Gifts, ideas and hints

We start Nowemapa by bringing in the holidays with gift ideas and a whole new SHOP page.  The ReallyHawaiian.com huli (group) selected our favorite gift ideas from our November edition and made it easy to buy directly from the manufacturer.  In 2010 we will be revamping this page to build out a robust shopping area with categories and a built in shopping cart from ReallyHawaiian.com. Our #1 goal is to help companies with made in Hawaii products and services find an audience interested in authentic items from the Hawaiian islands.  To learn more about ReallyHawaiian.com and our mission statement click here.

Back to this months edition – which by the way is #5.  We have maintained our existence and continued to grow over the past 5 months with determination, appreciation and a true fascination with everything really made in Hawaii.

Time again for the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival.  Hawaii’s oldest Food Festival.  In 1987, coffee industry leaders conducted the first blind tasting to judge Kona coffee. This is serious stuff.  The winner of the 2009 Kona Coffee Cupping Competition will be announced.  We’ll be there!

As the holidays approach our pocket books may not be as full as we have remembered in the past.  So please consider these facts.  All the items on this website are made in Hawaii, so there’s “Aloha” in every purchase, cost: priceless.  There’s nothing overpriced.  The design and quality is superb, often hand sewn.  And, until now most everything here was practically impossible to have known about unless you live here and attend the many fairs and events throughout the Hawaiian Islands.  That makes this site a source for truly memorable gifts.

Sales job over.  Now on to brag a little about our Nowemapa product line up.  A few highlights.  We start with Boottopia – from the Made in Hawaii Festival.  The guy “Boots” wasn’t around when we stopped by and it’s taken us a little while to uncover what’s behind the brand.  Is this guy a really good artist who’s most known for his paintings or a lounge artist who designs hip t-shirts?  His website really says it all  and in order to appreciate the fullness of Boots and his Boottopia design thinking you have to spend a little time. Well worth it…   Then there’s Hawaii Art which is a pretty interesting find, again from the Made in Hawaii festival.  Excellent source for viewing works by various artists in Hawaii.  Hawaii Art will even connect you with the artist and help facilitate the deal.  You can buy directly from the site.  Nicely done…  Paint the Town is  over the top in creativity with hand painted wood ware.  Available only by calling Fran, the artist.  When we launch our Shop area in 2010 we’ll be able to make all of Fran’s remarkable products available online.  Unless the manufacturer or designer has a website and e-commerce, we recognize a huge gap that exists in distribution for the small business owner in Hawaii.  We’re working on it!   Another favorite is believe it or not are the light switch holders from Sunset Beach Traders. They are all hand painted, by different local artists and found in almost every home in Hawaii.  Hey, they make great gifts and the site is ultra easy to order from.   Last but not least – and an item we consider one of the BEST – polo shirts from Na Makua.  A must have for guys. We have given two of these as gifts in the past year – huge mahalos from our friends.  These unique shirts are Designed by father and son team inspirted by their Hawaiian ancestors.  Superbly made…   There were two big canoe races last month that we’re highlighting this month.  The men’s Mokakai to Oahu “Molokai’i Hoe” and the womens “Na Wahine O Ke kai.”  These are the Ironman events of paddling, worldwide.

Ok, that’s enough for now – we trust you’ll wander around and click on new stuff.  Especially the new SHOP page  ;-)  Your click on this page tells us we’re moving in the right direction.

Mahalos from ReallyHawaiian.com
Drive safely out there, tourist season in back.