Ward Village Shops get crafty

Nadine Kam photos
Local artisans take turns sharing their crafts during workshops and classes at a handful of Ward Village boutiques. At MORI by Art+Flea, Luna Amante is among local small businesses offering workshops, in this case utilizing succulents and air plants for home decor.

BY NADINE KAM

This is the season when we start thinking about holiday gifts or making time to spend with family and friends.

Art and craft classes are one way to achieve both aims in a fun way. Ward Village Shops recently hosted a media tour to introduce shops that offer classes for those who enjoy learning new skills and the D.I.Y. lifestyle.

Trust me, most reporters do what they do because they’re better at working with ideas than working with their hands. Yet, we were able to turn out some beautiful ceramics, scarves, mini cactus decor and lau hala ornament in an hour’s time thanks to patient instructors.

Here are some shops to check out:

Registration is being taken for indigo dye workshops at CHAI Studio. The next session involves coloring a slip dress. At right, a sample textile showing the result of the Japanese Itajime shibori, or shape-resist technique, using metal discs to form the resist polka-dot pattern on a field of indigo blue.

CHAI Studio: This design emporium offers “ideas for an inspired lifestyle,” from home furnishings, bedding and textiles, to internationally sourced jewelry, gifts and accessories. Its DIY Studio is open to creator workshops, with the next coming up 11 a.m. Nov. 22. It will have participants using indigo to dye a loose, casual slip dress. The fee is $108. To learn more or reserve a space, call 536-4543 or visit www.chai-studio.com.

If you can blow bubbles, you can paint at Clay Cafe Hawaii. The bubbles overflow onto your ceramic plate.

After being popped, the bubbles leave their outline behind to form beautiful abstract patterns.

Clay Cafe Hawaii: Release your inner Picasso via pottery painting sessions. Even if you have zero ability to draw, instructors have ways to fight artist’s block. Because there’s nothing worse than facing a blank plate with no idea where to begin, they showed us a simple technique involving blowing soap-and-paint-mixed bubbles onto a plate to create organic abstract imagery.

It’s a great way to spend an afternoon and if there are a lot of kids in your extended family, you could organize a two-hour children’s party with a minimum of eight painters (maximum 40), and minimum of $12 per piece per painter.

Call 589-1808 or visit claycafehawaii.com for more information.

At MORI by Art+Flea, Luna Amante shared materials for created mini cactus planter.

MORI by Art+Flea: What started as a pop-up urban marketplace showcasing local makers has expanded to a permanent retail space that hosts workshops showcasing the skills of its vendors. You might find Chad Watanabe of engiNERDart (enginerdart.com) offering a woodblock print class for personalized holiday cards, or Yayoi Nishitani of Luna Amante showing how to create a succulent garden or ornament.

Luna Amante’s next workshop, Geometric Airplant Ornaments, will take place noon to 3 p.m. Nov. 15. The class fee is $60 for three ornaments. Visit lunaamante.com for more information and updated listings.

At Na Mea, we wove a lau hala fish ornament, no easy task! Those with a knack for weaving can graduate to more advanced hat-making classes. Many more Native Hawaiian arts classes are available.

Na Mea Hawaii: A longtime specialist in Native Hawaiian books, arts, jewelry and apparel, Na Mea offers workshops as part of its mission to perpetuate and encourage appreciation of Hawaiian culture. During our session, we wove a fish-shaped lau hala tree ornament.

For those of us with three thumbs, this was no easy task, but instructors are patient, working with us one-on-one, even helping to wrap the lau hala around clumsy fingers.

It’s just a first step to one day making fine, ornate hats. When you get to that point, there is a Lau Hala Weaving Hui support group to lend their expertise.

You can always check the store’s website for an online calender detailing classes, including flower and haku lei making, Niihau shell make-and-take, language sessions and more. There is a different cost for each activity, listed at nameahawaii.com. Call 596-8885.
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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Have baby, will travel, with the right carrier

Carrier photos by Kimetha Photography / All photos courtesy Family Expositions
Moms on-the-go are making baby carriers a fashion statement. This is Bijou Wear's "Classic Wrap" ring sling.

BY NADINE KAM

I’m not a mom so when talk turns to babies and children, I tend to drift away. It’s a whole other universe and with the triple-threat “Oh Baby! Family Expo, Hawaii Party Expo, and Hawaii Toy and Game Expo going on this weekend at the Blaisdell Center Exhibition Hall, it’s all about the little ones.

To hear moms talk, you’d think the baby carrier was the ultimate fashion statement. You can see for yourself Oct. 10 and 11, where the “Oh Baby! Family Expo 2015, with merchandise and services geared toward families with keiki up to age 12, will feature more than 150 exhibitors, including Tula and Bijou woven wraps and slings for mommies and daddies.

Apparently, with today’s mobile, active parenting, baby wearing has gone from the days of mothers owning a single carrier, to mothers having multiple carriers to coordinate with her daily wardrobe, or a particular holiday or other special occasion.

Because every body is different, there will be a Baby Wearing Demo at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday, showcasing the various styles to help people gauge their own fit needs.

Expo hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. General admission is $5.50; children 5 and younger are admitted free. For more information, visit ohbabyfamilyexpo.com.

Tula ring sling.

Tula soft structured "Vivian" carrier.

There will be plenty of apparel available for older kids too at the “Oh Baby! Family Expo.

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Valerie Joseph's FRESH take on winter prom

Nadine Kam photos
From left, Olena Heu with FRESH Fashion founder Valerie Ragaza-Miao and her husband Joseph Miao.

BY NADINE KAM

The Valerie Joseph boutique presented its annual FRESH Fashion Event fund-raiser, “Cirque de Couture,” Oct. 3 at M Nightclub, with fashion enthusiasts pitching in via ticket sales and silent auction to raise funds for Community Helping Schools.

The masquerade ball-themed event featured an encore fashion show by newly graduated designer Asia Joan Mateo, along with about 40 upcycled prom dresses, thanks to an anonynous benefactor who donated them to Valerie Joseph boutique owner and FRESH founder Valerie Ragaza-Miao, in hope that they would be used in one of her fashion shows.

The donated prom dresses, remade with the help of stylist Rebecca Janette, were numbered and auctioned off after the show to help provide classroom supplies to cash-strapped public schools.

Guests were invited to pose for giant "Instagram" shots at the masquerade event.

Mark Ramelb courtesy photos
For the show, Valerie changed into a dress by local designer Asia Joan Mateo, worn over a tutu by Rebecca Janette, who styled the show.

Boys aren't the only ones who can wear pants to the prom.

Keeping shoulders covered will make parents and chaperones happy.

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Visit New Zealand's fantasy 'World of WearableArt'

Nadine Kam photos
New Zealand artist Nadine Jaggi’s “Ornitho-Maia,” (The Bird Mother), protector of feathered creatures, interpreted in a costume of wet-moulded, embossed and carved leather. This was the winner of the 2008 Supreme WOW Award and first place finisher in the 2008 South Pacific Section of the WOW, World of WearableArt international competition.

BY NADINE KAM

Bishop Museum will be the first museum in the U.S. to host the spectacular New Zealand-based “World of WearableArt,” or WOW, exhibition opening Oct. 3 and continuing through Feb. 1 in the Castle Memorial Building.

The exhibition fusing fashion and art will spotlight 32 award-winning garments from the international design competition hosted by WOW, which attracts hundreds of entries from fashion designers, artists, costume makers and other artisans charged with the mission to take “art off the wall and adorn the human form.”

I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek of the exhibition, with New Zealand-based artists Gillian Saunders and Beth Kopf, who shared their enthusiasm for art-making. Saunders’ piece “Inkling,” has been used for the promotional materials, so I was looking at that piece for months, wondering what kind of person comes up with such a dramatic form, which she says was based on her fascination of old-time circuses and their tattooed women. With the co-mingling of blood and ink, she wondered about the ratio that might cause the ink forms to spring to life. I was surprised to find her to be so soft-spoken, given the power of the piece. But of course art allows those who prefer to keep a low profile, to express ourselves powerfully in other ways.

When asked which costume they would want to wear most, Beth Kopf mentioned New Zealand artist Sarah Thomas’s “American Dream,” above, and Gillian Saunders admitted to feeling the woman warrior pull of New Zealand artist Stuart Johnson’s “Persephone’s Descent,” further below.

The exhibition is amazing and I urge anyone with a love of artistry, fashion and creativity to see it. I was able to see Alexander McQueen’s “Savage Beauty” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute and this is comparable in evoking that sense of dark, avant grade beauty and stellar technique. Truly world class.

Looking at the costumes on manikins is one thing, but a film screening in an alcove shows that these pieces are indeed wearable art. The film shows the works presented in a fashion show filled with acrobats and performers who bring the pieces to fantastic life. The fashion shows take place very fall, next year running Sept. 22 through Oct. 9 in New Zealand.

The exhibition is made possible by grants and funding from New Zealand’s government which is to be commended for putting money behind the arts. And the staff of the Bishop Museum encourages Hawaii’s creatives to participate by entering future WOW competitions. People will be able to submit their names and email addresses to receive entry packets.

The exhibit will be open during Bishop Museum hours, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays to Mondays. Visit www.bishopmuseum.org for admission information.

“Persephone’s Dream” depicts the mythological heroine’s descent into the Underworld, wearing the armor of Hades. This work by Stuart Johnson was the 2002 winner of ,the Supreme WOW Award, the First Time Entrant Award, and first place finisher in the 2002 Reflective Suraces Section of the WOW, World of WearableArt international competition. An armourer, blacksmith and jeweler, he was working in the weapons department at Weta Workshop, making weapons for the “Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy while developing his design.

One of several bras in the show, this one featuring taxidermy budgerigars. I was assure no animals were killed for this showcase. Another bra featured roadkill hedgehogs, beautifully preserved so they look alive.

Materials are manipulated so it’s hard to guess the materials used in the designs. I thought these pieces were made of felt pieces, but they are actually ceramic.

I thought Gillian Saunders “Inkling” was carved from wood, but it is actually shaped from EVA foam, or yoga mat material. The piece grew out of her fascination with tattooed women of old-fashioned circuses, and the idea of ink co-mingling with blood in such an overpowering ratio that the ink takes on a life of its own.

“In the Op” by Ling Lai Kit Ling of Hong Kong, took second place honors in WOW’s 2012 Avant Garde Section.

The general public can put their creativity to work in costuming paper dolls with materials to be provided by the museum. The finished dolls will be put on a wall for a show of their own. Here’s one example.

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

A stroll through Korea's Namdaemun Market

Nadine Kam photos
Colorful socks sell for about $1 to $1.50 per pair at Seoul’s Namdaemun Market.

BY NADINE KAM

While Dongdaemun may be the largest market area in South Korea, Namdaemun Market is the oldest traditional market, launched during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), when the government built and rented out the shops to merchants.

The marketplace now encompasses 10,000 stores that line the streets around Namdaemun, the main southern gate of old Seoul. The scope of the market allows shoppers to comparison shop for the lowest prices on goods, that is if you have the stamina to go backtracking and have the kind of inner GPS that allows you to find your way back to the good deals.

If you read my last post, you know I was searching for shoes because of my size 3 Cinderella feet, which means few adult shoes in the west fit me. Just when I thought I was getting a deal on one pair of shoes I wanted, going from $4,500 won to $2,500 — a close equivalent to $45 and $25 — and striking a deal for three pairs of shoes at $110, I found another vendor selling my shoe for $1,900 won, a little less than $19!

 

 The market's narrow streets are home to a mix of storefronts and street vendors.

 Those who love the art of the deal can go crazy negotiating prices, but sometimes it’s so unnecessary. I was buying one pair of socks for $1,000 won, a dollar, when a friend tried to get them for 500 won, or less than 50 cents. The guy was telling us there was no profit margin, and I was like, it’s just a dollar. But later on, when I headed to Dongdaemun and found them for 500 won I felt so cheated. But where in the U.S. can you find fun socks for 50 cents? In Japan I didn’t hesitate paying $30 for one elaborate pair in a cut-out, lace-up style not seen here at home.

Namdaemun is open day and night, with 24 blocks of shopping. Naturally, the clothing zone is the largest, encompassing 6,000 shops. Other areas focus on electronics, produce, vitamins and there are plenty of restaurants and food vendors around when you need to get a bite to eat.

One of the limitations of shopping is the availability of potties. Signs indicating restrooms here are sometimes decades old, failing to correspond to current tenants. One merchant was kind enough to take me to a building with a restroom, but alas, what I heard as “first” floor was really the fourth floor, and after a steep climb, I found it was one of the ground-set toilets. I was not in the mood for that, so I just carried on, knowing I could not shop much longer because my suitcase wasn’t large enough to handle more than four pairs of shoes.

Nature Republic has an outpost there, with discount prices on its cosmetics.

The market is home to inexpensive clothing; tech, hair and other accessories; footwear; and Korea's vaunted red ginseng.

I bought a lot of socks, not these though, the cutesy kind.

My shiny silver Korean shoes! I have another pair in black sole with pewter upper.

My over-the-top Korean boot, $45: lace, bling, faux skin, metal, peep-toe. Someone said I should get a more toned down style. I was like, "You don't know me."

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Midnight shopping at Seoul's Dongdaemun Market

Nadine Kam photos
The fashion forward shop find their way to Doota! one of the many multi-story “malls” that fill Seoul’s Dongdaemun Market.

BY NADINE KAM

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — Say what you will about United States consumer culture. Koreans have us beat. Only at Christmas do American stores close at midnight. In the heart of Seoul, you can head to Dongdaemun where the shopping district comes alive from 8 to 10 p.m. when other stores close, and you can shop ’til you drop at 5 a.m.

Lacking that sort of inborn stamina, I only lasted until 1:30 a.m., when I felt delirious eyeing floor after floor, stall after stall of all manner of apparel and accessories, when all I wanted was one thing: shoes. Because of my Cinderella feet, I can never find shoes that fit me, hence the all-occasion rubbah slippah, but I had high hopes of finding the sporty “ugly shoes” I have wanted for months.

I saw many street vendors upon exiting the subway, but friends assured I would be able to find “more, better and cheaper” at Dongdaemun’s many towering vertical malls. By the numbers, it was like searching for needles in a haystack. As South Korea’s largest wholesale and retail shopping district, Dongdaemun is home to 26 shopping malls, 30,000 speciality shops, and 50,000 manufacturers. It’s also known for its night market, but I missed that because it closed at midnight while I was searching the malls.

Here’s a quick look:

Designer culture thrives at Doota! which they boast is on the "Fashion People To Do List."

Throughout Dongdaemun’s malls, you can find high-quality, inexpensive clothing for about $20 to $60. Prices at Doota! tend to run in the low hundreds.

Seoul style.

One of the young shoppers at Dongdaemun, out after midnight.

Things that make you go hmmm: The Mocoloco boutique was slated to open shortly after I left Korea. Wonder if the name was Hawaii inspired?

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.