“Our specialty is classic, solid-wood Hawaiian furniture modeled after 1940s and 1950s designs,” says Sean Gilbert, owner of Hawaiian Furniture & Lamp Co.

Sean Gilbert has been making several trips to Indonesia every year for 20 years. With his background in fashion design and Asian studies (he also speaks Indonesian), he says the evolution to furniture design and production was only natural.

Today, Gilbert designs almost all the pieces in the Hawaiian Furniture & Lamp Co. store, which opened at its Iwilei location five years ago, from best-selling upholstered living room sets and chairs to tables, dressers and more. You may have even noticed Hawaiian Furniture & Lamp Co.’s nostalgia-inducing furniture at places such as the Hilo Airport and Mai Tai Bar. All of the designs are made of solid plantation-grown acacia and kiln-dried to last for generations. Acacia is in the same family as rare Hawaiian koa wood and is prized for its rich look and similar, highly curly grain.

“It’s good quality furniture at a good price,” says Gilbert. “Our solid acacia rockers, comparably, are a third of the price of a koa rocking chair. It’s value that’s going to last for generations.”

As the name suggests, Hawaiian Furniture & Lamp Co. also offers lamps and select other accessories. Solid-wood table and floor lamps are entirely hand-carved in Indonesia with classic Hawaiian patterns and flowers, such as anthurium (above). Gilbert also commissions Indonesian artists to create canvas paintings, sold with or without teak frames, with Gauguin-inspired Polynesian themes.
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