“Patterns in nature fascinate me,” says Geri Gomes of Eono Designs–a collection of jewelry that incorporates handmade glass beads, pearls and semi-precious stones with precious metals and copper wire. Gomes, who grew up on Kauai, says her island home inspires her, with riffs on coral, palm trees, waves, even chili peppers.
On the tongue / Meet Kaiulani Spices–a collection of rubs and spices designed to enhance flavors (from meats to salads) and inspired by a desire to eat more healthily. Made only from certified organic ingredients, this spice collection includes organic turmeric, a powerful anti-inflammatory that protects the brain and liver.
On the wall / Life’s an empty canvas for acrylic painter Virginia Bishop. “My art grows with my life,” says Bishop.
An Excerpt from Do One Green Thing / Organic remains the fastest-growing sector of the food industry. Here are some of the labels you might find on fresh produce and a key to what they mean.
On the Wall / Wallpaper fell by the wayside in the mid-80s and 90s, but its recent comeback hit the home décor industry hard, adding to the trend bursts of color and intimate patterns and textures. Plus, it’s sustainable.
For the home / Believe it or not, sofas can be soft, beautiful and practical, and at Pacific Home, they’re even eco-friendly. Some of their sofas are made with 80 percent recycled stock using natural fibers such as cotton, hemp and bamboo.
An Excerpt From Do One Green Thing / What do carpets and pressed woods have in common? The formaldehyde, benzene and other toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) used in the conventional glues that bind carpet fibers to backings and backings to floors, or that hold together thin layers of wood.
For the keiki / Showman and elite Hawaiian fashion designer Nakeu Awai is the guest of honor at Native Books/Na Mea Hawaii’s upcoming show The Gusty, and Lusty Month of May. This show is a pumped-up version of the fashion runway.
On Native Mana‘o / When Bishop Museum’s Hawaiian Hall reopened in 2009 after undergoing much-needed renovations, it was something to be proud of. The Hawaiian Hall Docent Program recruited volunteers to join Na Kukui a Pauahi, a group whose members lead tours and programs to show off the hall’s rich artifacts and share their significance with visitors.
An Excerpt from Do One Green Thing / How heavily do you weigh on the planet? Get motivated to reduce your carbon footprint by calculating your annual personal production of CO2.
Tucked away in a small corner of Kakaako, Wood and Shell is a custom inlay woodcraft workshop where colorful shells are cut the old-fashioned way–by hand–and shaped to fit into wood depressions. The online gallery offers several pieces for sale, and custom designs can discussed by private appointment or email.
If you’ve been in Neiman Marcus lately, you probably noticed the return of the annual ContempoRARITIES Exhibition and Art Sale, a rotating display of contemporary art underneath skylights and strings of golden butterflies. The exhibition was part of fresh stART: ConTempo 2012, a benefit for the Honolulu Museum of Art, and hailed as the “collector’s event of the year.” The display is gone now, but it left behind a legacy: more than $344,000 for the Museum, in excess of its goal.
For the body / Sash pins–small pieces of jewelry we find in our grandmothers’ drawers, once used to secure a dress sash or adorn the bodice of a dress–are things we keep because we can’t not keep them. Some have pearls or rubies in the shape of a dragonfly’s eye, others are roosters encrusted in rhinestones or turquoise cats with coral cabachons.
On Predator Proofing / A successful return of native vegetation and a significant increase in nesting seabird populations at Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve is being celebrated by the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DLNR/DOFAW), due to a predator-proof fence that was installed just a year ago. The 59-acre wilderness area on Oahu’s northwestern-most point is the first place in the US to use the predator-proof fencing technology, which is a fine mesh that prevents dogs, cats, mongooses and rodents from attacking ground-nesting seabird populations and from eating native vegetation.
An Excerpt from Do One Green Thing / Because the underarm is close to the breast, the estrogen-like behavior of some conventional ingredients in deodorants has given rise to concern. Parabens (a class of chemicals used as preservatives by pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies) have caused growth of breast cancer cells in lab tests.
An excerpt from Do One Green Thing / By not drinking out of polycarbonate (PC No.7) bottles, you’ll avoid one major risk of exposure to a chemical called Bisphenol A (BPA), which the US National Toxicology Center has warned may interfere with normal human brain and hormonal development. BPA crosses the placenta, and thus also poses a particular threat to fetuses and infants (a good reason to avoid PC baby bottles!).
For the four-legged / They pee where they please, sleep in the breeze and usually walk around naked. But then came along the ‘90s, and the birth of the doggy-dress up boutique.
For the Body / You’ve seen them–people vaulting, rolling, running, climbing and jumping over benches, walls, rocks and trees along the alleys of your favorite grocery store. These hardcore physical enthusiasts are known as parkours, people whose mission it is to move through the their environments in less than traditional ways.
It wasn’t until Dexter Doi and Carol D’Angelo launched their Ecolicious handbag line that artistic originality started to enter their creativeequation. Just over three years ago, Doi and D’Angelo (who are also husband and wife) decided they would promote green living by offering practical and fashionable alternatives to plastic bags that also espoused high-quality art.
For Boat People / At West Marine’s new, 25,500-square-foot flagship store, you can buy everything for on-the-water life from a 99-cent packet of fiberglass cleaner to a $4,000 life raft–to clothing. Last month, regional saleswoman Nina Aviles showed us sexy little sandals that are also eminently sensible, with soles offering maximum traction whether navigating a drenched deck or hiking rough terrain.
An Excerpt from Do One Green Thing / “If just one out of 20 Americans stopped buying water in disposable bottles, we’d save 30 million pounds of plastic waste. We’d save the fossil fuels used in the plastic, which equals seventeen million barrels of oil.
Get involved / There’s beauty in being a part of something different. For some it’s running a 5K for a worthy cause.
It’s a meticulous craft, but one that leaves behind a great legacy. Optically dazzling sculptures, extraordinary furnishings and fine musical instruments take a keen eye and a steady hand to be metamorphosed from a piece of wood.
Distillers and Blenders / “Rum and coke is the most popular drink in the world,” declares the bartender at the Koloa Destination Tasting Room near Kalaheo, Kauai. Housed in the Kilohana Plantation, the bright, airy tasting room opened in September 2009 when the first batch of Koloa Rum was released.
Peter Poppler worked in the California surf industry and apprenticed under renowned shaper Bruce Jones before he and wife, Lupita, moved to Kauai in 1981. “He’s been making boards ever since,” says Lupita.
Given the city’s crumbling infrastructure and rail controversy, it’s hard to believe anyone would want to be the next mayor of Honolulu. But a few do want the job, including the incumbent, Mayor Peter Carlisle, the former Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney who won a 2010 special election to fill the remainder of Mufi Hannemann’s term.
I’d never been to a Honolulu City Council meeting until a few weeks ago. Features, not politics, was my beat.
Victoria Holt Takamine is a kumu hula, a cultural activist and a teacher and has an impeccable pedigree to back up all these titles. Born of an alii family whose kuleana was in Moanalua, she graduated as a hula teacher under the legendary Auntie Maiki Aiu Lake and taught hundreds of students in her own halau (Pua Alii ‘Ilima) and at the University of Hawaii.
On April 25, a state judge dismissed trespassing charges against a Kauai man after finding that he had been exercising traditional native Hawaiian rights hunting wild pigs on private land. Kui Palama, 28, was arrested on Jan.
The city plans to dish out $3.5 million from its Affordable Housing Fund and either purchase or renovate a structure to provide transitional housing for Honolulu’s special needs homeless population. “Our community has invested considerable effort and resources in addressing homelessness,” Mayor Peter Carlisle said in a statement, “but there remains a population whose disabilities or chronic conditions make it difficult for them to participate in traditional shelter programs.” Carlisle is referring to those homeless with mental illnesses, addictions and physical disabilities.
Makaweli Poi faces an uncertain future after its owner, a corporate subsidiary of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) ordered the West Kauai mill to suspend operations May 23. Mona Bernardino, chief operating officer of the corporation, Hiipoi LLC, says the move to shut down Makaweli Poi was prompted mainly by financial concerns.
A resolution adopted by the City Council will solidify an agreement between the City and County of Honolulu and the University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center (UH-WRRC) to conduct an analysis of impacts from ocean sewer outfalls on the marine environments off of Oahu. The city will pay UH-WRRC as much as $2.5 million for biological and sediment studies in portions between now and June 30, 2017 .
Along with the deep, verdant growth of spring sprouts an unyielding desire to spend more time in the open air. That’s why it should come as no surprise that National Bike Month falls in the sun-drenched time of May.
Of the many letters you publish against rail, how many offer an alternative that won’t send us into further economic demise? Billions of gallons of oil are imported for us from every oil-producing nation on this planet so that we can buy billions of gallons of gasoline.
TheBus is taking a back seat to rail. At the May 3 Downtown Neighborhood Board meeting, an audience member asked city Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka when we could expect the bus route cancellations and changes to be reversed.
Check out the latest Honolulu Weekly email newsletters:
Arts & Entertainment
Food & Drink
Honolulu Green
Signup now to receive these newsletters in your inbox!
Save money and reach a loyal audience of upscale readers. Advertise to reach passionate, active consumers. Our readers outpace the average consumer in purchases of big-ticket items, travel, and recreation.
Weekly readers are premium consumers: educated, affluent, socially active people who work hard, play hard and spend hard. Buy an ad in the Weekly and you’ll be speaking directly to the best audience in Honolulu. For more information check out our advertisers' kit.
