BY TIMOTHY A. SCHULER

A lei by PBR HAWAII references the island’s dark colonial past. Courtesy PBR HAWAII.

As the receptionist for the Honolulu office of Belt Collins, Dawn Higa is not typically involved in design discussions. Her tasks, while vital to the day-to-day operations of the global design firm, tend toward the administrative: answering phones, directing calls, taking messages. It’s a job Higa’s held since 1987, when as a single mother she was placed at the company, which today has offices in multiple countries, including China, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, by a temp agency. “I don’t think I even knew what an engineer did for the first year,” Higa says.

But once every two years, Higa becomes an integral part of the team competing in Honolulu’s biennial RE-LEI competition, in which individuals and teams craft traditional Hawaiian lei—a garland typically made out of flowers, ferns, leaves, or nuts—out of 100 percent postconsumer waste. Registration for this year’s competition, which is open to anyone, not just those living in Hawaii, closes Saturday, March 23, 2019. The cost is $75 for individuals and $250 for teams, with discounted rates for students. RE-LEI was first organized by a group of landscape architects and planners in 2015; its proceeds support landscape architecture education and the recently created MLA program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM).

RE-LEI’s aim is to educate the public about environmental issues and how landscape architecture can help solve them while also celebrating a unique aspect of Hawaii’s material culture. Long a part of Native Hawaiian culture, lei remain a part of daily life in Hawaii, given out on birthdays and graduations and worn in hula performances. Rather than May Day, since 1928 on May 1 Hawaii has celebrated Lei Day, a celebration of Hawaiian song and dance and lei making. Most often, lei are a symbol of hospitality and friendship, though they can also hold much deeper significance for those versed in traditional Hawaiian practices.

A lei made from bits of a T-shirt. Courtesy Mayumi Dao/Thai & Lu.

The idea to make lei out of discarded materials emerged from conversations between Brad Tanimura, ASLA, a landscape architect at Belt Collins, and Dawn Easterday, ASLA, then with Belt Collins and now the principal of Easterday Design. They knew that the student chapter of the American Institute of Architects at UHM held an annual sandcastle competition to raise money for chapter activities. Tanimura and Easterday thought a similar event could benefit the nascent landscape architecture program.

The rules of RE-LEI are simple: All materials must be postconsumer waste, with the exception of string or wire and paints and dyes used to alter the discarded material. There are no restrictions on the type of lei an individual can submit—some lei are worn around the neck, others on the head or around the wrists or ankles—but preference is given to entries that can be worn.

Beach plastic, recycled into a lei. Courtesy Jonathan Stanich, Student ASLA/Thai & Lu.

Entries are submitted in one of seven material categories (for example, “plastics” or “electronic or composite”) and are then evaluated by a jury of design and conservation professionals on the basis of artistry, innovation, execution, fulfillment of the theme, and creative reuse of materials. Prizes are given out in each category, and winning lei are displayed at the Honolulu Museum of Art the last weekend in April and at Honolulu Hale (city hall) for the city’s Lei Day celebration. Prizes are generally donated by local businesses so that the majority of the competition’s entrance fees can be put toward RE-LEI’s mission of landscape architecture education.

RE-LEI is perhaps most notable for the way it draws attention to both indigenous practices and the pernicious problem of waste. For Easterday, the value of the competition lies in its ability to shift a person’s perspective, to illuminate the hidden value of what they thought was rubbish, or to at least make visible just how much rubbish they produce. “I was always taught, from way back in school, that we are stewards of the land,” she says. “And that’s always been part of landscape architecture for me.”

This lei is made from packaging plastic. Courtesy Ashley Kawabara/Thai & Lu.

For some, the competition is an opportunity not only to challenge themselves as designers, but also to educate the public about Hawaii’s complex history. The 2017 winner in the paper/plastic category, for instance, was a combination of maile and crown flower lei all made out of recycled Hawaiian language newsprint. It was created by PBR HAWAII, a Honolulu-based planning and landscape architecture firm, in honor of the centennial of the death of Queen Liliuokalani, who during the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in the late 19th century had news smuggled into her chambers via flower bouquets wrapped in newsprint. To make the crown flower lei, the team cut, folded, and colored the newsprint to resemble Calotropis gigantea blossoms—the queen’s favorite flower.

Grace Zheng, ASLA, a landscape architect with PBR HAWAII, says her team’s entry was “a celebration and an appreciation” of Queen Liliuokalani, while also “recognizing what had happened to her, and in a symbolic way, calling attention to that, choosing not to glaze over Hawaii’s history.” Zheng adds that the concept came from the firm’s administrative department: It was Paula Okamoto, an administrative assistant who is part Native Hawaiian, who suggested that the team use Queen Liliuokalani as their inspiration. “Our admins are very involved in this because it allows them to be creative beyond their administrative work,” Zheng says. “So it’s a way to bond with our administrative staff as well.”

Tire rubber, recycled into a decorative lei. Courtesy Thai & Lu.

In past years, entries have come from outside the islands, and Easterday stresses that participants don’t need to be trained in traditional lei making to enter. A YouTube video or two can be a good start. But even those who don’t enter can participate in the competition. For the week of April 22–28, the public is encouraged to vote for a People’s Choice award via Instagram (@relei808) as a part of Earth Day celebrations and Landscape Architecture Month. May the best lei win.

Timothy A. Schuler writes about design, ecology, and the natural environment. He lives in Honolulu.