Chair Recaning Specialist on Island Now!

Mary's chair recaning specialist is currently on Oahu taking projects. She only comes to Hawaii once or twice a year, so this is your window of opportunity if you've got any chair that needs recaning. She will be working here through the 31st of October. Call us at Place 275-3075 and we will give you her contact information. Feel free to pass this along. Chair recaning is one of those very hard to find resources!

Place Updates & Mary's Secret Chinatown Part I

We've been away from the blog for awhile, our only excuse is that we've had many exciting developments here at Place.

We have been busy building a great showroom team. Come in and meet us! Our team: boutique director Kirsten Merrill (me); the fabulous Reika McCracken, who hails from San Francisco with a degree in Interior Design, and boutique experience from the big city; the beautiful Vaima Philpotts, with the strength of four men and the accent of a French movie star, originally from Tahiti; the tiny, mighty and lovely Kristin Meehan, who is Mary's right-hand woman, and is sometimes, to our great delight, accompanied by her adorable assistant Sophia; and lastly, special guest appearances by Kelly McMahon, who radiates sunshine and is everybody's favorite smiling face. We've had containers arrive from Bali and India, and a new furniture showroom is in progress, with construction underway.

And now we are back to the blog! Mary Philpotts McGrath, the heart, soul and creative genius that is "PLACE" has been the constant, and for the past year while we have been quiet on the blog front she has been traveling to far off destinations (India! Bali! Thailand!), hunting down amazing pieces for the store: furniture, jewelry, exotic textiles, the tunics we are known for and more (but all that is for another blog entry altogether...).

In addition to those far off places, Mary has secret spots all over the islands that she runs away to every so often when the mood strikes her. One of her favorite haunts is in our own backyard, Honolulu's unique Chinatown, home to world renowned crazy First Fridays, both established and up-and-coming art galleries, buzzed-about restaurants, hip bars, quirky shops, and cultural spots known only to locals & inside-insiders.

On a recent afternoon she took me to lunch at Little Village in the heart of Chinatown along with her eldest son McD (craftsman, woodworker and furniture designer extraordinaire, yes, creativity and talent runs deep in the family!) and friends Ed, Susie, and Sarah. Afterwards she was ready to give us a tour of her "secret Chinatown" and disclose a few of her sources.  My favorite reveal?

1017 Maunakea St # A  Honolulu, HI 96817

Lin's Lei Shop, because there she shared her simple yet brilliant trick for having a fresh  gardenia on the nightstand all week long without making daily stops at the florist.

A very worthy investment, $3.50 never smelled so good!

Mary treated each of us to a bunch of gardenias, along with her tip. Handing out the flowers, she instructed us to take them home and select the most open blossom in the bunch to put in a vase on the nightstand, and to put the rest of them in a glass jar with water and stick them in the refrigerator. She said, "Just switch out a fresh gardenia from the jar in the fridge when the one in the vase starts to look sad."

I did, and now have a new weekly ritual. My bedroom smells like gardenias all the time. We haven't tried this with other types of flowers yet, but it will probably work with most.



My gardenias mid-week looking like they just came from the florist's

Come by the store and meet the new faces, see the treasures from Mary's travels and pick up a vase for your gardenias now that you know Mary's trick!

 

Gorgeous glass vases available at Place starting at $13

Stay tuned for additional installments of "Mary's Secret Chinatown" and other fun tales.

See you soon!

Where is Paula Rath?

Paula at Chic in City

Fashion and fitness writer Paula Rath ruled with her articles in the now defunct Honolulu Advertiser for 15 years, covering every style story in Hawaii and making a name for herself in the business. But when the venerable newspaper folded, she was not picked up by the competing Honolulu Star-Bulletin (now Honolulu Star-Advertiser). Left in the cold were many avid followers wondering what would be next for her.

That was in June 2010. Paula considered taking time out to “cool it and figure out what came next,” but her husband, retired orthopedic surgeon Jerry Mayfield, merely laughed.
Used to a lively pace, within a week she was crawling up the walls.

Like so many of the newly retired, she considered writing a memoir for her son. “I wanted the freedom of working for myself and being there for Jerry,’ says Paula. But never one to sit still, Paula began planning a new direction. She started a blog. She had it designed by a professional, went out and found advertisers, and picked up where she left off. You can follow her at www.paularath.com.

We have always loved Paula at PLACE for her enthusiasm and support. She is always at the forefront of style trends and has been consistently supportive.

Paula was nervous about blogging about her travels with Jerry, thinking that her followers only wanted to hear about fashion. She soon realized that she was reporting not just on what fashionable people wore, but where they traveled, what their homes looked like and where they ate. It opened up a new world.

Her own career is pretty glamorous in itself, starting with a gig at CBS News in Hong Kong during the Vietnam War, followed by a newspaper in Botswana and magazine in Nigeria. She even once lived on a small Greek Island before it was discovered and overrun by tourists.

When her son left home for school 15 years ago, she suffered such separation anxiety she knew she had to get to work. This led to a series of jobs in public relations and advertising, and even a stint on local television.

She finally landed as a student in the fashion program at Honolulu Community College, learning everything about fashion from the inside out – draping, tailoring, grading, sketching and pattern creation. Upon graduation, while still keeping her PR day job, she opened her own fashion house in Kakaako making one-of-a-kind creations.

This eventually led to the job at the Honolulu Advertiser. She encourages young people today to learn the basics before they try to launch their own careers.

But fashion is her passion (shared today by painting). When asked about fashion trends, Paula says that while she follows them, she rarely adapts them in their entirety for herself. Each season she will select only one or two that suit her own look and body type.

“Long skirts are back. I think leggings under a short dress are timeless, and tunics will definitely continue.”



We have devoted an entire room to tunics at PLACE



As far as color, cobalt and royal blue are very happening. She loves the shibori-based prints that have replaced some of the Indian block patterns in popularity.

Cobalt and royal blue are very happening

  “It’s about layering in texture. It makes your clothes versatile and it’s been around for several seasons. Layering adds interest and doesn’t necessarily have to ad heat.”

Slim legged pants and jeans work for most body types, she thinks. Even for older fashionistas.



Paula says that lightweight scarves are very big right now, but is sad they’ve never really caught on in Hawaii.

Scarves may not have caught on all over Hawaii,
but we LOVE them and stock them at PLACE

She adds that there is a direction connection between wearable fashion and home accessories. “The colors and textures follow each other,” she says, noting that it all starts in the fabric mills where colors and textures for bedding, pillows and sofas begin at least a year in advance of anything hitting the stores.

Her new fashion jewelry favorites? Watch for the chunky, bold, gold-toned jewelry of Jose and Maria Barrera. You can also catch her writing on the Neiman Marcus blog, www.neimanmarcus.com.



Say yes to chunky bold gold-toned jewelry
like these Sandy Simonian bangles
featured at PLACE

We salute you, Paula!

Platewise - A New Green Alternative!

"Eco-chic, eco-nomical and eco-logical."

All of us at Place are excited to offer you a new, revolutionary dinnerware option - Platewise! From company Front of the House, Platewise plates, bowls, glasses and other servewares are constructed from natural bamboo fibers and are free of melamine, a harmful toxin found in many generic dinnerware products. Stylish, lightweight and durable, Platewise products look great while keeping a sustainable conscience - everything is biodegradable and will decompose once placed in a landfill!

"[Platewise products] are ideal for high volume, low-maintenance purchasers or for those who simply want to add a fresh, sophisticated yet natural element to plating."

Perfect for new families to avoid the potential danger of glass dinnerware,

weddings, parties, or your own home!

Platewise dinnerware products are available for $9.00 - $30.00 at the Place showroom.

Credit to HotelInteractive.com for the review quotations.

Jade!

Featuring the intricate, handcrafted

artistry of San Francisco's Eva Dang.

New earring designs made with ancient jade, mixed with pearls, sapphires and carnelian.

Come in today to see these little treasures bridging East and West!

Turban Time!

Slightly delayed, yet as promised, we've rounded up our team to be styled in Moroccan turbans by Mākena.  You can vote for only one to get the 100 camels!



Here's Mākena, the turban stylist and summer recruit for freight management.




Her best friend, Danielle, is home for the summer, from Boston Univeristy, and managing the incoming boxes and crates from exotic places.

 



Kirsten Merrill is now managing the store and providing Interior Design expertise to customers.




Cheryl Mikel, who you all know by now, has disguised her cheerful self with a lovely scarf from PLACE.





Eliza has just joined us and she brings many "skills and disciplines" to the team, given her accounting and Law background.





Michelle, our accountant, is the most mysterious and normally not on the showroom scene.



Sea Dreams

Mary Philpotts McGrath of Ka'ea Studios creating "Sea Dreams" series at Linekona

George Woollard of Ka'ea Studios at Linekona preparing ink for the "Sea Dreams" series

Artists Mary Philpotts McGrath and George Woollard of Ka’ea Studios are hard at work on 10 large panels of original prints to be installed in the new Aulani resort where Disney is creating a spectacular spa. The work is called “Sea Dreams,” for a lovely song written by Mary’s mother, Muriel Flanders, back in the 1920s. To Mary, the song tells of the fresh water springs in the pools at Lanikuhonua, the fabled cove close to the resort.

Prints by Mary and George are available at PLACE. Check them out online at

http://www.placehawaii.com/

Thanks, Edd, for the fun photos!
Aloha, Mary