Liquid fertilizer // No trespassing // Home

…they would have a world of stories to tell.

Our beautiful home, Maui.

Not tryna go native on myself, but driving upcountry to makes this saying ring in my ears over and over. We learned in the 7th grade that “Kūlia i ka nu’u” meant “strive to the summit.” You know, go for the gold, reach high, go far beyond where you possibly think you can be. From the moment I learned that saying I thought of one thing–driving up towards the summit of Haleakala, one of our majestic mountains on Maui.

We used to live up here and this green building holds many of my early memories. I remember picking up our mail from our P.O. Box of the Post Office (that no longer exists) at the corner of Pukalani Superette. I remember buying spam musubi here on Saturdays and after we moved downtown we stopped here (and still do) after every dentist appointment or upcountry adventure.

This is one version of gold. The mac salad is still my favorite, finding chili chicken drummettes are like finding the needle in the haystack , and the tako poke is so damn tasty. The produce is always fresh and packaged into little portions perfect for our small family and its always clean. My mom always loved this store and I do too. These are the places that make Maui, Maui, and what makes home, home. I know I’m home when I see it and I hope it stays awesome forever.

Life as we know it is changing. Our beach days have a baby plus one and aunties and uncles are playing hot potato with our littlest tot, Baeley. We are making a mermaid and making sure we keep her head above water too!

Kidding. We don’t really live in those, but if it was the only option, I would take it.

In a random order these are the things that happened in May. A month that was mostly spent on Maui with family and friends over a lot of delicious food. There’s a lot to say but I will just let the photos speak for themselves. Make up your own story, sometimes that’s fun too.

Every Monday at Matsumoto Studio is #matsumotomonday. A day that we take time on the blog to share a family story, something about ourselves or anything behind the scenes. When we started blogging daily, we had to figure out what we were going to talk about then if anyone was actually going to care. We realized it didn’t matter if we had 100 hits or zero. What did matter is that we used the blog to tell our story and remind ourselves where our ideas for Matsumoto Studio are rooted and that’s our family. Looking at what inspires us and how our designs have evolved we see a lot of Hawaii and a lot of history. We take what we know best, our culture and our heritage, and turn them into something we can share with everyone else. We hope that people are not getting tired of seeing these old family photos, because they are really what make up what we are today.

Today’s post is a photo from I’m guessing, 1991. Boy’s Day, when we actually all looked like boys. Jes had a bowl cut and I was in an army uniform—like what. I love these old photos  because a lot these memories, I don’t remember. These were the years that we lived in our first house upcountry. A lot of times, this also seems like a big blur. Pictures like this help to solidify the memory. They make it real again and make it fact that my siblings did indeed put me in that army uniform and wished my name was Justin.

I started realizing the impact of my family upbringing and how it affected my work as an artist and design while I was in college–away from home. Since then it has been fueling my ideas and dreams for what I create. Everything I thought didn’t really matter is starting to matter most. I imagine the rest of my career as an artist and designer will be driven by the appreciation and celebration of my home and culture. One day it will go full circle,  I will return back home to my roots and we’ll have Matsumoto everydays. Until then look forward to more throwbacks of three happy fat kids with bad hair cuts.

From a Sunday two years ago because Sundays are not Sundays if they are not also beach days.

Let’s do it again.

I was five years old. I don’t remember writing any of this, but thanks to my mom the memory saver, I know I did.  We didn’t hit China, we just got beat by science. It was my brother’s genius idea to dig a hole and in an attempt to fill it with water, pushing it further and further into the ground, where it got stuck. Live and learn.

In 1995 we had no iPads. We didn’t have smart phones and we did not have the internet. We got that in the next house we lived in. As children we occupied ourselves with things that took us away from the TV and into the “real world.” I loved playing in the backyard. It wasn’t big, or fancy. We didn’t have a play set and it wasn’t until our next house that I got a tree house! My childhood was filled of making my own adventures. Playing with the sand, water, and leaves from the trees I also talked to myself and made up scenarios in my head. Sorta sounds like I was crazy, but really I think these are the moments that tested how clever I could really be with the bare minimum.

Sorry for being the biggest water waster in Kahului that day. I’m not sorry for making the river, making my own adventure, and imagining I was somewhere else in the world while never leaving my backyard. I did all that before I had the internet.

We have to appreciate these pixelated, slow-moving photos FaceTime has to offer. One person who appreciates it more has to be G-Flo. Gramma Flo is 88 today and if it’s anyone who has seen technology change, it’s her. With only a radio, to the black and white tv, then color tv to using a cordless phone, then using a phone outside of your house, she’s come a long way in history. Let’s not forget about that thing called “the internet” that she doesn’t quite know how to use, but she can go  on YouTube using her fingers to select vids on the iPad easy breezy. Now she can even see me. In real time, over 5,000 miles away, not just on a computer, but a phone that fits in a pocket! Amazing.

Thanks to technology I was able to wish G-Flo a Happy Birthday and see her face when she saw me say it. I sent her mail, which she got on the day it was expected to arrive.  I was there last year for her big day, but this year I wasn’t as lucky. As G-Flo gets older, every year is a milestone. While I didn’t care much that I was gone for her birthdays while I was in college, now that I am out of college, working, and actually able to make the choice to be at home, I feel guilty when I am not. When I am at home, she complains I am not home enough to spend time with her, but she’s the one with the busy schedule. She’s gone during the weekdays going to “preschool” to keep that mind sharp and out getting her hair done or singing karaoke on the weekends.

I talk about my gramma a lot. She’s a big part of my life and probably the reason why I act like a grandma sometimes. G-Flo has taught me why I should be sophisticated and poised and not “blllllahhhh” and crazy. I can hear her little life tidbits in the back of my head even when I am not around her. It’s scary, trust.  I used to think “stop talking I’ve heard this like ten times already,” now I just let her repeat whatever she wants. She’s 88, the Queen, and can do whatever the F she wants. Happy Birthday G-Flo!

Behind Gramma Flo’s pink-lipped smile, is a one tough cookie. Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot of G-Flo. Maybe it’s because she’s been calling me from her cell phone requesting for a family photo I promised to print her a month ago.  Maybe it’s because I hear stories about her daily shenanigans from my mom and sister. Maybe it’s because I can’t believe she will be 88 years-old next month and still has the same brain and quick thinking I’ve known her to have. Mostly, I think it’s because I miss her. As bossy, headstrong, and demanding G-Flo is, she has always been loving, giving and my lifeline. She made me breakfasts, lunches, dinners, cookies, cake and jell-o too! G-Flo taught me how to fry an egg and will continue to tell me how I should be doing everything. I can probably credit G-Flo for turning me into the grandma that I sometimes am and that’s not surprise because she is, a grandma. She’s not just any grandma, she’s my grandma and I wish everyone could meet her.