Transition Hawaii

Industrial & Engineering Technology: Feature Pathway

Industrial & Engineering Technology

Certified Kitchen Designer, CKD: Rick Cowan

Rick Cowan, co-owner/president of Archipelago Hawai‘i, CKD, had a hammer in his hand way back in small-kid times. He’s had an interesting and eclectic career since then—he’s worked in restaurants, for an environmental chemical company and as a windsurfing instructor—but the common thread has always been construction and design.

It started when Rick’s dad—an airline pilot, who was also very handy—built the family home on Maui.

“We all helped out, whether it was clearing land, nailing boards, painting—you name it, we did it,” Rick says.

Thanks to his mom, Rick also gained an early interest in the arts. While at Kailua High, he was heavily into ceramics and remembers how the school became the first to participate in the popular windward Raku Ho‘olaule‘a ceramic workshop.

After he graduated from high school, Rick was leaning toward a career in the arts, perhaps as a writer, actor or artist. For a time he worked in restaurants and did some side jobs in construction. He did more construction work while he was living in Los Angeles in the mid-’80s. And when he returned home to the Islands, he got a full-time job with a Maui contractor who was doing ground-up construction. (Read more)