Sunrise Print Story
We 🟠 polka dots and also sunrises.
practice makes perfect?
Sunrise
An artist is asked to create an ink drawing of a fish for a patron. No problem, he says. But everytime the patron checks the drawing is not finished. After many months and many visits the patron gets angry and demands his fish. The artist paints it in one broad stroke. The patron asks "what took you so long?" The artist says "follow me" and opens up his back store room which is full of paintings of fish, none of the artist felt was perfect.
(someone please tell us where this story comes from)
inspiration
Sunrise captures a little bit of that sun energy to warm us up. Our new sunrise print was inspired by mid century graphic panels and a faded memory of wallpaper at the founder’s grandmother’s house.
Some prints take years to resolve. This one took approximately thirty seconds. Once the scale was determined the repeat came together very quickly. We would like to think it was the result of years of hard work but more likely it was dumb luck.
sunrise
our process
Our prints are concept driven and development may span several years. We build hardworking repeats and take no design shortcuts. We love prints and print history and embrace a research heavy, somewhat academic process.
in the wild
all our prints
mango
rainbow
sunrise
1961
disco
westbeth
and now...
some history
why are the prints so big?
Large scale prints are integral to muʻumuʻu and all aloha wear. How did this happen? There are a lot of apocryphal origin stories. One we particularly like is that Wong’s Drapery Shoppe helped create the aloha shirt for college bound Hawaiians going to the mainland. The students needed something both warm and that felt Hawaiian. Wong’s initially used thick Japanese upholstery fabric for the warmth so the large print scale became locked in as “Hawaiian.”
These prints represent the multicultural history of Hawaiʻi. They may refer to Japanese Kimono fabrics, European chintz florals, Indian paisleys, Indonesian batiks, and traditional kapa patterns. They may be designed “authentically” by a native Hawaiian, a kamaʻāina (a local), or a transplant to the islands. The authenticity comes from the knowledge, sense, and respect of place.
Elsie Das
In the 1930s and 40s there was a concerted effort to create the modern Hawaiian print using local themes. This has been much lauded in Alfred Shaheen’s work. Also consider Elsie Das. Elsie Das was an American of Danish descent who went to art school in California. In 1950, the Honolulu Advertiser wrote “Elsie Das can lay close claim to being the originator of the aloha print.”
Her approach to print shows a sophistication and a worldliness at odds with the stereotypes about “isolated” Hawaiʻi. Compare her ulu print with the great 20th century print designer Josef Frank. The similarities indicate a deep understanding of print design and trends at the time.
Left: Elsie Das “Breadfruit,” Right: Josef Frank “Hawaii”
For more read: The Aloha Shirt: Spirit of the Islands, Dale Hope and Elsie Jensen Das, Peter Young.