In recent months, Hawaii’s artisans, crafters, food and new product creators have been working round-the-clock to fill the 450 booths at Hawaii’s largest shopping opportunity — the 21st Made in Hawaii Festival.
Many of the booths will be run by vendors who have 20 years of festival experience, but there is always something new. The waiting list to be part of this shoppers paradise is usually more than 100, and 50 booths will be filled with first-time vendors from Kauai, Maui, Oahu, Molokai and Hawaii island, bringing enthusiasm and anticipation.
As the name implies, products must be made in the islands.
Three standouts in the newbie category include Foundwood, KaiKini Bikinis and Coconut Lady.
Jen Homcy calls her North Shore company Foundwood, explaining that finding wood comes naturally. Growing up, she followed her carpenter dad as he collected washed-up beach lumber. She grew up to become a marine biologist. Sea turtle research brought her to Hawaii, where her childhood training of use, reuse and never waste led her to scrap piles, job sites and trees being cut down on building sites, where she rescues great slabs before they meet the wood chipper.
Four years ago, Homcy left teaching to carve and create full time. “Wood is its own art,” she says. “It directs what it wants to be.”
With her partner, Tai Colbert, production is in high gear.
Anything destined to be used for food is cured and finished in a mineral oil bath for several days so bacteria can’t grow. From small spoon rests to cutting and serving boards, each piece is unique in color and design. Some have feet. Many have a built-in side dish for juices. Next up, the duo will be creating tables, benches and stools for the new Waikiki Tommy Bahama shop and restaurant.
Kaikini Bikinis owner Taryn Rodighiero lives on Kauai. She met her husband while paddling on the Waialua River, wearing a bikini she didn’t like.
“I was frustrated. I never could find one that fit and lasted,” she said, and told her husband she was going to start a bikini company. He said, “Do it!”
The only problem was she didn’t know how to sew. “I spent my life savings on industrial sewing machines and fabric. When the shipment arrived, I put it all in the spare bedroom, locked myself in and searched YouTube for tutorials,” she related. “I never thought, ‘What if I hate sewing?’ I was all in.”
After eight months, one bikini worked. Using quality materials, a warehouse and six employees, her sales are now up to 800 a month, from size 0 to 10.
Cherie Chung is known as the Coconut Lady. She says one day her brother showed up with a coconut, reminding her that she painted when she was a youth. The coconut looked like a lion, so she painted it that way. Library research led to painted fish with spots and stripes.
| MADE IN HAWAII FESTIVAL
When: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday
Where: Blaisdell Exhibition Hall and Arena
Cost: $5; children 6 and under free
Info: madeinhawaiifestival.com, 533-1292
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One day she went for a swim and thought she saw turtle heads in the waves. “They turned out to be floating coconuts,” Chung said. “So I painted hundreds of dry coconuts to look like turtles.”
Each nut comes with a tripod-style stand. Coated with marine varnish, they are waterproof. Chung suggests with a giggle, “When you give one as a gift, toss it in the ocean and let them swim for it.”
At booth 418, shoppers also have a rare opportunity to buy a piece of Hawaii’s voyaging canoe history: carved hair picks and earrings, bookmarks and clocks made from scrap recovered from the restoration of Hawai‘iloa, the sister canoe to Hokule‘a.
The art pieces are the brainchild of Jerry Ongies, the man who restored Hawai‘iloa. When giant koa trees were not available for harvest, Hawai‘iloa was built of logs from the forests of the Pacific Northwest. Her total restoration took years, all led by Ongies, a shipbuilder who meant to retire. Hawai‘iloa sailed the Pacific, to Tahiti and around the islands, and she is back in the water, ready to serve as a training canoe.
Booth 410 will have T-shirts from the Polynesian Voyaging Society and the Friends of Hokule’a and Hawai‘iloa, as well as finely crafted items that will be available only once and then no more. Own history.
Shopping never stops at Made in Hawaii. For the second year, Hawaii’s Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism is sponsoring a “festival within a festival” in the Pikake Room, featuring first-time vendors around the entertainment seating.
On Friday, the musical lineup at the Pikake Room includes Melveen Leed and Jay Larin, Jerry Santos, Kawika Kahiapo and Maunalua. On Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. it’s Ben & Maila, Nathan Aweau and Kaiao, followed by Kani Ka Pila Grille Talent Search finalists: The Waimanalo Sunset Band, Wai Olu, Destiny Mahaulu, Hawaiian Country and Hawa’iki. On Sunday, talent includes Natalie Ai Kamauu, Frank DeLima and Danny Couch.
The fragrance from the Blaisdell Arena wafts out the doors, drawing shoppers into a fantasy land of spices, chips, cookies, coffee and jerky in a multitude of flavors.
There’s even a new organic local vodka, and a seating area where top chefs dazzle the crowd with a cooking and tasting area. Bring a tote bag or two for taking home treasures.
