Tag: manaola yap

Fashion Five with Manaola Yap

Get to know more about designer Manaola Yap with our Friday Fashion Five:

When do you feel most creatively productive?
When I am carving (ohe kapala). Although in my process of design its my first step in art preparation, but it is the most calming and exciting part for me because its such a traditional craft that helps me transcend time for a second. 

If you had more hours in the day how would you use them?
I would probably exercise more because health is really important to me. 

What is your favorite thing to eat when you are home in Hawaii?
Canned salmon and poi is what my grandma ate, what my mom ate, its so simple and makes me feel at home. Any kind of fish and poi or dried fish (usually aku) reminds me of home. 

How do you pass the time on long airplane rides?
Watch movies and listen to music. 

What kind of music do you listen to to unwind?
It depends on what I am doing, it changes a lot. I like reggae music, Beyonce, Maisey Rika and classical music, too. 

The MANAOLA Lifestyle: Honoring Your Space

The MANAOLA Lifestyle


What does it mean to live the MANAOLA lifestyle, how can one do so?
To live the MANAOLA lifestyle is to learn to live in gratitude. Meaning to live life from the perspective of being thankful that life is given. Living a purposeful life and setting an intention in everything we do. Whether it is good or bad, making the realization of what is healthy for us and those that surround us and the energies that surround us, and how we can continue to make the intentions that do benefit us and all that surround us. That’s living the MANAOLA lifestyle, celebrating life. 

Honoring your space
I created home decor because I wanted to bring traditional elements into contemporary design through something that is organic. When you’re in your home you want it to look really cool but you want it to be relaxing and to be aesthetically stimulated by something familiar to the spirit, which is nature. Repetitious patterns in nature like ‘ohe kāpala do that for us, whether consciously or not, its happening. Patterns stimulate that kind of energy, so the first piece for me was to create decorative pillows because they are so versatile for any room in the home.

Plants are important because they give us oxygen. The simplicity of putting a live plant in the room changes the air because you’re bringing life into the room, you’re bringing Hāloa (breath) into the room, so its going to change the feeling of the space. I recommend trying to bring native plants into the home space, because they are the living embodiment of akua, they are kinolau or leaf bodies. They are living symbols, like ulu or kukui, for growth and enlightenment. 

Taking the time to know where you live, not just your home but the land that you live in. To do the research to find out the name of that land and to speak it out loud, it honors the place that you call home.

F/W 2015: MANAOLA The Runway Shows

 

On November 18, 2015 Manaola Yap presented his second independent fashion show for over 250 guests at the Honolulu Design Center. MANAOLA: The Runway Shows presented ready to wear and couture collections incorporating the Honolulu Design Centerʻs Cupola Theatre, Amuse Wine Bar and Stage Restaurant in 3 tiers of service.

 VIP Fashion Dinner guests dined on an exclusive meal in collaboration with Stage Restaurant, offering a 4-course dinner and wine pairing inspired by MANAOLA’s new original prints. A special pre-show performance by Starr Kalahiki and Irie Love greeted guests in Amuse Wine Bar before the runway shows, with an on-site pop up shop following the presentation in the Ice Garden.

MANAOLA Hawai’i would like to mahalo our fantastic partners for lending their support and talent to us to create an unforgettable evening: Honolulu Design Center, Irwin Mencias, Paul Mitchell The School Honolulu, Arthur Wilson and staff, Allan Cool, Page Dance Academy, Irie Love, Aaron Yoshino, Adam Palumbo, Modern Luxury Hawai’i Magazine, Andrew Mau, Workshop28, the talented performers and models and all of the incredible kokua who generously offered their time to backstage as well as in the pop-up shop.Â