With a focus on "green" design products, designers Greg and Terri Lee have formed 1st Look Exteriors to showcase their creative endeavors using recycled copper, glass, and organic plant material in various artistic mediums.
    
Formed in 2002, 1st Look Exteriors has introduced a wide collection of lighting, water features, lighting accents, and garden furniture for home exteriors in addition to their wonderful tropical photographic and print images. Walking into the Waipahu store feels like into a creative studio where furniture from various vendors, as well as the Lees' personal creations, are placed in charming scenes, creating outdoor settings that visitors can easily imagine at their own homes.
    
One of the couple's most recent creations is called Copper Stemmed. Designed by Terri, an award-winning landscape designer who specializes in tropical and native Hawaiian plants, these handmade pieces are created by taking live native and tropical plants and encasing them in copper. They can be formed into garden ornaments, jewelry, or miniature sculptures. Each art piece comes with a description of its usage in Hawaiian culture and history.
    
Each flora piece is finished by using a true patina reaction, which adds another layer of dimension to the art, and then sealed with a coating to stop the patina process. This ensures that its color will not continue to change over time. The product has received the Hawaii Seal of Quality as a Genuine Product of Hawaii.
    
Some of the plants in the Copper Stemmed collection include the hapu, ohia, lauae fern, and most recently the bird of paradise. Only recycled copper and organic plant material is used in the creation of these items.
    
The designer's artistic flair, as well as her eco-sensitivity, guided her to create this one-of-a-kind process that delicately brings the beauty of nature into the home as preserved keepsakes. Inspired by her love for nature, Terri says, "I wanted to create a way to perpetuate, educate and preserve the unique plants found in Hawai'i."

1st Look Exteriors
808/ 676. 8988
www.1stlookexteriors.com