What is Mekanakana?

Mekanakana started during COVID with a few business experiments, one small CNC machine, and the very Canadian belief that if something doesn’t work the first time, you apologize to it and try again.

Some of those early ideas worked. Some were… character building. Let’s call them that.

Then we made a few wooden tic-tac-toe boards and discovered the part we actually loved: taking a piece of raw material and turning it into something people wanted to pick up, use, give to someone, and occasionally argue over.

From there, we moved into laser cutting and engraving and started making end-grain cedar coasters with funny sayings. We took them to local markets and quickly learned there’s something pretty great about watching someone stop, read a coaster, laugh, then immediately wave over a friend and say, “You need to see this.”

That was the moment.

Since then, Mekanakana has grown to include ornaments, signs, door knockers, Pop-Out Kits, greeting cards, printed pieces, custom creations, and an ever-growing collection of things we probably didn’t need to make—but absolutely had to.

We still design, make, finish, and package everything ourselves in Burlington, Ontario. The tools have gotten bigger, the collection has gotten broader, and there may now be significantly more sawdust involved.

But the idea behind Mekanakana hasn’t really changed.

Make good things. Give them character. And whenever possible, give someone a reason to laugh.

Made in Canada. Made by us. Made with character.

So, What Does Mekanakana Mean?

When we first started this journey, we knew we needed a better name than just Meg & Dan.

So, like any sensible people with access to an early version of AI, we asked it what “Meg and Dan” would be in Hawaiian.

Why Hawaiian?

Because we’ve always wanted to go there, it sounded different, and apparently that was enough of a business strategy at the time.

We still haven’t made it to Hawaii. It remains a goal.

As it turns out, AI and search engines have gotten quite a bit better since then, and Mekanakana doesn’t actually mean “Meg and Dan” in Hawaiian.

In fact, as far as we can tell, it doesn’t really mean anything at all.

Which, honestly, works out pretty well.

Because now we get to define it.

To us, Mekanakana (meh-kana-kana) means:

Making things with character.

It means finding the humorous side of life and sharing the joke with someone else. It means believing that quality matters, details matter, and that everyone deserves our best work.

Every Mekanakana product should feel handmade on purpose—not imperfect by accident.

We focus on clean craftsmanship, quality materials, crisp artwork, durable finishes, and the natural character that makes every piece a little different.

Because character isn’t something we add at the end.

It’s the whole point.