Sacred Light
Sacred Light's thesis: intentional design and creative infrastructure are how Hawaiʻi's identity travels beyond its shores and returns as lasting influence.
This body of research is built on that conviction. Each essay extends and proves it, examining how intentional creative infrastructure carries a culture's identity to the world with its name and meaning attached, and how intellectual property must evolve for networked creative economies.
The frameworks governing creativity were not built for how culture actually moves today. We are proposing new ones, from here.
Research
Place-Based Design · Cultural Economy
Archived DreamsThe Distinctive Beauty of Hawaiʻi Design
Hawaiʻi has produced a century of world-shaping creative output without the machinery to keep its name attached. This essay argues that intentional creative infrastructure, the systems that carry design and storytelling into the world with their source intact, is how a culture's identity travels and returns as lasting influence.
La'a Ching · 2026 · 11 Min Read
Read on Archived Dreams →
Intellectual Property · Design Theory
Quantum IP
Intellectual property law was built for a world of fixed objects and singular authors. Quantum IP proposes a new framework, drawing on graph theory and cultural systems thinking, that reimagines ownership for modular, co-authored creative ecosystems.
La'a Ching, Abel Paul George · 2025 · 18 Min Read
Read Essay →Our Stance
A selection of testimonies submitted to the Hawaiʻi State Legislature on legislation affecting our creative economy, cultural infrastructure, and community.
Submitted Testimony
HB 1939 HD2
View BillHawaiʻi Film Tax Credit — Local Workforce & Indigenous Content
Expanding film production incentives with provisions for local hiring thresholds and indigenous storytelling credits.
March 17, 2026
View Testimony →Submitted Testimony
SB 2578 SD1
View BillHawaiʻi Film Commission — DBEDT
Establishing a dedicated Film Commission within DBEDT to coordinate incentives, permitting, and workforce development statewide.
March 12, 2026
View Testimony →Submitted Testimony
SB 2580 SD2
View BillHawaiʻi Film Tax Credit — Streaming Expansion
Raising the production tax credit, expanding eligibility to streaming platforms, and extending the program through 2038.
March 12, 2026
View Testimony →Foundational Reading
Texts that inform the thinking behind this work.
Intellectual Capital Theory by Muneaki Masuda
Advanced Game Design: A Systems Approach by Michael Sellers
For the Record by Peter Kamamo Apo
Youth by Tadao Ando