Stacey Emi Shiroma’s Emi Ink booth celebrated Shiroma’s love for paper and the Japanese art of papermaking. Shiroma enjoys visiting her favorite places in Japan, where she enjoys taking in nature and buys and makes paper from scratch. You can see her selection of beautiful paper products at emiink.com. (Photos by Wayne Shinbara)Philip and Mieko Markwart of One by One Enterprises are familiar faces at craft fairs all over town. Philip and Mieko are both fiber and ceramic artists. Every year, they come up with creative and whimsical T-shirt and dishtowel designs centered on the coming year’s zodiac animal. Notice Philip’s “Rat Crackers” T-shirt to celebrate 2020, the Year of the Rat.Richard and Avis Mortemore and daughter Marie Inouye flew in from Hilo to show and sell Richard’s Hawaiian wildlife paintings, which he markets under the name, Laupahoehoe Graphics. Among their products is a 2020 Hawaiian Wildlife desktop calendar packaged in a CD case. The calendar includes information on native birds and other wildlife found in Hawai‘i.Roy Tsumoto and his wife Joan were showing shoppers Roy’s selection of handcrafted wood products. According to his website, Tsumoto grew up around woodcrafting because his parents owned Monkeypod Center in Kapälama back in the day. Tsumoto started making jewelry boxes and desk accessories in 1983 while working as a teacher. Now that he is retired, he has more time to devote to his woodworking.Recently retired Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i president Carole Hayashino discovered Mike Kim’s Ni‘au brooms and bamboo walking sticks. Ni‘au is the hard center spine of the coconut palm frond. Kim wraps it around a bamboo shaft to fashion a tough, long-lasting broom.Les and Penny Kiyabu of Downtown General Store are regulars at many craft fairs, selling their colorful and whimsical T-shirt designs and flour sack towels that are hand-screened. The Kiyabus also sell their products at several retail locations, which are listed on their website, downtowngeneralstore.com.
