Ka Mo‘olelo ma ka piko Lauhala

The story of our lauhala buttons

As we welcome guests, family, and friends onto our ‘āina and into our ‘ohana many of us are being asked what the button we wear represents.  In fact, many of us too need a reminder of its meaning, not for lack of caring but merely because the rigors of our position call for us to have thousands of thoughts ready for recall at a moment’s notice.  This symbol we pin onto our clothes every time we come to work, we point out to guests to let them know who also works here, has a great story all its own.  If you spend some time with us here at the Andaz Maui at Wailea you will notice that all of these buttons are alike yet different.  All of them hand woven, by the hands of many different weavers.  The mana, the internal spiritual energy, of these people has been imbedded in these buttons.  They were made by us, for us.

As an Andaz brand standard we have no nametags.  Those familiar with the hospitality industry are also familiar with the omnipresent gold or silver nametags, sometimes infused with other tidbits of information—where I’m from, what my passion is, or a slew of other ideas intended to evoke discussion with a guest.  But at the same time something else is happening.  The nametag itself creates a barrier between two people, it separates the guest from the employee.  Worst case scenario, for the associate it enforces the belief that one can “hide” behind the tag, that one is operating not from a personal space, but from a corporate space.  For the guest, it can create the feeling that this is not a real person, just a name and a position.  And rarely do the little tidbits of information below the name lead to lasting relationships between two living beings.

For us, we chose to embody the Andaz value of breaking down barriers in a completely unique and place-based way when it came to our unique associate identifier.  For this we looked to our genesis, our creation story.  This story is an amalgamation of many stories, the Hyatt story, the Andaz story, the ‘Ohana of Red Earth story (our book), and of course, the story of Hawai’i. 

Next to our hearts we wear a symbol of our family, as lauhala is a representation of ‘ohana.  The weaving of many separate strands into a unified whole is a brilliant reminder of the strength of the family to surmount all obstacles.  A moena lauhala, a lauhala mat was the first thing brought into a hale.  The best of these mats are passed down through the years, effectively caring for multiple generations of the same ‘ohana.  The children of the future rest their heads on the same mats that their ancestors dreamed upon.

This button is a reminder.  A reminder of our connection to our past and to our future. A reminder of our strengths and the reason we do what we do.

Our lauhala button is woven in the Piko pattern.  In Hawaiian belief we have 3 piko, meaning navel.  These connect us to our ancestors and all that came before; they connect us to our mother and our living relatives; and they connect us to our future descendants born and yet unborn.  Knowledge of our piko remind us of our kuleana, our obligations and responsibilities, to honor those that came before and to protect this place for those yet to come.  In Hawai’i, as it should be across this beautiful globe, we honor these things. Here at Andaz Maui at Wailea we honor our place in the ‘ohana, looking out for each other, taking care of our kuleana, and hosting all with aloha. 

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