Hawaii is starting to make a decorative mark on smartphone and tablet cases.
3RDi Galleries is producing and distributing what is sure to become a collectible in officially sanctioned device cases celebrating the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s "Dark Side of the Moon" album.
In a separate effort, North Shore artist Heather Brown has three of her illustrations featured as part of a iPhone 5 accessory collection for national marketer True Protection.
Larry Lieberman, director of communications for 3RDi (pronounced "third eye") Galleries, located in the Pacific Guardian Tower on Kapiolani Boulevard, said the business has been selling phone accessories and cases for many years but is just getting into "hybrid" licensing art, expanding into art prints as well.
"One of the owners is passionate about his love for Pink Floyd and the related artwork, so he helped us orchestrate a meeting with the group’s merchandise team," Lieberman said. 3RDi Galleries won the job after a series of discussions and showings of its work.
"The primary architect of the band’s art is Storm Thorgerson, who went to school with the band’s Roger Waters and David Gilmore. We’re lucky that he wanted to do special variations of the famous prism album cover art," he said.
One is a tribute to the comic-book style of pop artist Roy Lichtenstein made famous in the 1960s. The other, Lieberman said, is a "liquid immersion graphic, where a physical prism was actually submersed into this liquid of swirling colors. This is not a digitally created image."
3RDi Galleries merchandise is sold at kiosks at the Navy Exchange at Pearl Harbor and next to the Apple Store in Ala Moana Center. The Pink Floyd anniversary cases retail for $39.99 (smartphone) and $69.99 (tablet); art prints are $50.
Lieberman said the line of cases also should soon be available at the band’s online store along with a line of anniversary T-shirts celebrating "Dark Side of the Moon," one of the biggest-selling and most influential rock albums of all time.
Ever since the company moved to Hawaii from Las Vegas in 2008, Lieberman said, it has been committed to featuring more locally produced work. It has partnered with artists such as Colleen Wilcox, Kat Reeder, Brook Kapukuniahi Parker and Stefan Meinl.
"And we just signed Wyland," he said. "But we hope to do more album artwork and other classic rock imagery."
HEATHER Brown said she’s been approached by other manufacturers to license her artwork but said yes to True Protection because it donates 15 percent of sales to charities, and the cases are made of post-consumer recycled plastic.
The three designs in her collection — Hibiscus Sunset, Jewel of the Sea and Jungle Giraffe — sell for $39.95 each, with a portion of the proceeds going to Waves for Water, the Kokua Hawaii Foundation and the Seathos Foundation, respectively.
"My art is heavily influenced by Hawaii — plants, the landscape, waves and surfing — done with a stained-glass approach with bold, bright colors," she said.
Contact 3RDi Galleries at 947-0066 or shop online at 3rdigalleries.com; the Heather Brown Collection can be found online at truprotection.com.
New smartphone app urges use of breadfruit
Learn more about the Hawaiian food staple breadfruit, or ulu, in a free smartphone app developed by the nonprofit Ho’oulu ka ‘Ulu project.
The Talking Trees app for iPhone and Android was launched prior to Hawaii island’s Breadfruit Festival in September, and project co-director Andrea Dean said the response has been good "because the app has a lot to offer, whether you’re a tourist or Hawaii resident."
The Ho’oulu ka ‘Ulu project aims to promote breadfruit as a nutritious, abundant, affordable and culturally appropriate food, according to its website.
Dean said breadfruit "has fallen out of popularity in recent years, so the app helps educate how nutritious and abundant it is, plus it’s an ideal crop for food security. We import millions of pounds of potatoes every year, and ulu is a much more culturally aligned substitute."
The Talking Trees app combines the story of the breadfruit with a virtual tour of Hawaii island that includes points of interest such as Honaunau and Kealakekua Bay and video interviews with cultural practitioners.
"The app is very multimedia," Dean said.
Breadfruit recipes are part of the offerings.
"Ulu fries are always popular, but we wanted to include lesser-known ones to show its versatility," she said. So there are recipes for lasagna, curry, corned beef patties and even pie and ice cream.
Ho’oulu ka ‘Ulu is a project of the Hawai’i Homegrown Food Network and the Breadfruit Institute of the National Tropical Botanical Garden.
Download the free app at hawaiihomegrown.net/breadfruit.
–Gary Chun, Star-Advertiser
