I help clarify what matters before decisions are made.
HOW I WORK
My work begins with listening - to people, to place, to history and to what is often left unsaid.
Across art, design, and education, I work with organizations, communities, and institutions navigating complex cultural, social and ethical contexts. Drawing on Kanaka Maoli ways of knowing, I use visual storytelling, creative practice, and dialogue to support understanding, alignment and meaningful action.
Rather than offering fixed or pre-determined solutions, my approach focuses on creating the conditions for better decisions, deeper alignment, and more meaningful outcomes. I work with clients to:
Clarify context, purpose, and shared values so work is grounded and intentional
Make complexity visible, revealing underlying systems, assumptions, and points of tension
Surface risks, blind spots, and misalignments early, helping teams avoid costly or ill-informed decisions before they are embedded in design and planning
Develop shared language through images, story, and iterative process, enabling clearer communication and collective understanding
Anchor decisions in responsibility, care, and place, strengthening long-term trust and cultural integrity
This work is shaped by hana—making, doing, and learning through relationship. Through hands-on creative inquiry, creativity becomes a tool for foresight: helping teams navigate uncertainty, make more informed choices, and move forward with clarity, confidence, and accountability.
Makawalu — an Indigenous way of seeing (in development)
Makawalu (literally “eight eyes”) refers to an Indigenous way of seeing that attends to multiple perspectives, relationships, and consequences at once. I am developing Makawalu as a relational design method grounded in Kanaka Maoli knowledge systems.
This work continues to evolve through practice and teaching and is shared through relationship rather than abstraction.
Invitation
If you are navigating complexity and are interested in working together, I welcome thoughtful conversations grounded in care, context, and responsibility.
Inquire about an engagement.
PILI PACIFIC:
Practice in Context: Pili Pacific
Pili Pacific was established by Herman Pi’ikea Clark as a culturally grounded design platform developed in close collaboration with family and creative partners. The practice engaged questions of leadership, identity, and responsibility in Hawaiʻi, the Pacific, and beyond.
The work of Pili Pacific explored how values and mana might be carried into everyday life—not as abstract symbols or branding alone, but as visual reminders that support leadership, accountability, and positive action within community. Through textile design and visual storytelling, the practice asked how cultural knowledge could remain active and present in contemporary decision-making.
Developed primarily for leaders in Hawaiʻi, Pili Pacific designs were intended to embody chiefly values through form, material, and process, offering a way to hold responsibility, care for people, and relationship to place in modern contexts. The emphasis was not on self-expression, but on service, alignment, and cultural continuity.
Rather than functioning as a conventional brand, Pili Pacific operated as a relational design framework. Its projects demonstrate an approach to design as practice-in-context—where visual language is used to support clarity, shared values, and accountable leadership. This work continues to inform how Herman Pi’ikea Clark approaches consulting, facilitation, and creative strategy today: not by prescribing solutions, but by creating culturally grounded conditions for insight and responsible action.