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 Blue Ginger is a very popular brand of tropical-style resort clothing, created in Hawai‘i and inspired by traditional batik methods. Blue Ginger is also the name of nine charming retail outlets that sell this brand across the Hawaiian Islands. Both the clothing line and the shops are the creations of sisters Jill Mackie and Becky Erickson, who own and run the stores. The sisters opened their first store on Front Street in Lahaina in 1983. Blue Ginger launched with a simple objective of creating comfortable, affordable, quality clothing that would last for generations and make people happy.
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Children’s fairytales have spoken for generations of an “enchanted wood.” As it happens, there actually is such a wood. It’s called koa, and it grows in Hawai‘i. Each September, thousands of art lovers flock to the Hawaii Wood Show (Na La‘au o Hawaii ) on O‘ahu, sponsored by the Hawaii Forest Industry Association. While other endemic, indigenous and introduced Hawaiian woods are also featured, the spotlight inevitably focuses on fine furnishings and spectacular craftworks made of Acacia Koa, an enchanting material known worldwide for its extraordinary variety of grain figuring.
“I think of myself as a re-bloomer, rather than a late one,” says Sandra Blazel. The Oahu-raised artist bloomed the first time as a consultant and data processor during a successful 18-year business career on the Islands. Beginning in 1991, she bloomed a second time as an award-winning professional painter.
