Ho’olōkahi by Piergiorgio (Peter) Barbarich
“The name Ho’olōkahi means to bring about unity; to make peace and unity. I was inspired by King Kamehameha’s conquest and unification of all Hawaiian isles.
Ho’olōkahi is made with kou, a wood favored by the Hawaiian royalty and used to carve canoes, paddles, small boxes, furniture, food vessels and utensils. Kou wood is odorless, lightweight, easy to work with, with beautiful grain, and stable over time. I think of kou as having two personalities: the lighter colored (its sapwood, the younger wood on the outside) and its deeply mysterious one (the dark heartwood in the core). Both sides benefit from a varying amount of chatoyancy, the wood grain light-reflecting effect giving the illusion of a three-dimensional surface which suggest gold in the sapwood and gemstone-like effects in the heartwood. I feel lucky and privileged to be able to work with kou and try to let its beauty and noble heritage come through in my work.
Ho’olōkahi is an abstract piece containing design elements I have used through the years. I like curved lines as I find them evocative and harmonious. The feather-like parts jutting out of Ho’olōkahi’ core are in my mind connecting the feather-cloacked king to the parts of Hawaii that he brought together under one nation.” -Peter
