Little houses,
giant dreams

At 10 by 10 inches square, even Barbie couldn't stretch out in these homes, but the miniature abodes created for an "Open House" competition are packed with dreams for University of Hawaii and Chaminade University fine art, architecture and interior design students who took up the challenge.

Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties sponsored the contest and supplied the miniature homes as a blank canvas for the students to embellish in keeping with the theme "Hawaiian Homes, Hawaiian Lifestyles." Entries for the inaugural contest were showcased at the annual American Society of Interior Designers Banquet last Saturday at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, giving the designers-in-waiting a chance to hobnob with the pros. Liz Teruya of Next Design, LLC, and a coordinator for the banquet said, "The ASID was thrilled to have the students participate in this way."

Deborah Lowry, a director of the interior design program at Chaminade, credits Coldwell Banker managing director Herb Conley for conceptualizing the contest in support of Hawaii's emerging talents, and as a way to grace their new offices at 1314 S. King St.

We offer a few here for viewing; and please remove your shoes before entering.

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Kristi Ramia Chaminade University When Ramia set out to design her home, she said her goal was a subtle interpretation of a Hawaiian Lifestyle theme. "I tried to keep it really simple." Simple, however, doesn't mean easy. "The parquetry floor was the hardest and took the most time," she said. Made of koa wood inlaid in maple, all the pieces were hand-cut, and the floor took five hours to complete -- "in between finals, work and school." Ramia's imaginary clients are "probably quite wealthy," she said. (One would have to be to afford this type of floor treatment.) If the designer had more time, she would have added a wraparound deck and included figures representing the homeowners.

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Isla Schmidt Chaminade University Schmidt concentrated on the home's exterior, complete with French doors and board-and-batten siding. The siding "is old-Hawaii style," said Schmidt, who, from the East Coast, had never seen anything like it there. She spent a few all-nighters cutting, pasting and putting it all together; the siding alone took 10 hours to complete between studying for finals.

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Genesis Matsumoto Chaminade University Creating a breezy, open feel was the aim for Matsumoto, who used beach-house touches and organic shapes to convey a Hawaiian sense of place in her home, a project that took two weeks to complete -- "with a couple of nights of no sleep." The most challenging task was installing the windows. "I had to use a jigsaw (to cut the glass), and it was hard to make the cuts," which involved curves and steep angles. Matsumoto focused on creating her ideal home, and "money was no object, which isn't the case much of the time in the real world." Matsumoto wanted to "get away from the stereotypical Hawaii," which shows below in the tripod base table lamp and mod lampshade. "But I still kept organic shapes in mind," she said, which explains the bit of driftwood on a windowsill. Also, said Matsumoto, "If you look from the top, the sofa and chairs are curved, resembling fish."

Winners

Winners of the "Open House" art exhibit sponsored by Coldwell Banker to support students in the arts received $1000 scholarship for first place and $500 for second place.

First Place
» Julie Wooddell Laymon, University of Hawaii
» Genesis Matsumoto, Chaminade University

Second Place
» Malia Wong, Chaminade University
» Kristi Ramia, Chaminade University
» Sayo Granich-Lee, University of Hawaii

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Kristi Ramia's home with parquetry-floor received second place honors.

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Erica Kettles said her plumeria and torquoise tone exterior is representati ve of her "bubbly" nature. "The colors are calm and soothing." She used a stencils to create some of the curly patterns on the exterior.

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Malia Wong of Chaminade University took home a second-place ribbon with her "Chinese Dragon"-themed home.