Studio Ahilele is a digital media studio located in Hawaiʻi that lives within the confluence of art, technology, and design.

Studio Work

@Studioahilele
I’ve been doodling this little guy for more than a year now, so it was fun to finally animate him. I’ve been trying out Procreate Dreams. I’m hoping that it will allow me more chances to animate quick and short scenes like this since I don’t have to be stuck at my desk at home to do so. Between this and the holiday it’s going to be a good weekend.
Now an exhibit at the Hawaiʻi Covention Center are the recreations of the Kapaemahu stones from the Bishop Museum exhibition that took place last year. Itʻs great to see that some of the exhibit will live on and continue to tell its story. When creating the 3D models that helped in the production of these stones, I never imagined it would go on to be used in this way. Exhibits donʻt always have a long life; and I think its great that this particular story that portrays māhū in a positive and powerful way continues to be told.
I'm super happy to have some of my work published in @bambooridge Snaring New Suns. This is an anthology of speculative work where we were challenged to create narratives and art that "imagine otherwise."
One of the best parts of being a part of the Kilo Hōkū dev team are the public demos. However they can get pretty silly.
We’ve been hard at work on Kilo Hōkū VR! The studio is a part of a development team, Wayfinding Interactive that has been developing a VR training tool for learning the basics of Hawaiian celestial navigation.
Do you recognize this mountain range?
Photogrammetry is a process where many pictures are taken to generate a 3D object. For the Stone Spirits, an exhibit featured at the Healer Stones of Kapaemahu exhibit currently at the Bishop Museum, we created 3D models of different ki’i pōhaku that currently live on the Bishop Museum campus. After creating the 3D models we were able to add some VFX to create some cool turnarounds of the pōhaku. The museum then projected these videos onto film to create the final hologram effect.
So why the name “Ahilele”? Well it comes from a term used to describe the ‘ōahi that were thrown over cliff sides to create a spectacle similar to fireworks. Ahi lele was used in an oli referring to the ‘ōahi thrown over Kamaile on the Na Pali coast of Kaua’i, “Ē ka wahine noho i ka makani, i ka makani Kauahae, i ke ahi lele o Kamaile.” (Pukui Dict.) If you know the mo’olelo about Kamaile it may seem to be a strange reference. But I have ancestral and personal ties to the area and it keeps me mindful of some important lessons I’ve learned. One of these days I hope to figure out a good way to tell the stories and relations I have with this place. Some stories are dramatic. Some are just plain corny. I’ll keep thinking about the coast until then. This pic was taken @ Miloli’i by @abundanzia