles of lei-making that most people only start to pick up later in life. Tapa is a lei hulu and lei pupu enthusiast who truly enjoys creating lei for all occasions. He comes from a line of musicians from Kalihiwai on the north shore of Kauaʻi. Tapa started getting an interest in lei when he was about 14 years old. He started noticing the different styles of lei. He began to get curious about how he could create those beautiful adornments. He started with books at the library but shared that in many ways, "your Kumu will find you when you're ready." He tried to learn on his own and put a lot of thought into it. He continues by connecting to one of his teachers at school who taught him many of the lei hulu skills. Through his years at Kanuikapono Charter School, Tapa started getting into practices like hula. From there, he shared that he began to meet new people in cultural spaces, finding out I was related to some of them, and they would even come to Hānai to impart their knowledge to him.

"My favorite is lei hulu and lei pupu; I can sit down for hours and work on lei. I love all lei and can work all day long until my fingers cramp. That's how much I love lei. I favor the humupapa because only a few people use that style. I like sewing because they look so different. I love perpetuating these styles I learned from Aunty Paulette and Mary Lou."

"There's genealogy behind everything people make? Once you learn more about styles and ways of doing things, you can start to tell, based on their work, what island they may be from or how they may have learned. I was relieved, lol. It was stressful not knowing what you were doing. Look at all the mistakes, try through them, and learn how to get through a project."

Growing up in Hawaii, many of us, whether Kanaka Maoli or not, have special memories of giving or receiving lei. Tapa is no different. Like many high school graduates, Tapa was gifted piles of beloved lei after commencement.  

“My strongest memory of receiving a lei is graduating from high school and being given all these sentimental gifts. Pikake, pakalana, maile and mokihana. Wearing the lei I helped gather with my ohana was incredibly memorable,” says Tapa.

"From my earliest memories, my kupuna were always adorned with lei. For me, making lei helps me feel connected to my ohana. In many ways, a lei is like a rope to them. Some specific memories I have are of my great-grandpa lei hulu. He used to wear it when riding in Paʻu units for the Kamehameha Day parade. I'm so lucky to still have some of his lei hulu in the Humu Papa style. When I wear those pieces I know he cherished, I feel like I embody a part of him." 

Paʻu units are a historical part of Kamehameha Day celebrations all across Hawaii. During June, floral parades on each island celebrate the Aliʻi Kamehameha I. There are units of horse riders that represent one of eight Hawaiian islands, and they are all adorned in the colors and flowers of the islands; the elegant pa‘u riders are the highlight of every parade, decorated hat to hoof with lei. Each unit is led by a princess outfitted in a long-flowing pa‘u or “skirt,” each mounted equestrian unit represents one of eight Hawaiian islands. For example, a unit representing the Island of Kauaʻi will be draped in lei made of maile lau liʻi, Mokihana, and sometimes look-a-like plants to imitate the rare and fragrant mokihana berries. Riders also have a corresponding color for each island. A vibrant royal purple always represents Kauaʻi. Along with the princesses, there are escorts and sometimes bannermen. Tapa hopes to one day be part of a paʻu unit. 

Making lei at a large scale, especially for specific things like Paʻu riders, can be difficult as some plants are hard to come by in large quantities. An example is the mokihana berry (Melicope anisata). Mokihana grows primarily in the uplands of Kauaʻi and has a potent scent akin to anise or licorice. Mokihana is no longer as abundant as it used to be. Therefore, many cultural practitioners have resorted to using alternatives. Tapa is no stranger to the scarcity of this resource. Tapa and his ohana actively mālama patches of Mokihana as a form of pilina for the plant and place. Tapa was raised with the mindset to take what you need and not raid natural resources. He has carried these principles into his lei-making practice to maintain the forest and remain healthy.

“It's important to have a relationship with the plants you harvest from and to mālama them. Thanks to going often and checking on them, I'm now able to assess if it's a good year to pick or if the plant is showing signs it needs rest.”

"My ohana is big on replanting where we pick, maintaining places and plants we often visit as a consistent tradition. You only take from the place you mālama. Sometimes, that even means hiking in water to care for the patches I frequent. Because I have pilina to these places, I can now tell if it will be a good year for maile or mokihana. Based on signs and kilo, I know whether I will be able to gather or whether the plants need a rest. I often go up into the mountains, and for many years I have seen all the mokihana trees and maile bushes; I notice many people don't know how to harvest these things properly. There needs to be more reciprocity for the place. When I go up to pick, I notice many stripped vines left that cannot regrow. Sometimes, people pick or smash mokihana trees completely after picking them. Many people aren't aware of proper picking methods so it can grow and remain a sustainable resource, so the following year, the plant has a more challenging time regenerating, and there is less and less every year."

Tapa shares that a commonly found plant called sea grapes (Coccoloba uvifera) or green coffee beans are great non-native alternative plants for lei-making. You don't have to raid the forest of its resources by choosing alternatives. Even if you use a small number of things like mokihana or maile and weave it in for the scent, it still smells good while being a responsible steward of the forest. Lei has always been a foundational part of Hawaii's gift-giving culture. There's more demand now for those hosting destination weddings, graduations, and other life events. Tapa is often commissioned to make lei and offers insight into how he has learned to balance being a forest steward while also being able to provide his services. 

"For many weddings I've done, I use the lauaʻe maile style lei that is equally as beautiful if done correctly. There's always a demand for maile, but I advise that a laʻi, lauaʻe lei can be equally as beautiful, fragrant, and economically better if that's what they want. Maile is also used for hula ceremonies, but for some people on the continent, it simply isn't available. A cool innovation I've heard of is using a type of banyan that some halau in the continent use when they ʻūniki; they call it banyan maile because when you take the young shoots and pound it, it almost looks the same as maile it's a great way to use invasives to replace something like maile that is in high demand." says Tapa.

As lei culture is now having what seems to be a renaissance with the resurgence of Muʻumuʻu and vintage Hawaiian attire, we as a society are now faced with assessing how we will continue these traditions sustainably. A running joke is that Tapa is Kupuna or Kupuna in training. Tapa has taken on the kuleana of perpetuating the painstaking crafts of lei Hulu and lei pupu and continuing to use mālama forest resources. Tapa embodies the meaning of Aloha with his philosophy around gifting lei and that lei should be worn every day, not just on special occasions. He believes that lei are works of art and should be worn with love, love for those who made them and those who may receive it after you. For Tapa, continuing to make lei and practice the skills Kupuna taught is his way of showing gratitude to his many mentors.

"I feel like I've been gifted this ʻike, so my way of giving thanks to that kupuna is to gift them lei I make. I've made many lei hulu in the humu papa style and have gifted it to my mentors. It's my way to mahalo them with something that, in some cases, they can no longer make because their hands hurt. To show that I'm continuing what they taught me is the most rewarding part of crafting."

Tapas parting thoughts: Every day is a beautiful day for lei. Lei shouldn't be reserved for one day to celebrate it. Lei are meant to be worn for the world to see. Whether you're going to work, going out to dinner, or just having a good day, you can wear lei.

Fun Facts about Tapa:

Favorite non-native lei plant: Bozo flower lei, it looks really nice when it's full in a poe poe, or kukuna o ka lā, it's an invasive but it looks so beautiful when it's 10 strands together luckily its limited to Oahu so in a way it's good that we don't demand the growth of invasive plants.

Favorite lei: mokihana

Lei styles he makes: Lei hulu, Lei pupu, any fresh lei Lei aʻi lei poʻo