Team – Pūkoʻa Studios

Pūkoʻa Studios ʻOhana

Page Chang - Owner and Artist

A Hapa-Hawaiian born and raised in Washington, DC, I moved "home" to Hawaiʻi 27 years ago.

Since then, itʻs been a priority and an honor to re-claim my unique, amazing Hawaiian heritage, and to inspire other Hawaiians to do the same. I hope to inspire visitors and non-natives to have a deeper understanding and respect for our culture and ʻāina, and through this a desire to protect it. My Hawaiian name, Pūko‘a, meaning Coral Reef, was given to me by my father when I moved Home. He said he chose it because the reef is always creating and growing, like me. I named my studio Pūko‘a for the same reasons: to create a nurturing environment for artists to grow and create.

The ʻOhana Chang

Pukoa Studios is truly a small family business with Mom Page, Dad Geoff, and sisters Perry and Jasmine Chang all contributing. The girls have been raised in the Kapa and art making business and have had to help Mom since they were little. Now Perry takes care of most of the Administrative duties, while Jazzy organizes marketing campaigns and provides production assistance and management. Geoff does the heavy lifting, reaches those high shelves, and is the Mahi’ai tending to the Wauke trees. We are all always reaching out to friends and extended family for help and collaboration, so the Studio is often filled with fun and frenzy!

Daryn
Studio/Design Assistant

Daryn attended Savannah College of Art and Design to pursue a BFA in Textile Design, and graduated in her dorm living room in 2020, waking up late for the Zoom meeting and missing most of the ceremony. She lives on Oahu and works part-time at Pūko'a Studios, helping design and fabricate our Kapa jewelry, as well as learning and experimenting with the process! Her superpower in the studio is untangling the pendant chains.

Jasmine
Studio/Administrative Assistant, Model

Aloha mai, my name is Jasmine Chang. I have the honor of being the amazing artist Page Chang’s second daughter. I have grown up growing, harvesting, and pounding kapa with this amazing woman and now get the opportunity to help her in this new age and transition of her business. I have a deep passion for my culture and the representation of the Hawaiian community. I am lucky to have many amazing influences in my life who inspire me to represent Hawai’i and all that it stands for in my everyday life. I have begun my modeling career and am focused on working with local brands and companies that have the Hawaiian people and image in there best interest. There is no better way to represent this than with Pūkoʻa Studios.

Nicole Naone
Photographer

Aloha, my name is Nicole Naone and I am a photographer based out of Kailua, O’ahu. I started taking candid photos of friends and family at 13 years old and loved to capture moments in time that I’d want to remember. Overtime, that passion grew into taking photos of friends and their families, and so on! I think the most valuable thing I hold onto as a photographer is the connection between my career as a photographer and a Kamehameha Schools alumni. Over a span of 13 years, so many doors have opened and allowed me to connect with many different people— including influential Native Hawaiians who have played a huge role in my identity as a Hawaiian. For example, being able to shoot for Pūko’a Studios and Aunty Page has opened my eyes to modern art and traditional Hawaiian practices which I not only get to capture, but learn about as well. It’s the stories that everyone has and the moments that you get to remember from these photos that I think make being a photographer so special! It pushes me to do more and want to learn more and it’s really the best thing about being a photographer.