Back when I was first conceptualizing ALAUA, I texted my sis-in-law to bounce around some ideas. I love brainstorming with her because she often has a completely new perspective... one I never would have thought of. Honestly, she should be in marketing because her ideas are always so fresh!

Anyways, I mentioned to her that I was thinking of designing towels. I had recently volunteered to design a fundraiser towel for my kids swim team (an Oahu swim teams towel) and getting a taste of that process made me want to do more. She suggested creating something for the fishing community, perhaps using ocean topography as a design element. Since her friend is an avid fisher, she also had a brilliant practical addition = adding a ruler right onto the towel. She pointed out that because of state regulations, you can't keep a fish if it’s too small. Having a backup tool to measure your catch would fulfill a very real need. 

DING DING DING! What an amazing idea! That idea lit a fire in me, and I immediately started researching the official Hawai'i fishing regulations.

The Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) fishing regulations manual identified every fish that had size regulations, so I referenced this very carefully. For the art, I went with a sgraffito visual style. It’s a method used in pottery where you scratch away a top layer to reveal a contrasting color underneath. It is my go-to style and I really love the look. I embellished some of the fish with kapa-inspired scales and fins. I played around by adding color to it, but ultimately decided to keep it cleaner with a monotone look.

For the backdrop, I used a classic Lokahi design in blue. I added the ruler at the bottom and resized all the fish so they were close to scale. I really love how fun this design turned out, and I hope the fishing folks out there will love it too!