Bark Cloth

A brown, oiled, rectangular sample of Hawaiian bark (kapa) cloth made of mamaki (Pipturus albidus). Dark lines are present on both sides of the cloth. The sample was removed from a kapa measuring approximately 4.3 x 4.5 feet, present at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. The kapa is referenced in William T. Brigham’s Ka Hana Kapa. A patterned bark beater with a hoopai (parallel lines with sharp edges) motif was used in its production, leaving visible markings in the cloth. The pigments used in the surface decoration were mud and nanahu (charcoal).

Kapa cloth is produced from the inner bark of a tree, typically wauke (paper mulberry), which is cultivated, harvested, and processed through soaking, scraping, fermenting, and repeated beating to form and refine the cloth. Patterned beaters may be used during production to create watermarks that can reflect regional styles or maker affiliations. After drying, the cloth is decorated using natural dyes and bamboo implements.

From the eighteenth century onward, European collectors and scholars frequently collected kapa, often removing small samples from larger textiles to facilitate transport, study, and comparison in museum and private collections, a practice especially common during and after Cook’s voyages in the Pacific.