[ MAUKA MAKAI ]
Trash to
TreasureA woodworking couple
create beautiful pieces
from salvaged wood
As Hawaii staggers drunkenly out of a big-agriculture industrial economy and creeps tentatively into a home-grown, boutique economy, you probably could use Holden Wood Design of Kailua as a model for sustainable business. Not only are the company's original wooden artworks in high demand worldwide, they are perfectly willing to use trash as raw materials.
Not that they need much. Some green waste here, a storm-felled tree there, a stump dragged out of a yard, and pretty soon the Holdens have boxes full of something like 130 different types of wood Hawaii has to offer. Woods like mango, kamani, milo and Norfolk Island Pine, macadamia nut, lemon-gum, robusta eucalyptus, kiawe, silky oak, tropical ash, sugi pine, West Indies mahogany and ... let's not forget koa.
BURL BURLINGAME / BBURLINGAME@STARBULLETIN.COM
Bob and Rita Holden's production line of wooden nene-shaped bowls in their Kailua workshop.
Holden Wood Designs' work will be on display this week at the Hawaii Forest Industry Association's 11th annual Wood Show. Last year, Bob Holden took home a Best of Show title, while wife Rita also won an award.
Their specialty is one-of-a-kind original works that aren't painted or stained. All the colors come from the various types of wood joined together, and sometimes from decorative bits of hammered brass or deer antler.
Originally hailing from the northwest -- where Rita apprenticed as a woodworker with Bob before they were married -- the couple moved to Hawaii in the '80s. Their shop is a homey Quonset hut in a sun-blasted industrial park near the Kailua Quarry, and one of the first things you notice is how squared-away and sawdust-free it is for a busy wood shop.
"That's Rita, she's the organized one," says Bob, grinning.
Rita blushes, ever so slightly. All the clamps are hanging in descending order of size. The current works being roughed out -- nesting nene bowls that are the Holden signature pieces -- are lined up in formation. "OK," she says. "Call me obsessive. But other woodworkers say they like to hang out here!"
The workshop contains only three major power tools; bandsaw, disc sander, drill press, and the artists often use a dentist-drill-like Dremel tool for detail work. Ducted dust collectors snake up into the ceiling. "We actually don't make that much sawdust, not like a furniture shop or something," said Bob. "All of our pieces are relatively small in comparison, and we recycle as much as possible. The dust, for example, isn't thrown away. It makes good garden mulch, particularly since it isn't made out of treated wood."
DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Shown are award-winning carved-wood creations by Bob and Rita Holden.
RECYCLING, BEING in the rhythms of nature, that's the idea. "Most woodworkers in this state will tell you it's all about the love of the wood," explained Rita. "For us, it's also about creating something like a finished hand-carved rose or waterfowl sculpture from raw chunks of salvaged wood. We can't help but be inspired by the beauty found in these island woods. There's no other feeling like it!
"That philosophy ties into HFIA's ongoing theme of promoting a positive role of forestry on our economy and ecology. From our standpoint, that could mean a number of things ... from salvaging wood at the local Green Waste facility to harvesting deadfall caused by island storms. There are endless resources for recycled wood here in Hawaii -- you simply have to be patient, aware and open to the possibilities that await you and the raw materials for a piece will typically fall into place."
DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
These Holden Wood Design poi pounders are carved from various types of Hawaiian hardwoods. Even the leaves on the leis are carved from wood.
She paused, clearly the talker in this team. "Someone once said that we have become the product of a forgotten sense of place. Creating that balance between being able to responsibly control our environment while maintaining a healthy economy is actually a first step toward discovering 'place,' of coming home."
Original mainlanders, the Holdens take care in consulting Hawaiian elders before attempting works such as those addressing their current fascination with aumakua-themed walking sticks helmed with pigs, sharks, octopi, taro and the like. The couple's sense of whimsy is evident in Rita's entries into this year's Wood Show competition. On the mainland, splints for cracked wood are called "butterflies," in Hawaii they're called "fishtails"; Rita's entries are two small calabash bowls, each cracked, one repaired with a Monarch butterfly replicated in dozens of woods and the other repaired with a stitching of tiny ivory fish.
"Everything is precision-joined, it's pretty labor-intensive," said Bob. "We use five or six different glues, with at least two to three dozen types of wood in a piece. Those boxes over there" -- gesturing at dozens of large cardboard containers piled to the ceiling -- "contain all our raw material. There are so many different types of woods in Hawaii, they provide natural coloring for everything."
Nope, no stains if they can help it. The sealers are apt to be a basic paste wax or a mixture of mineral oil and beeswax. "Artificial, petroleum sealers tend to make the wood finish hard and brittle," said Bob. "If it gets dinged, it shatters rather than dents."
DESPITE THE rainbow of woods available, the Holdens do have favorites. "There's a lot more out there than koa," said Bob.
"Mango is pretty, but it's soft and fibrous," said Rita. "My favorite is probably milo. It carves beautifully."
Don't get impatient while curing wood. A freshly cut log should stand on end for a few days to wick out most of the water -- "Like humans, trees are mostly water" -- and then the ends are waxed to seal them. Air curing averages an inch a year. "Wood cracks if it's dried too quickly," said Bob.
Although the Holdens have regular school tours of the facility, and they have a business manager who allows them to spend their work hours out on the shop floor, they don't take on apprentices. "After three weeks, they think they know everything and leave," said Bob. "Not a good experience. We might subcontract finishing and planing."
"Hey!" protested Rita. "I apprenticed to you!"
"And you're still here 30 years later. Must be working out," said Bob, slipping his arm around her waist.
"Hawaii's Woodshow 2003"
Exhibition features furniture, carvings and sculptures by Hawaii's best wood workers, using woods grown locallyWhere: Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center Orchid Court, street level (formerly McInerny)
Time: Noon to 9 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays, and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays through Sept. 21
Admission: Free
Call: 478-2594
Also: Wood veneering workshops will be held 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 17 on Maui (call John Wittenburg in Kahakuloa at 808-244-4917) and the same times Sept. 20 on the Big Island (call Matthew D'Avella in Kailua-Kona at 808-326-5452). The workshop fee is $60.
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