ʻO ke kahua mua, ma hope ke kūkulu • The foundation first, then the building.

The foundation that guided The Creative Makamae and the source of inspiration has been aloha ʻāina. Now, what does that mean? As I continue to learn and grow in my ʻike and ʻōlelo, I have grown to understand aloha ʻāina as a deep love for the land. But it is also so much more than that.

The land provides and cares for us. It is that which feeds us. We have a reciprocal relationship with ʻāina. Therefore, we should also provide and care for the land. Some ways The Creative Makamae does this is through our packaging. We purchase our packaging through EcoEnclose, a company that specializes in providing recycled/biodegradable shipping supplies. Customers who purchase physical products from us can recycle all packaging. However, we are continuing to strive to figure out ways to be as ʻāina-friendly as possible.

Digital products are another venue we pursue because there is: 1) No packaging, therefore no carbon footprint to get you your package and 2) No waste created since we are not printing and you can access the digital product immediately upon purchase via the link provided.

As we continue to grow, we hope to pursue as many ʻāina-friendly routes as possible, including local vendors, finding printing companies who use sustainably sourced paper and even sticker companies that print on sustainably sourced sticker paper. However, that is going to take us some time, research and (of course) sales to get there.

But, what are other ways we aloha ʻāina at The Creative Makamae? Prior to COVID, we tried to spend as much time during our non-work hours at the loʻi, reconnecting with ʻāina. In addition, in our day-to-day lives, we try as much as possible to minimize our use of plastic. From carrying around bamboo utensils and reusable bags to shopping at our local farmer’s market, we try our hardest. Another thing that COVID threw a wrench in is that we used to be able to bring our reusable containers to places like Down to Earth where we could fill our personal containers with food from the deli. However, COVID did give way for us to also cook more at home, which also reduced our waste since we were no longer going straight from work, driving back home, feeling too hungry to wait for something to cook, and resorting to grabbing take out (who else is with me on that??). This also led to less miles on the road.

We’ll continue to share on the blog ways we try to embody aloha ʻāina, but, the big takeaway? It is very much one of the building blocks of our kahua. It grounds us and the direction we pursue and the way we continue to grow.