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New York Life has
been working in
islands for 125 years

THE Hawaii general office of New York Life Insurance Co. marked 125 years of doing business in the islands over the weekend.

The office is one of the company's oldest continually operating offices, according to New York-based Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sy Sternberg.

About 112 people attended the party at the Garden Lanai of the Ala Moana Hotel on Saturday.

"We had a full house," said managing partner Sandra Ngo.

And the plan for the future?

"We will be having another 125 years," she chuckled.

"The theme of our meeting was 'breakthrough,' so we expect more business and the office is expanding. We push for breakthrough thinking and everybody is very positive."

The company projects 25 percent growth for the year, meaning as many as 20 new agents will be hired.

Its first office was established in 1879 at Merchant and Fort streets and in the years since, the company has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits, according to a congratulatory letter from Gov. Linda Lingle, issued Dec. 15.

The 14,000 square feet of New York Life's current Honolulu offices, at 841 Bishop St., are undergoing renovations that should be pau by the beginning of March, Ngo said.

Floored in Hawaii

A rug belonging to Clair and Gayle Craine Robideaux of Maui is among the subjects featured in the latest issue of Fabulous Floors magazine. The magazine is designed for readers who are in the process of, or who will be building or remodeling a home.

The Hawaii feature might not have happened, had Mrs. Robideaux not clipped a picture of another rug from another magazine. Left without the magazine title or date to go on, she tracked the designer of the rug by locating and contacting the photographer, whose name was still intact on the magazine photo.

The rug designer was Sonna Calandrino, now publisher of the year-old quarterly.

The Robideauxs' Calandrino-designed artichoke rug made of New Zealand wool.

An inset in the rug is made of 160,000 embroidered stitches telling the story of the prickly delicacy. It is shown on the cypress wood floor in their home in Keokea, Maui.

The story of the Robideauxs and their rug, "Their piece of paradise in the clouds," is bylined by Richard Howland, vice president and managing editor.

The story represents the first time the magazine has featured Hawaii in its pages, Howland said.

The $4.95 magazine is distributed internationally and can be found in Hawaii at Borders Books Music & Cafe and Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse.

Flooring was typically viewed as an architectural element, Howland said, but "then what happened over time is (people realized) flooring is really the final frontier of design."

Flooring can account for 30 percent of redecorating costs, he said.