It’s a typical day here in Honolulu, the sort of day that occupies the dreams of the hoi polloi who hail from less than tropical climes the world over:the sky is a punchy, cerulean blue, waves curl ashore on Waikiki’s clay-colored beaches, the temperature oscillates in the eighties, and an ethereal breeze sweeps through the city.For many it’s paradise par excellence, but for some Honoluluans—like the ones with whom I’m meeting today—it’s not quite what they’ve envisioned.
Indeed, Hawaii’s very Hawaiiness is, in some form, an obstacle rather than a blessing for ET/AL, a new design and art magazine based here in Hawaii.I’m sitting at Ala Moana Center with the creative trio behind this magazine—Editor Matthew Honda, Creative Director Annie Nguyen, and Photo Editor Gary Saito—and Hawaii, or rather, “Hawaii,” inevitably comes up in our conversation.
“The tourism industry really doesn’t help [Hawaii’s image] at all,” says Honda.“It’s all like ‘Hawaii is a paradise. Hawaii is leis and surfing.’It’s not like ‘Hawaii is the place where you can see art.’”Saito, too, expresses the same concern: “That’s Hawaii’s selling point:beaches, hula girls, trying to sell this fantasy about this tropical getaway.”
They’re right, in that Hawaii hasn’t yet developed a reputation for its artists and museums, nor has it taken a proactive step to change how it’s viewed by the world at large.
ET/AL, it seems, possesses the wherewithal to change the status quo.The magazine’s inception can be traced back to Nguyen’s desire to establish something that focused primarily on Hawaii’s creative community.“Last October, I wanted to start a scene that’s not a scene.A lot of my friends are all involved in art, and I wanted to do something with art,” recalls Nguyen, who met both Saito and Honda through a design class in the Department of Art & Art History at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.Together, the three have the rapport of old friends, cracking wise and finishing each other’s sentences.Since the beginning, they’ve shared the same collective vision for the magazine.
“So many people are into so many things,” Nguyen asserts.“It’s not just design majors, it’s glass students, painters, illustrators; we wanted to involve everyone, and that’s why it’s called ‘and others.’”
And they aren’t limiting their stories to just art and design per se. “We want to create interesting content too,” Saito says, but adds that “the base of everything is going to be art, design and creativity.”
This becomes evident when Honda explains a recent article idea:“We’re going to do a piece on Spices, a restaurant.”The connection, at first, isn’t apparent until Honda explains the restaurant’s décor, which consists of photographs taken by the owner on his trips to Southeast Asia.“Even though it’s a restaurant, we could still tie it into art and design.”
“I know the owner,” Saito remarks, jokingly.“Best Pad Thai ever.”
Music, too, plays a key part in ET/AL’s modus operandi.In August, they brought down Los Angeles based music producer Nosaj Thing, which, Nguyen tells me, involved a bit of coercion on her part.
“I kind of forced it on these guys,” Nguyen confesses.“I really like [Nosaj Thing’s] music, and I kind of pitched it up.I felt he was in a good place, he’s up and coming, and he still answers his own emails.So first we approached him with an interview, and from there it spiraled into bringing him down here.”
Not limited to simply importing musical acts, ET/AL has its eyes set on artists as well.“We want to focus on artists’ forums, and we really want to do art shows,” Honda enthusiastically states.
“We’re open,” adds Nguyen.“We have friends that live across the United States, and in other countries too that would be interested [in an art show in Hawaii].”
Although art, design and music fall within the purview of their publication, ET/AL is adamantly opposed to being called one thing:a lifestyle publication.
“You could say that everything is lifestyle, but we just want to be more focused towards art and creativity,” Honda says.Nguyen quickly agrees: “That’s our emphasis.”
Soon, if everything falls into place, ET/AL’s bigger than tabloid size magazine will be available in hard copy form, but for now they’re focusing their efforts on capturing an online audience.“We really want to push the Internet, to have that as a basis to reach out,” Honda explains.
Reaching out may be what sets ET/AL apart from other Hawaii-based publications, as its content won’t be confined to the on goings of Honolulu.“I feel like we don’t want to restrict ourselves to just Hawaii,” Nguyen says.“We do like a lot of local artists, but at the same time, we see cool stuff happening in Europe, in New York.There’s so much exciting stuff going on, and it would be cool if it could happen here.”
The subject of Hawaii, inexorably, resurfaces.“It wants to be a metropolis, but it’s not,” laments Nguyen.However, it’s not all gray skies above Honolulu, as evidenced by events like First Friday in Chinatown, organizations like Interisland Terminal, and magazines like Contrast, which are all transforming the city into a more art-centric locale.“I think eventually Hawaii will be more of a mainland type city in a sense,” opines Honda.
Honolulu might not be an art-savvy metropolis just yet, and it might carry its kitschy connotations around for a while, but the tide, it seems, may soon turn in Hawaii.For ET/AL, the sky has never been so blue.
