ONI
BREEZEBLOCKS
Fall 2016
Location: Honolulu, Hawai’i
Time period: 4 weeks
Dimension: 6” x 12” x 2”
Individual Project
In ancient Hawaiian culture, the gods, the aina, or land, and the kanaka, or people, shared a symbiotic existence. If the people took care of the land in a pono manner, the gods were appeased. If the gods were happy, they would allow the land to provide sustenance for the people through lush growth. Each god had many kinolau, or forms, including human and animal forms.
Using the sacred tribal Hawaiian figure as the primary element for my design, Oni breezeblock, which means holy ground, represents Hawaiian culture and environment. The layers of the breeze block indicate the volcanic mountain form of the islands. I used curves as the main gesture to show the friendly and easygoing of the Hawaiians to their visitors.
The purpose of this design is for decoration, so Oni is a lightweight block that can either stand by itself or combine with other blocks to create friendly opening walls.
DESIGN EXPLORATION TREE
