Made-in-Hawaii
market advances

The Kakaako site would
showcase island art
and culture

More than 36 waterfront acres along Oahu's main tourist route from the airport to Waikiki are being targeted as the future site of a massive year-round market showcasing Hawaii's unique art and culture.

A state agency already has big plans for the Kakaako waterfront, now home to city garbage trucks, the busy Kewalo Basin boat harbor and a restaurant.

Now the Legislature is pushing to require 10 acres of the prime state-owned land be set aside for a permanent "cultural public market."

Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland, one of the sponsors of a bill now moving through the House, envisions a place where Hawaii can showcase its products and people can learn to create the crafts on display. Chun Oakland said she was inspired by the annual Made in Hawaii festival, which features all kinds of crafts and local products, from Hawaiian clothing to ceramics to koa wood creations.

"It's just a wonderful, wonderful experience," said Chun Oakland (D, Kalihi-Liliha).

There appears to be no lack of skilled artisans in the islands.

Kula Market Place, which sells Hawaii arts as well as local foods and gourmet items from abroad, recently opened in a rural section of Maui.

"We're pretty full right now, and we have vendors coming out of the woodwork," said Judy Habersetzer, a saleswoman at the nearly 3-month-old shop, which she says benefits from both local and tourist traffic.

There is surely room for the state to promote locally made handcrafts, said Aaron Hammer, president of the Pacific Handcrafters Guild -- which puts on four craft festivals each year and participates in the Made in Hawaii festival. A place that focuses on traditional crafts along the Kakaako waterfront could also be a nice complement to the high-tech research planned for the University of Hawaii's new John A. Burns School of Medicine campus nearby, he said.

"At the same time, I think that investing in our history and culture of craft and art is also good for our future," said Hammer, a woodworker.

In its request for proposals from private developers sent out in January, the Hawaii Community Development Authority specified that it would like to create a gathering place on the Kakaako waterfront that "reflects Hawaiian culture and values."

While it suggests a farmers' market as a possibility, it does not require one. That approach is intentional but should not be interpreted to mean that the state would welcome an anonymous-looking hotel complex, said Dan Dinell, executive director of the authority.

"We're being directional and not prescriptive to developers," Dinell said.

Among the models for the market are the popular, 9-acre Pike Place Market in Seattle as well as the marketplace, theaters and galleries of Granville Island in Vancouver, Canada.

But Honolulu's version must be distinctly Hawaiian, Dinell said.

Rep. Felipe P. "Jun" Abinsay (D, Kalihi-Kapalama) used the same mainland examples as Dinell when outlining his aspirations for the area. Five years ago, Abinsay was behind a bill to put a farmers' market in the area; it passed but never came to fruition. Abinsay said his bill, however, was not as specific as the current measure about what it required.

The key is doing it right, said Maile Meyer, a member of the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association board.

It is unlikely that visitors or locals want to see another market that touts itself as Hawaiian but sells foreign-made souvenirs, Meyer said.

Hawaii, and Hawaiians, are more conscious then ever about the island chain's cultural identity, said Meyer, who also owns Native Books Na Mea Hawaii, a shop that sells Hawaii-made goods in the Ward Warehouse across from the proposed site.

"If we don't get it right now, then shame on us," she said.