BOOK IT. BOOK IT NOW!

I recently had the chance to work on a new logo for MAHALO VILLAS here on Maui. Our goal was to make something that said vacation - surf, sun, sand - and had a bit of a vintage/old Hawaiiana feel, yet still look clean and modern.

I also made several round seals that resemble post marks that could be used in other applications as well as the website banner image and the BOOK NOW button for their website and business cards.

If you are planning a trip to Maui and are looking for a quiet place to stay on the west side in Kapalua with spectacular views of Lana'i and Molokai, check it out.

MAUI NO KA 'OI

After quite the dry spell of no blog entries, it's time to get back to it. We can now tell you what has kept us so busy the last few months.

In June we got word that our favorite publication was hiring a new Art Director.
In July, John filled that role at Maui No Ka 'Oi magazine and he now has 2 issues under his belt.

The September/October cover.

The current November/December 2011 issue on stands now.

John has been working feverishly on the complete re-design for the January/February 2012 issue which goes to press in 2 1/2 short weeks. That includes a new logo, testing new fonts, interviewing illustrators and photographers, and looking into new paper alternatives.

He is a one man Art Department and for the last 2 issues has has been re-introduced to the world of magazine design. The last time he worked at a magazine (SPIN and DETAILS) he had a full Art Department to rely on. Now he finds himself wearing many hats - photo editor, graphic designer, production manager, location scout and so on. He has also been able to visit some incredible homes here on Maui for possible use in the home features. At these home shoots, he also acts as prop stylist and pet wrangler. 

On a recent scouting trip to Keokea, John got to venture inside the Kwock Hing Society Building, which is otherwise locked. It is featured in the current issue.

On a recent scouting trip to Keokea, John got to go inside the Kwock Hing Society Building, which is always locked up, the inside is not open to the pubic. It is featured in the current issue.

October found him traveling off island for a 2-day visit to the printer in Waseca, Minnesota. 

I stayed busy during August and September compiling the 7 page Holiday Gift Guide for the November/December 2011 issue which is on stands now. (see attached pages below)

Not only did I compile the products in the Guide, but I photographed about half of them. What I did not photograph, I tracked the images down from merchants, which was no small production. John says I basically acted as photographer and photo editor for the entire guide which was a big help to him.

It was a huge undertaking to get products for the gift guide because I basically had to start from scratch with the stores and vendors. I did not have a single contact. It's been great fun for me to get to explore the island and meet new people. Kind of rejuvenating actually. I mean, I get to shop days on end and not spend any money. In some cases, companies did not have images for me to use and they asked me to shoot products for trade. We have quite the supple of salt and honey.

A behind the scenes look at shooting the book "Surfing Jaws" for the Holiday Gift Guide here in the studio.

At present, along with my other freelance work,  I am also compiling two Great Finds pages for the January/February issue. One on Luxury items and the other for Golf Items. Great Finds is basically a page of "must have" products that I locate around the island. This is also a recurring gig for each issue!

Most of you know that we left our office once a week at best when we worked from home. Now John is on the road to Wailuku most days and I have can be found cruising around the island in search of items to feature in the magazine. While we loved being home all the time, it's fun to get out and see behind the scenes of Maui.

In January I will be getting back to my fashion roots as I will be styling a 6-8 page fashion story for the March/April issue. Booking models, hair, make-up, and pulling all of the clothing to be featured. I can't wait for that project.

Mahalo for bearing with us... and we hope to be posting more now that things are a bit more established with our roles at Maui No Ka 'Oi.

A hui hou.

INK TO PAPER

I was gathering up printed materials for clients over the passed year and decided to post it all as one. After working in the digital ether for most of my days, it's a welcome change when a client comes to me with a print project. Seeing the ink on paper and holding the finished product in our hands lets us experience how our designs fit in the physical world.

I have more print jobs happening at the moment, but hopefully it won't be another year before they see themselves featured in the halls of CFC.

Client: Green Room  
Project: Thank You Cards  
Printer: GreenerPrinter  
Dimensions: 2.5 x 2.5 inches

Client: Reverend Catherine Paretti
Project: Business Card
Printer: PrintingForLess
Dimensions: 2.5 x 3 inches

Client: M. Sutherland Fine Arts, Ltd
Project: Gallery show and opening invite
Printer: PrintingForLess
Dimensions: 5 x 7 inches

Client: Island Endodontics
Project: Log design, stationary and business cards
Printer: GreenerPrinter
Dimensions: 3 x 2.5 inches, 8.5 x 11 inches, #10 envelope

GRAYSCALE

The business card.

I recently had the pleasure and opportunity to work with a former colleague again, Josh Geurtsen,  on his new logo, website and business cards. Josh, a licensed Interior Designer, and I worked together at TODD OLDHAM STUDIO for about 11 years. Although we shared the same office space for several years, we never really got to collaborate much until Todd had his Todd Oldham by La-Z-Boy collection. Josh would work on the actual furniture frames and styles while I myself focused on the textiles and accessories.

In early 2010, Josh and his family bid a fond farewell to NYC and relocated to the San Francisco Bay area. The formation of JOSH GEURTSEN DESIGN in May 2010 marked the beginning of a new phase in his lifelong pursuit of creating and transforming spaces that are unique in character and harmonious with the world around them.

Now that Josh has several of his own design projects completed and several in the works, it was time to put together the website we had been discussing for the past year. In our initial discussions, Josh mentioned he wanted something clean, black, white and gray using the font Futura.

With that in mind, I developed this site with clean, gray blocks of "color" which were to represent steel beams that intersected at certain points. I also wanted it to look somewhat like, but not entirely like a blueprint or plan view of a room. When you look at the galleries, the images sit on a white background with white blocks identifying the name of the section and gallery you are in. It was my intention to make these white blocks look like hallways or corridors that lead you to the next space. It was a great and seamless collaboration that took less than 40 hours to complete on my end. I made a template for Josh to put his images in so that they would all be the same size and would be guaranteed to fit in the site. By doing so it saved time and $$ on the production.  It's always nice to get to collaborate with the client who has a specific vision of what they want to see as with Josh, who created his own collages for the ABOUT and CONNECT pages.

Up next is another gallery site for a good friend and several new logos... stay tuned.

WE GOT MAIL…

We recently got a goodie box FILLED with an assortment of cards from our friend Kate Lydon of SATURATE. Her hand silkscreened cards are small works of art ... in fact the APPLE print she sent us is signed and numbered. Our kitchen is soon the be the proud recipient of that piece along side the scallions and lettuce we already have framed from Kate.

Her clever cards and notebooks are not only beautiful, but clever. I love how she achieves many colors in one card with careful placement of inks in specific areas of just one screen or how she makes vintage florals modern by screening a grid polka dots on top of them. We love them so much, it's kind of hard to part with them... but we do our part and share the them. We find it very important to send proper thank you notes, birthday cards and cheerful hellos rather than a quick e-mail. There really is nothing like a beautiful and thoughtful card waiting for us in our mailbox.

Mahalo for this box of beauty Kate.

Apple Print.

The Lettuce and Scallions already in the kitchen Gallery.

Her clever cards and notebooks are not only beautiful, but clever. I also love how she achieves many colors in one card with careful placement of inks in specific areas of just one screen or how she makes vintage florals modern by screening a grid polka dots on top of them. We love them so much, it's kind of hard to part with them... but we do our part and share the them. We find it very important to send proper thank you notes, birthday cards and cheerful hellos rather than a quick e-mail. There really is nothing like a beautiful and thoughtful card waiting for us in our mailbox. Mahalo for this box of happiness Kate. 

SUPER SAVINGS

The end of December we went shopping to our local SAVERS... sister store to Value Village... which I practically lived in back in Indianapolis. John had a coupon with 12 stamps on it that offered up a 30% discount as well as a coupon for $3.00 off any $10.00 purchase and he suggested we go shopping. I was rather shocked at this suggestion and took the offer to go shopping on December 30th, the day before they expired. Man am I glad we did?! We spent what seemed like hours perusing the shelves and when I came across a David Weidman print I rummaged the store one more time in hopes of uncovering another print or something just as fab. As luck would have it, I did find the Denby plate on that second scouring. We bought a few other things we have not pictured here, and nothing of real interest. John took $10.00 worth of merchandise and used his $3.00 off coupon while I took the "high ticket items" and used the 30% off coupon. I love saving money, but I love saving beautiful pieces of art even more. 

 

 

Not exactly who this piece was made by or when. With the honeycomb texture, matte finish and color we couldn't pass it up at $10 with the discount. If anyone knows anything about this piece I'd love to find out more.

This plate is by Denby and is from the ECHO collection which was produced between 1963 + 1974.
It is listed on replacements.com for $39.99 and we got it for $3.50 with the discount. 

This David Weidman print - Flamingos Feeding - almost sent me over the edge. I knew what it was right away as I had been looking at the prints for sale on the artists website. I had also recently been in contact with his daughter Lenna about shipping pieces to Maui. It was $10.50 with the discount and goes for $250 on Weidman's Art website. As exciting as that was, I almost felt I was stealing it... committing some sort of crime if you will. This frame is not the best choice for the print, but maybe if we take the outer gold part off we might be able to reuse the wood portion. Perhaps a new coat of stain or paint might save it. I also sent images in an e-mail to Lenna the minute I got home... and she was delighted we had found the piece and gave it a loving home.

It is signed and numbered 38/400, but had been mounted with double sided tape that was leaving a nasty discolored mark along the top.

I took the print out of the frame and carefully removed the tape and residue by using a bit of steam and an X-acto knife. Now it's just waiting to be reframed... in something better than what it came in... maybe the old re-worked frame?

We had know about David Weidman for sometime but last summer our friend Parnell sent me a link to an article in the LA times about a resurgence in his work. In fact Urban Outfitters had a few pieces they were selling, so when john was in NY I had him pick up these 2 pillows. David Weidman also has a book of his work out that we hope to be adding to our collection soon.

Where do I begin with this piece? At first we picked it up for the obvious reason... the orange and white frame. We didn't really have a love for the charcoal drawing of the poodles by Richard Priest and were going to get rid of it, but it's growing on us. I love his signature and the frame shop label on the back of the frame.

Then there is this prize. We couldn't pass it up at $1.99 plus the discount. John really wanted it for the packaging, but the caddy really is quite useful.

CUCKOO REVUE 2010

Hand crafted ribbon lettering, coconut crafts, hand knit golf club covers and handmade ribbons for Simple Times, John;s parents enjoying the warm January temperatures and new year plantings.

January started out with John's mom and dad coming for a 7 week visit filled with days fishing, sightseeing, and relaxing while I spent the month making projects for Amy Sedaris' new book "Simple Times - Crafts for Poor People".

Visiting the buddha in Lahaina, in the kitchen making fried cinnamon tortilla strips and homemade pata for lasagna and whale watching in Kapalua.

February we were still entertaining John's parents while his mom cooked almost every day. This was the first time they had seen the Humpback Whales which winter here in Hawai'i.

Swiss chard ravioli, a last dinner on Maui at Sansei, staining concrete, Mom, Nick, Heather and Brandon, Whale wtach and a bamboo birthday hike.

March brought the Giordani's 7 week visit to an end and we had about 2 weeks to recoup and take care of a few home improvements before Conn's family came for a 4 week visit.  Lots of whale sightings and bamboo forest hike for John's birthday.

Touring Haleakala's backside and a stop at Kaupo Store and a wall of waterfalls. Waimea Canyon, Glass Beach, Nick conquering his fear of caves and the Kilauea Lighthouse on the 2 day whistle stop tour of Kaua'i.

We were able to introduce Conn's family to new parts of the island like the back side of Haleakala and we even crammed a 2 day trip to Kaua'i right before they departed Maui.

Ideal Bookshelf book submission, sealing the tiles and tile installation on the office lanai, Kekoa's dad "Big Daddy", and the new kitchen tools.

Mid-April found us putting together the "Ideal Bookshelf" for our book collection that was painted for the Curiosity Shoppe / Jane Mount show. We finally got our office lanai tiled, Kekoa's dad became a regular visitor and we have now become quite close to him. The kitchen faired really well this month with the addition of the long desired KitchenAid mixer and the so hard to find scraper. We were also interviewed and featured on the blog Seeds and Fruit by Kathy Epperson... which led to the design of her new book series - Field Trip.

The view from the office window facing East to Hana. The Java Plum and Christmas Berry trees were getting extremely tall so we cut about 15-20 feet off the tops to reveal what we call Hana Twin Peaks.

May found us tending to the yard and garden area that had suffered for almost a year and a half since we started construction on the new office.

Vanilla ice cream in the making and the new book shelves.

May continued to be full of catching up on home related projects. We finally found some bookshelves and had them shipped from IKEA. Then there was the KitchenAid ice cream maker that needed to be tested. 

Yard work, gardening, concrete staining, wore yard work and the actual painting from Jane Mount for the Ideal Book Shelf project.

June saw the purchase of our new and MUCH need laptops. Our old ones were 7 years old and while they still worked... they were slooooooooooow. More attention to the yard and house this month.

Building a better berm, John visits his family in upstate NY and celebrates his parent's 50th anniversary at the Mohonk Mountain House.

July saw John heading back to NY for his parent's 50th Anniversary as well as visiting old friends in the city.. But before he left we had some landscaping work done, traded in the old... ok not old... the other car for a new gray model that better suits our personalities. Conn's high school friend Jenny and her son Brian, who now lives on Kaua'i, visited on their way to and from Indiana. 

Breaking ground on the shed, nursing a Japanese White Eye after it hit the window, building and planting.

August ushered in the building of the new garden shed from the leftovers of the old garden shed we tore down over a year and a half ago. Conn's obsession with birds is never ending and of course there is always something to plant.

Raising walls and the roof ad finishing touches to the shed, The Hawaiian stilts at Kanaha Pond, Big swells  hitting Ho'okipa Beach.

September we were still working on the new shed. We finally made a visit to Kanaha Ponds to view the wintering birds and the big waves starting showing their faces on the north shore. 

Maui County Fair, a Kapalua hike and Star Noodle Birthday dinner, Guri Guri, fresh coat of paint on the shed, the end of the tent and THE NOBLE CHEF EVENT at the Fairmont Kealani.

October found us at the Maui County Fair and doing a hike in Kapalua on Conn's Birthday finished off with a fantastic dinner at Star Noodle. We finally tried Guri Guri, finished the construction of the shed... with a few bits to add on like shelving and a rain catchment system (which will be detailed in an upcoming post). The Winter winds rolled in and finally helped in dismantling the construction tent. The vent for THE NOBLE CHEF / Maui Culinary Academy that Conn designed all the printed collateral and new logo for took place at the end of October and we were lucky enough to be able to attend and partake in the delicious food from around the islands.

Leonard's Bakery and Diamond HEad on Oahu, Simple Times, John on the "set", charred pine tree in Poli Poli Spring State Recreation Area , international treats and Thanksgiving dinner at Hali'imaile General Store. 

November took us to Oahu for 2 days to do some work with several clients including Leonard's Bakery and more importantly - shopping. Simple Times - Crafts for Poor People hits the stands, John landed a set assisting gig for a Lands End catalog shoot, we got a sweet treat delivery fresh from Paris full of chocolates and sugars from dear Deb and her ohana. Thanksgiving was spent hiking Poli Poli Spring State Recreation Area and going out to eat for the easiest Thanksgiving day dinner ever at Hali'imaile General Store.

Mama's Fish House, The first proof of FILED TRIP, a temporary gate in the attempt to keep out wild pigs, more planting, holiday parties, the new troff to be used as water catchment on the shed, sotting the first whales of the season on the north shore and our bamboo and garland holiday "tree"... the other one did not make it's way out of the box in the garage.

December saw our 10 year anniversary and we celebrated by going to Mama's Fish House. We had wild pigs invading the yard and making a few messes, yard work, parties, whale watching and sad holiday decor.

Conn's Design work for 2010: New Logo for Gurman Container + Supply Corporation, The design of the new book, FILED TRIP, The cover design and hand ribbon lettering for SIMPLE TIMES as well as some very fun crafts inside, A new Logo for a new Floral Wholesaler, New + updated Identity for Melissa Foster Cook of Brilliant Life Design, Art Announcements for Parnell Corder, A CV for hair and make-up stylist Giorgio Baroni, and THE NOBLE CHEF 2010 Logo and printed materials ... just to name a few.

John's Design work for 2010:  The new logo and blog design for hapa | hale, Logo re-work and in-store signage for Leonard's Bakery on Oahu, A new blog design for Grace Supports, Identity for Island Endodontics on Oahu, Logo and Flyer design for an iPhone app called BUCKET LINK, the Website Design for a new Recipe site called Asian Supper and Icons for FIT LIFE a division of Rodale... to name a few.

We somehow managed to keep ourselves very busy with new and continuing clients to whom we are very thankful for their business. MAHALO!

Again, we ate really well and enjoyed the adventure of finding new ways to use the fruit and vegetables from our yard...

...despite being so busy, we always take time to stop and enjoy the tropical flowers...

...Conn obsesses over the birds, especially with the purchase of a new telephoto lens and...

...we introduced you to TUESDAY'S TEXTURE, and we plan on bringing you a new weekly post starting next week.

...we broke for rainbows and...

...we always try to stop and enjoy the vibrant light shows from sunrise to sunset.

Please visit us often in 2011. We will continue to chronicle our adventures and discoveries, food and friends, textures and more. And who know what critters will be showing up here next. That's always fun.

To those of you who visited... we loved hearing from you and hope you enjoyed your visits. 

Mahalo and Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

A hui hou,

c+j