HAWAIIAN AIR GROUNDS VEHICLES

Project with POW! WOW! x Fitted x Hawaiian Airlines painting their ground service vehicles including service trucks, push-backs, plane tugs, baggage belt loaders, and baggage carts.

Collaboration with Defer an a portrait of Bailey Rapozo (Keola’s Rapozo of Fitted, wife) on the side of a large hydraulic service truck. She is an interpretation of the Pualani, the female figure that makes up the Hawaiian Airlines Logo. This Pualani looks up and to the left to not only interact with the plane and its passengers, but also to check out the original Pualani on the tail of the plane. Also, instead of wearing a flower on her ear like the original our Pualani sports a haku which Defer painted. The haku, or Hawaiian Headdress, gives the feeling that it’s a special occasion.

Defer also collaborated with Jeffery Gress on a deconstructed camo on the opposite side of the truck. Jeff also added his hand-painted lettering and on many of the vehicles. Also working on the project were Jasper Wong, creative director/owner of Fitted Keola Rapozo, Jared Johnston, and Christina Delima. Keola’s famous ‘island camo’ pattern, a camouflage-inspired motif made up of the silhouettes of the Hawaiian Islands was painted over many of the vehicles. The pattern emphasizes how Hawaii is composed of many islands that collectively make up the great state, and how like the pattern Hawaiian Airlines brings all of the islands together. The ‘island camo’ also had a secondary meaning with the usually concealing design instead being used in this case to bring attention to the vehicles. The disruptive pattern highlights Hawaiian Airlines new safety initiatives to avoid onsite accidents and promote worker safety with brightly painted vehicles. Adding to this is the reflective “hunter” or “safety” orange accents, a common accent for hunters camouflage.

The project aims to highlight how Hawaiian Airlines bridges cultures and people, giving Hawaiian Airlines employees and passengers alike a visual representation of the hub of culture that is modern Hawaii and how Hawaiian Airlines helps to facilitate these cultural exchanges. Much like how POW! WOW! has taken forgotten buildings and brought new life to them with murals, we hope to bring attention and color to the sometimes overlooked machinery, the hundreds of employees working around the clock at the airport, and to promote safety on the runway.