pacific weddings photo contest

for the past decade, pacific weddings (formerly pacific rim weddings) has been the bible for stylish island brides. the maui-based glossie has been busy this past year with a title refresh to better reflect the magazine's coverage of nuptial bashes from hawaii to the west coast, the launch of a digital edition so brides can virtually flip through the archives to collect even more inspired ideas, and preparation for the publication's ten year anniversary.

if, like me, you have daydreamed about your wedding being featured in the pages of pw, you are in luck since the editors recently announced a photo contest to celebrate the upcoming anniversary issue. hele over to pw's love notes blog for all the details since the sep 25th deadline is fast approaching.

goodwill hunting

the anthropology of modern adornment may sound like a curious class offering from the pages of a college catalog but just happens to be one of the inspirations behind meesah, honolulu designer melisa medalle's recently launched collection of forgotten and unloved castoffs transformed into "new" original designs.

living green is nothing new to the former ad exec who credits her bay area childhood for laying the foundation of her 24/7 sustainable lifestyle. years later, a visit home became the inspiration for taking melisa's on & off jewelry making hobby full-time after admiring a friend's recent acquisition of random jewelry goodness scored at a flea market. the proverbial light bulb (cfl, natch) moment followed, and upon returning to the islands melisa began scouting thrift shops and other sources for jewelry to deconstruct.

nani aho

lavern

meesah soon followed featuring one-of-a-kind designs composed with a mix of vintage, found and rescued findings. the idea is to close the loop (reduce - reuse - recycle) by remaking jewelry into more "earth friendly adornment". there are currently three collections - nani aho transforms repurposed fishing line from its utilitarian roots into unisex style while vintage lucite and recycled gemstones, beads and other bits have been reincarnated to create lavern and ligaia.

to keep meesah's carbon footprint small, packaging is kept to a minimum and made of 100% recycled material printed with plant-based inks. and, while melisa is working with neighborhood boutiques like chinatown's into to keep the collection local, a handful of limited edition pieces will be stocked exclusively in the online shop for far away fans.

p.s. click over to the official website to learn how you can win a meesah design!

{photo credit: patricia hom}

weekly sales sheet

save 20% off all mitchell gold + bob williams custom upholstery orders from seating to sleeping at pacific home.

• when: now to mon, oct 13th
• where: 420 ward avenue

kicks/hi x storewide sale = savings galore! save 30% on regular priced goods & 50 to 80% off select merchandise during the end of summer sale.

• when: now to sun, sep 14th
• where: kicks/hi - ward + makaloa

the wedding café is currently expanding its ward outpost and paring down its inventory during construction. save 50% off all clothing & 20% off storewide (including the handy dandy luxe link).

• when: now to wed, sep 17th
• where: twc - ward warehouse

Click to read more ...

dirty laundry

time to get back to all the goodness that got pushed to the backburner while i waited out jury duty. what ended up being a non-event became such a distraction that i completely spaced out and forgot to post about the dirty laundry exhibit that opened at the nu'uanu gallery last weekend.

artists, illustrators & designers from hawaii to the mainland were invited to explore how one person's dirty shirt is another person's form of expression while connecting the dots to how modern day society needs to rethink the way we casually toss away something that is labeled imperfect.

an important conversation when you consider far too many of us scoop up fast fashion deals without considering the consequences of our purchase on the environment and the abysmal working conditions for the people at the factories that churn out so much of the clothes hanging in our collective closets (on that note, china blue is a must watch for every budget fashionista with a conscience).

in its own way, the value of a stain is how it tells the story of your journey so, with a t-shirt as their canvas, each artist used a mix of mediums from red dirt to popsicle juice to create designs ranging from the conceptual to complete serendipity.

labour

roanne adams

alan konish

your best bet to check out all the designs is at this weekend's t-party which will feature even more limited edition artist designed tees to benefit the boys & girls club of hawaii.

• t-party: sat, sep 13th - 10a to 3p
• where: 1161 nu'uanu avenue (at marks garage)
• show dates: now to sat, sep 20th

click over to the official dirty laundry flickr page for a peek behind the scenes!

{mahalo jesse & mariko!}

stationery agent

jury duty calls this week which is one explanation why i have been feeling very much like this little tortoise as of late.

be back once my civic duty has been checked off the to do list!