Archive for the ‘Hawaii!’ Category
December 11, 2009
If you’re on Oahu you can check out the Roberta Oaks newly opened showroom. Located in Chinatown at 19 N. Pauahi Street {between Smith and Nuuanu}, you’ll find all of your clothing faves. Her work and retail space will be open Thursdays and Fridays from 11am – 6pm.
ps – Parking is available across the street. simply enter the Chinatown Municipal Parking Garage off of Beretania just Ewa of Nuuanu. Exit the garage by foot onto Pauahi Street. Walk across the street to the showroom! Metered parking is also available on the street.
November 18, 2009
Great news, peeps. Contrast Magazine now has an online store! What does that mean for you? Uh, how about the fact that you can now purchase your very own copy of each of the issues of the mag. Even better is that you can show them some love and support and proudly wear one of their new logo tees {$25.00 includes shipping}. Yeah, that’s pretty great.
All issues of Contrast Magazine are $10.00 {which includes shipping & is totally worth it}…
Issue No.00 – Art + Music:
Issue No.01 – North Shore:
Issue No.02 – Downtown:
November 18, 2009
As I type this post I’m sitting here at the airport in San Francisco waiting for my {delayed} flight. First flight of the morning and it’s late? At least I have my laptop to keep me company. And all of you, of course! So I thought it would be appropriate to feature something from home {Hawaii – where I’m headed}. I love the brilliance behind Toast’s new Leaf a Note {$10.00} design. These stationery filled tins come not only with notepads, but a #2 pencil and leaf magnets. How cute would that look on your desk!
November 6, 2009
Good news! The latest issue of Contrast Magazine is now available for your viewing pleasure. {sorry for the tardiness of this post}
Learn about the history of A’ala Park…
Or check out an interview with tattoo artist Ronnie Yamada…
Get your FREE copies here…
Aloha Army
226 Lewers St
Honolulu, HI 96815
APB
185 N King St
Honolulu, HI 96817
FITTED
1438 Kona St
Honolulu, HI 96814
Fresh Cafe / Aloha De Nime
831 Queen St
Honolulu, HI 96813
In4mation – Ward Warehouse
1050 Ala Moana Blvd
Honolulu, HI 96814
In4mation – Pearlridge
98-1005 Moanalua Rd Space 823
Aiea, HI 96701
Prototype – Ala Moana
Ala Moana Center
1450 Ala Moana Blvd – Nordstrom Wing
Honolulu, HI 96814
Prototype – Pearlridge
98-1005 Moanalua Rd Space #868
Aiea, HI 96701
Stussy – Honolulu
1288 Ala Moana Blvd
Honolulu, HI 96814
Volcom – Waikiki
2134 Kalakaua Ave
Honolulu, Hawaii 96815
OR
You can buy it for $5.99 plus tax at:
Barnes & Nobles
Ala Moana Center
1450 Ala Moana Blvd. Suite 1272
Honolulu, HI 96814
oh, and how’s their magazine transport situation…
images via contrast site/blog.
October 26, 2009
Here’s the second round of Fighting Eel’s Fall 2009 Collection. You know I’m loving the stripes…
Dress Mica:
Tunic Reef:
Dress Becks:
Dress Arch:
September 17, 2009
In this second part of sharing my aloha for Contrast Magazine {read part 1 here}, I have a little interview put together for you guys. Thanks, Race, for taking some time out to do this…
Founded in: 2008
Website: www.contrastmagazine.com
Blog: www.contrastmagazine.com/blog
Give us a little bit of background behind Contrast Magazine. What is it about?
It’s a Hawaii-based international lifestyle online and print publication dedicated to art, music, fashion, travel, surfing, skateboarding, photography, design and other key interests of the 18-35 demographic.
What prompted the start of Contrast?
We’re a group of friends who share many similar interests and felt that Hawaii lacked a quality publication that expressed those interests and/or targeted our demographic. We all have some sort of publishing background; from Zen Yoshifuku writing for Japanese surfing magazines to Daniel Ikaika Ito editing for Surfing Magazine to Mark Kushimi doing layouts for various magazines.
Besides that, we’re all well traveled, some of us living away from Hawaii for extended periods, we’d see all the other quality publications outside of Hawaii and we wanted to start one in Hawaii.
How often is the magazine published and is this something that will continue or is this simply during startup?
The magazine is published quarterly, every three months. We originally planned to change to every other month our second year and monthly by our third year. But we’re still very much learning how to operate the magazine as a business and it looks like we’ll be quarterly for the second year and increase that the third year to every other month. This also gives us more time to focus on each issue and try to improve on the last.
I love checking out your website and blog. Was Contrast always meant to be a print mag?
Thank you. I thought only my mom and sister read our blog (laughs). Yeah, Contrast was always meant to be a printed magazine. But we set out to cover three aspects of being a media brand: print, web & video. We wanted to make our site a valuable resource along side the printed issue. Many of our favorite magazines didn’t have seamless websites and many of our favorite sites don’t have a printed version, so we thought we would combine that. Throwing in the tv channel adds a fun dimension to our publication. It’s been a lot of work, but we can see the direct impact of our website, print and tv combo in our events and the demand for our printed version.
Who started the company and how big your staff now?
The company is founded by Daniel Ikaika Ito, Jason Shibata, Lance Arinaga, Mark Kushimi, Scott Saito, Zen Yoshifuku and myself. We enlisted our friends to contribute and that list has swelled over the past three issues. I’d like to list them all, as we couldn’t do this without our extended Contrast Ohana (family), but they know who they are. We love the extended Ohana. We are so honored that they are willing to help us out.
Is this a full-time gig for all on the staff? I know that, for example, one of your is a pro surfer.
This is a full-time gig for NOBODY on the staff (laughs). We do not make any money on this…of course, the plan is to make money eventually, but right now we are very much a start up, relying on our own money, a (nearly) maxed bank loan and advertisers dollars to print each issue. Everybody on staff has either full or part-time jobs and we work on Contrast with our free time. But we’re dedicated and passionate about this and through some advertisers commitments, we’re seeing some light at the end of the tunnel…some very dim light (laughs). Our staff’s day jobs range from CPA to Pro Surfer to Web Designer to Chauffeur to freelance journalist. Whatever it takes.
I really enjoy the variety offered up in each issue of Contrast. Where do you find your inspiration for the articles and features? Do people contact you with ideas?
Thank you, again. Our staff is diverse when it comes to interests, but we all have a surfing and skating background, so we brainstorm each issue and start developing ideas. Often times we have some great concepts, but because of lack of photos or editorial flow, the concept can’t be executed. We try and find things that are a unique story and that are relatable to a wide range of people. We aim to build a collective consciousness with our readers. We often get contacted about ideas through our network of friends and contributors and we do use those ideas a lot. It’s amazing to have a friend come to you with an idea and then execute it with them.
Where do you see the magazine going/expanding? How would you like to see it grow?
The magazine has been gaining a lot of momentum since we started, it’s awesome to see it first hand. When we started we weren’t sure if people would be feeling it, but the response has been tremendous and humbling. As far as growth, we’d like to increase our circulation of 20,000 copies to 25,000 – 30,000 copies and make a bigger push along the west coast. Currently we distribute 5,000 copies from Seattle to San Diego in select retailers, but you can imagine how quickly that goes. We’d like to make a bigger impact there and keep Hawaii in the mix. I’d also like to see our writing get to the level of consistency of our design and photography. I don’t think it’s bad now, but if we could continue to improve on our writing, it’ll give us more longevity per issue. It’s hard as a start up, cause you can’t hire professional writers, so we used our own staff and friends and tried our best.
I noticed you guys are involved in a lot of local events. Can you tell us more about that?
We love to support people who are doing creative events locally. Again, it’s about appealing to an audience that we felt was not being catered to. If somebody is doing something interesting and it makes sense for us, we want to be a part of it and help the event. It’s also a way for us to market our magazine as a brand in itself. We’ve done a few events with advertisers, like a Surf Film Festival with The Honolulu Academy of Arts and recently we brought down artist Dalek for a showing of original work with In4mation and The Contemporary Museum of Art. We also try to throw a party for each issue we come out with, we don’t want to get too caught up in the party stuff, we just want to make a quality publication, but the parties help us promote the new issue and allow us to get to know our audience. Plus, they’re FUN!
Do you currently offer ad spots and if someone wants to advertise in Contrast Magazine, how would they go about doing so?
Advertising is our main source of income as the publication is FREE. If someone/company is interested in advertising in either print or web, give me a call at (808) 294-9791 or email me: race@contrastmagazine.com
MAHALO!
Mahalo to Race and his crew for the interview and for putting out a kick ass magazine from Hawaii. Keep your eyes open because the new issue is coming out shortly. I’ll update you all here when it’s official.
September 8, 2009
Raise your hand if you have an iPhone, Blackberry, etc. Seems like most of us have some sort of smart phone device where we can access email, surf the web, and have instant access to any information we crave. For example, you can read the news online if you choose not to buy an actual newspaper. Many magazines have even, to my deep sadness, stopped having a hard copy available.
So of course I was excited to see a fresh magazine from Hawaii {sweet!} emerge recently. While technology is wonderful, I still love print. I love the way paper feels in your hands, the way magazines, notepads and books are bound, how the images and type appear up close, and just knowing that it’s something tangible.
Contrast Magazine has brought that feeling back for me. Started in the summer of 2008 by a group of friends, the publication offers up something for everyone. With backgrounds ranging in pro surfing, photography and fashion, the mag mirrors the melting pot feel of Hawaii. It’s a mix of music, art, sports, clothing trends, skateboarding, surfing and more and is an essential guide for island lifestyle junkies.
Contrast’s crew all were born and raised in Hawaii and three of them graduated together from Kamehameha High School {which makes me so proud}. Even more impressive is that the young staff ranges in age from 24 – 34. I have a new favorite magazine, not simply because we all call Hawaii “home”, but because their approach is refreshing and you can tell there is much aloha behind the grass roots production.
Be sure to check out Contrast Magazine’s blog for daily updates and follow them on Twitter to keep up with current happenings {especially if you live in Hawaii}. The next issue should drop soon, so keep an eye out for that as well. Long live print!
images via Contrast Magazine
August 31, 2009
I was checking out the Wings Hawaii site a while back and thought about chatting with Melody about their newest items. I am always excited to see what these girls make and have a couple of their pieces that I’ve been wearing for a few years now. Melody mentioned that the very first Wings Hawaii creations were actually under the label Hoa Aloha – Girlfriends. Nine years ago, she had received a top from her friend {and Wings girl} Samantha Howard that still plays a big part in their current designs. Wings Hawaii is now recreating the original aloha tops as well as creating their own printed fabrics to sew dresses with. Samantha actually drew the miter print {see the first dress below} which is her interpretation of the miter shell pattern. Everything – the designing, printing, sewing, etc. takes place in the Haiku, Maui workshop. The dresses are made from 100% organic bamboo jersey and are screenprinted {like all their items} using water based inks. Yup, it’s their very own fabric design. Here are just a few of my favorites currently available online:
Miter Shell Dress: $450.00:
Solid Yellow and Rose Gold Bangles: $230.00/ea:
Sunwing Belt: $140.00:
Kauai Shell Ribbed Tank {matching hot pants – they’re super comfy!: $12.00}: $26.00:
Miter Band Skirt: $150.00:
Enjoy 25% off your order. Simply enter code “mixedplate” to save.
ps – mahalo to Melody and the Wings Hawaii crew. they offer Mixed Plate readers that largest discount! Lucky us!
August 25, 2009
I like the new simple styles and color palette in the first installment of the Fall 2009 Collection from Fighting Eel.
Becks:
Lily:
Jackie:
Badu:
Wink:
some styles available via their online shop.
May 20, 2009
The warm and sunny weekend weather we just experienced here in San Francisco reminded me of Fighting Eel’s Summer Collection. Bright colors {with the staples, of course}, light flowing materials and easy laid-back styles of home I miss so much. Take a peek…
Ola:
Maggie:
Mele:
MK2:
Lei:
Tart:
March 16, 2009
Let’s be good to the trees and not actually carve into them. If you have an event coming up, why not let the folks at Toast create some custom favors for you. These Heart Stumps are great…
The old heart with the initials tree carving is classic and romantic. Toast offers this modern way of declaring your love without causing harm to the forest. Each handmade 100% biodegradable Heart Stump is personalzed with a faux wood carving of your initials and the date of your special day. You can purchase them empty so that you can fill them with whatever your heart desires, purchase them pre-filled with locally made chocolate macadamia nut candies (yum!), or filled with a handkerchief printed with a matching heart motif. Check out their site for more goodies and for more info.
March 5, 2009
I was born and raised in Hawaii. I have now lived in San Francisco for a little over one year. Have I become acclimated with the weather here? Not completely. Some days I think I have it all figured out. Others, not so much. Whatever my feeling about the cold here, I will always, always love and miss Hawaii. Seeing the new things that local designers create makes me happy. But even better is when they have great outdoor photo shoots like in the Spring 2009 Collection of Fighting Eel. The sun is shining, there’s beautiful green grass, water, no more than one layer of clothing being worn…It almost makes me feel warm.
Tennis; Karma Long:
Pantalon; Karma Short:
Ocean; Twist:
Carly Long; Nia:
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