Stephane Marchand of Hawaii: Crafting the Future with Ancestral Precision

Stephane Marchand of Hawaii leads with cultural intelligence and regenerative design, blending Indigenous wisdom with modern innovation to restore ecosystems, empower communities, and shape an ethical future.

1. Stephane Marchand of Hawaii: Crafting the
Future with Ancestral Precision
A Steward of Culture, Climate, and Community-Driven
Innovation
In a time defined by climate disruption, social fragmentation, and technological acceleration, Stephane
Marchand of Hawaii offers a powerful, grounded alternative. A regenerative designer, cultural futurist,
and systems thinker, Marchand is leading a quiet revolution—one built not on rapid disruption, but on
deliberate restoration. His work blends the high-tech with the time-honored, placing ancestral wisdom
at the center of modern innovation.
To witness his work is to see what’s possible when we ask a different set of questions—questions about
relationship, reverence, and responsibility. For Stephane Marchand, progress is not about dominating
the earth. It’s about remembering we belong to it.

2. From the Lo‘i to the Lab
Born and raised on the island of Oʻahu, Marchand’s earliest lessons came not from textbooks but from
tide pools, taro fields, and oral histories. His family were educators and farmers, and his kūpuna
(elders) passed down more than just stories—they shared frameworks for living.
He was taught that innovation is not new to Hawaii. His ancestors built fishponds that fed thousands,
navigated vast oceans without modern instruments, and managed resources with generational foresight.
“They were scientists, engineers, and ethicists,” he says. “I’m just walking the path they made.”
Even as he excelled in STEM disciplines, Marchand never separated his cultural identity from his
academic life. He sought to braid the two—and in doing so, found his life’s purpose.
Regenerative Design That Begins with Listening
After studying environmental systems and design theory across the U.S. and the Pacific, Marchand
returned to Hawaii and founded Kahua Labs, a regenerative design studio and research collective.
Kahua—meaning “foundation” in Hawaiian—was created with a mission: to co-create solutions that
are environmentally sustainable, culturally respectful, and socially empowering.

3. Marchand’s approach is rooted in what he calls “design through relationship.” This means every
project starts not with a blueprint, but with community dialogue, cultural protocol, and land-based
observation. He has helped develop:
Decentralized energy microgrids designed with traditional ahupuaʻa land divisions.
Food sovereignty projects combining AI-powered soil sensors with ancient planting calendars.
Digital archives that preserve and amplify Indigenous place-based knowledge for future
generations.
In each initiative, Marchand centers the question: Does this design restore dignity, place, and balance?
Empowering Youth to Build with Integrity
Marchand’s impact goes beyond systems and infrastructure—it lives in the minds and hearts of the next
generation. Through his youth program ʻIke Hana, he trains Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander
students in regenerative thinking, coding, climate science, and entrepreneurship.
But the curriculum also includes oli (chant), genealogy, and community service. Students are taught
that their ability to innovate is not only technical—but cultural. They learn to see the land as teacher,
their elders as partners, and their voices as powerful tools for justice.
“It’s not enough to build new things,” Marchand tells them. “You have to know who you are when you
build. That’s where true innovation begins.”
A Global Voice with Local Roots
While his home remains in Hawaii, Stephane Marchand is helping to shape the global future of
sustainability, ethics, and Indigenous technology. He has spoken at international forums, contributed to
climate resilience policy for island nations, and co-authored influential papers on decolonizing data and
design.
He collaborates with Indigenous communities around the world—from Arctic circumpolar groups to
Amazonian collectives—exchanging tools, frameworks, and stories. Yet, he is quick to remind others
that his real accountability is not to institutions—but to his home community, his lineage, and the
children yet to come.
He often quotes a Hawaiian proverb: I ulu nō ka lālā i ke kumu—“The branches grow because of the
trunk.” In other words, all innovation must remain rooted.
The Work Ahead: A Tapestry of Remembering
Currently, Marchand is leading The Hoʻomana Project, a pan-Pacific initiative that supports
communities in designing regenerative economies using traditional governance systems. He’s also
working on a digital platform that uses AI to help archive, translate, and apply ancestral knowledge to
modern problems—carefully developed in consultation with cultural elders and data ethics leaders.
His upcoming book, Designing with the Ancestors, will explore how Indigenous intelligence is not a
relic of the past, but a necessary compass for navigating the future.

4. Through it all, Marchand stays grounded—literally. He gardens with his family, fishes when the moon
is right, and hosts intergenerational design gatherings where elders, engineers, and youth sit in circle,
sharing tools and truths.