Left Bliss Lau, jewelry designer and right, Lynne O’Neill, fashion show wizard Ever since I met Lynne Hanzawa O’Neill, whose roots are in Honolulu but whose heart is in New York, I have wanted her to meet Bliss Lau, a Honolulu girl who has been living and designing in NYC since she graduated from Parsons
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My husband, Jerry Mayfield, is a consummate sketcher. He always travels with a sketchbook, even when he is going to Chinatown in Honolulu. He often captures a moment to be remembered or simply a facial expression or body language that speaks to him. For the past six months or so, he has had difficulty turning
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It was Jerry’s birthday and he had the entire day to do anything he wanted in NYC. Jose Barrera had told him about a plein aire painting outing with the Salmagundi Club, the nation’s oldest art club. He couldn’t resist. He has been blocked by the terror of the white paper for several months and
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One of my favorite sales of the year is the Take Five sale put on by five fabulous artisans: Cora Yee, Kim Messier, Sweet Charlotte, Candice Wakumoto and Lynda Sakraida of Hadji Baba Bags. Cora creates wonderful, whimsical, often magical necklaces and earrings from her cache of exotic ethnic beads and baubles. Kim Messier is
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It amazes me how few people know about – and have visited – the Noguchi Garden Museum. It’s really not far away from Manhattan. It’s a train ride and a fifteen-minute walk from the heart of the city, located in Long Island City, Queen’s.  It is so worth the 45 minutes or so it takes
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Our day in the Garment District began with a visit to the atelier of Jose and Maria Barrera and their daughter Larisa. It’s located near 7th Avenue, the hub of the district. They are a small family business of jewelry design that is sold in specialty boutiques and at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. In
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This guy may look like a cool, casual, laid back hipster but beneath this calm exterior is a dynamite entrepreneur. I met Paul Stewart-Stand at the Guggenheim Museum and we ducked into the vestibule of a church with gorgeous stained glass windows  for our meeting while it thundered and poured outside.  I wanted to meet
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This is one of the views from the roof at 200 Water Street, where Kanoe Lum and Ben Williams (soon to be Kanoe and Ben Williams) live – and where we are taking care of their little dog, Nori. Spectacular, isn’t it? I had my first opportunity to do a little shopping today, at Henri
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The second half mile of the High Line just opened on June 9, so it was a delightful experience to walk the entire mile on  a beautiful NYC day, free of wind, rain, snow or extreme heat. What a fabulous addition to the city! It is a wide open space with beautiful plantings that represent
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So often those of us who work in Honolulu get to “know” people from NYC by e-mail and phone or, in my case, by press release. And sometimes we think how nice it would be to put a face to that name and voice. That’s how I felt about Christy Meisner of Alison Brod Public
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