Going Native

“Whenever I see a really interesting product, I'm always interested in bringing it in and seeing if someone likes it as much as I like it,” shares Island Boy’s Andrew Mau. Photos by Jeff Sanner

At the intersection of creation and curation you’ll find Island Boy, Andrew Mau’s synonymous “retail experiment” designed to facilitate a convergence of high-quality living, playful expression and artistic integrity.

“I guess I am the Island Boy,” laughs Mau, who’s perched on the cushion’s edge of a deep-seated rattan lounge chair. The mood is cozy inside his Kaka‘ ako store, tucked one block away from the main drag of Ward Avenue. The exterior is unassuming, but once you step inside, you feel like Alice emerging from the rabbit hole and into a wonderland of sensory delights.

“A lot of my personal identity was tied with Island Boy, but now the brand is its own thing.” Mau is indeed a boy from the islands. He grew up in Nu‘uanu and graduated from Punahou School in 2005. He created the line Mau-House, which birthed the wildly popular shaka bottle opener.

“I had no intention of having a store at all, but in 2017 I had moved into this two-story building with these big picture windows on the first floor. I didn’t want to board them up to the street traffic so …”

That space became the first iteration of Island Boy. “I started with having a little flower shop and art gallery, and it evolved into this,” he says, quickly noting that the progression didn’t happen overnight.

Mau returned to his island home in 2020. By December, he’d launch the second generation of Island Boy in its current location on Kamani Street. Despite opening amidst the pandemic, Island Boy quickly drew a fan base of customers who, like Mau, genuinely appreciate the novelty of a new experience. “Whenever I see a really interesting product, I’m always interested in bringing it in and seeing if someone likes it as much as I like it,” he says.

In 2023 he’ll be debuting a Japanese line of all-natural nail polish made from gofun, a pigment derived from calcium carbonate found in oyster shells and scallops. “It’s offbeat, but I’ve always wanted to find brands that are natural, thoughtful and have been well-received in a certain part of the world, and I happen to be able to bring them to Hawai‘i,” he says.

Island Boy, 307c Kamani St., (808) 221-3676, islandboy.shop