Crafting beauty from nature: meet the artisans of Lanai
Chris Franklin and his work.
Stylized makau made from Lanai Koa wood & white pearl shell by Vince Cabanilla.
The pahu is unfinished and is made of Niu wood by Ben Ostrander.
Our island is home to a thriving community of artisans who use a variety of techniques to create beautiful and functional objects from Lanai’s natural resources. In this Q&A, we talk to Ben Ostrander, Chris Franklin, Peter Franklin and Vince Cabanilla about the inspiration that drives them, and the techniques they use to create masterpieces from wood.
Q: How long have you been woodworking?
Ben Ostrander: I’ve always kind of been messing around with wood and stuff. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had an interest in making things. I’m in the cultural and historic preservation department with Pulama Lanai, so my real interest is trying to make things that can be used for cultural purposes, so I’ve made a couple kua kapa, ohe kapala, papa kui ai and things like that.
Vince Cabanilla: A good 25 years.
Chris Franklin: I have been woodworking since I was 15 years old.
Peter Franklin: I have been woodworking for the most part of 50 years.
Q: What is your specialty?
Lanai Koa wood knuckleduster with hand-carved axis deer antler replica tiger shark teeth (to help protect sharks) by Vince Cabanilla.
Ben: I wouldn’t say specialty, but my greatest interest is stuff that’s really utilitarian and that will be put to use. My whole thing is that if you’re going to make something, even if it gets beat up or eventually has to be replaced, it’s that tool, that function, that makes it beautiful.
Vince: I’m a sculptor that works with wood. I use a lot of different materials and wood is one of my main materials. I create sculptures and personal adornment.
Chris: I always like to do my custom woodworking and some turning bowls.
Peter: Most of my work would be considered custom woodworking versus say production work.
Q: Do you sell your pieces? If so, where can people purchase them?
Ben: I don’t. I make stuff for people. The last project I did was for May Day. A teacher wanted to have a couple of spears for the court, so I made a couple for them to use.
Vince: Locally would be at the Mike Carroll Gallery or the Lanai Art Center.
Chris: Contact me on Lanai to buy my work.
Table by Chris Franklin.
Q: What kind of wood do you prefer to use? Why?
Ben: I try to use invasive species like ironwood, strawberry guava and eucalyptus. Things that are fairly prevalent so there's no loss when you're cutting down stuff.
Vince: Moving back to Lanai made things a lot easier on me, because all of my materials are local. The only thing I don’t use that’s from Hawaii is pearl shell and abalone. So, everything is local wood. I prefer koa but milo would probably be my second favorite.
Chris: My favorite wood is wood that has a lot of character.
Peter: I prefer using local wood if available, having said that koa wood is my favorite, but I love working with cherry. Both woods are very beautiful and “user friendly.”
Q: What do you enjoy most about what you do?
Ben: I think it’s enjoyable when you can make something and then use it when you’re done.
Vince: What I basically do is called subtractive sculpture so you’re taking a solid chunk of whatever and a lot of people believe that there’s an image hidden inside, and it’s your job to reveal it.
Chris: Making beautiful things and happy customers.
Peter: The best part of woodworking is creating something beautiful and satisfying to my customers.
Q: What are the most challenging parts about what you do?
Ben: I’m busy with different stuff, so it’s really just finding time to do it. I wish I had more time that I could dedicate to making stuff. But I think that’s what makes it so enjoyable when I do get to do it.
Vince: The most challenging part is to get people to understand what they’re looking at sometimes, but that’s what art does. I do a lot of makau which is the hook, and some people don’t know what they’re looking at. People from Hawai‘i know what they are, but people outside of Hawai‘i don’t understand the true symbolism or history.
Chris: The most challenging thing to me is talking on the phone. I like it best when the customer comes to my shop.
Q: What advice would you give someone who is interested in pursuing this line of work?
Ben: Don’t think you can’t make something. You can do it. People can get to the same end product by using different techniques, different material, different machinery. You can get stuff done without all the fancy stuff.
Vince: You’ve got to maintain consistency. Even if you do it 15 minutes a day at the end of the year that's over 100 hours, so you got to just keep doing it because there's a lot of failures. I've got boxes and boxes of failures over the years, but you won’t know how to do it right unless you do it wrong a few times.
Chris: If you’re happy, just do it with your heart if it makes you feel good.
Peter: To someone starting out I would say let your heart guide your hands.