We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kawailani Kiaha a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kawailani, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

We have to start at the beginning for the full effect. In 2014, literally in the middle of volleyball practice Rachel came up to me and asked me (Kawai) if me earrings were my birthstone. I said yes and we discovered we have the same birthday! We became instant friends and have been since!

COVID hit right at the end of our senior year in 2020 and changed a lot of college plans for us. We both ended up staying local and going to college together. We had a lot of freedom between part-time jobs and online college and really took advantage of that time to be creative. We’ve always been inspired by all the nature around us and love to hike and camp and would talk about artistic and business plans we had for the future.

We enjoyed bliss like that for a couple years before I got a full-time job as a graphic designer and Rachel continued onto more schooling for a plant science degree. We look back fondly when we had time for spontaneous trips and creative endeavors.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Rachel and I have both always been really inspired and creative independently and it took a while for us to figure out that we have such similar and complimentary passions. We would do a lot of arts and crafts together and sort of created a vision for ourselves to eventually create a business together. We know how to and enjoy a lot of the same mediums of art but usually end up choosing different ones to focus on. For example, we both love to paint, draw, crochet, sew, carve, woodwork, and there’s probably more. However, we’ve also branched out to other mediums we’ve began to specialize in. I’ve found my way to graphic design which is really digitally involved so I’ve begun to do a lot more design and artwork on the computer and ipad. Rachel has found a passion in tufting (rug-making) alongside her ongoing education in nature and science.

It’s always fun for us to work on projects together where we can do the same thing, but it’s also so much fun to collaborate where we each have something different to contribute. Lately, we’ve started working together on Rachel’s rugs where I come up with a design for her and she turns it into a rug! She also helps me with ideas for my own projects. We just seem to be really compatible with ideas and getting each other excited about creating new things.

A long time ago (it seems like) we had first started talking about starting some sort of business together where we could just make a lot of stuff. We both kind of started doing our own thing, Rachel opened an Etsy shop where she started selling her art, I started freelancing a little bit on the side and we kind of forgot about our idea. Sometime in the recent year, amidst our busy schedules, we remembered our idea to collaborate and decided to bring our work together and start a small art collective. We love to sit by the bay and watch the otters in the evenings and came up with the name Salty Otter Collective. We started selling our art at makers markets around town and are working on getting more established.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Oh that’s so easy, I’m not sure we would’ve expected it would be so simple, but the most rewarding aspect of being a creative for us is getting to witness something that we made make a person happy. Especially with selling our stuff at markets in person as opposed to online, watching someone walk up to our booth with a huge smile on their face and head straight to one of our products. We both have always been the type to make presents and cards and stuff for our friends and family members, but there is something extra special about having a complete stranger walk up to you and tell you they love something that you created.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

We’ve always made stuff because we were inspired to or because it was something we wanted to make to share. Seeing that people are drawn to things we’ve made continues to inspire us to expand and create more. I guess a goal of ours is to keep making things that we feel passionate about that we want to share and share the joy that it brings us with others. Although growing up in California, I have a really strong connection to my Hawaiian heritage and I see myself incorporate that into a lot of artwork that I make for myself. I’m really proud of my Polynesian roots and I want to share that love and teach people about my culture.

Rachel grew up in a huge plant nursery that’s been passed through her family. As long as I’ve known her she’s been so knowledgeable about plants and had a special love for all nature that I hadn’t seen before. After considering several different pathways she could take, she decided on studying plant science which satisfies her drive to learn and be involved with all kinds of plants and is always inspiring her artwork.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.saltyottercollective.com
• Instagram: @saltyottercollective

Image Credits

Dave O’Brien, Emerson Pereira, Kawai Kiaha