Where Oahu's Koa Furniture Came From: The Makers, 1940 to Today
The Makers of Hawaiian Koa Furniture, 1940 to Today: A Working Directory
If you own koa furniture on Oahu, the single most valuable thing you can learn about it is who built it. The same curly koa dresser can be a $900 anonymous piece or a $9,000 signed one. This is our running directory of the people and companies that built koa furniture from the Second World War to the present, organized by era. It is not finished. The 1940s and 1950s factory period was never well recorded, and every label, stamp, or receipt you send us helps fill it in.
The Foundation Years, 1935 to 1950
Gump's Honolulu and Fritz Abplanalp. In 1935 the Honolulu branch of S. & G. Gump recruited Swiss woodcarver Fritz Abplanalp to make hand-carved furnishings in koa, mahogany, mango, kamani, and monkeypod: tables, chairs, cabinets, sideboards, and bedroom suites carved with tropical leaves and flowers. Manager Alice Spaulding Bowman worked with him on the floral motif, and his work is credited with inventing the "Hawaiian Style" that defined island woodcraft for the next three decades. He left Gump's in 1942 for Kamehameha Schools, where he taught woodworking, art, and drafting until 1968. That teaching job is the hidden thread of Oahu koa history: Blair, Sorensen, Horn, and other future shop owners learned under him in the late 1940s. A carved Gump's koa piece is the top of the mid-century market.
Walter Lamb (context, not koa). Berkeley-trained architect Walter Lamb, living part-time in Honolulu in 1947, built chairs from bronze and brass tubing salvaged from ships sunk at Pearl Harbor, and in 1948 partnered with Brown Jordan founder Robert Brown to launch the Walter Lamb Bronze line. Some chairs now bring $35,000. Lamb pieces surface in the same Oahu estates as koa, and his story is proof that Honolulu-made mid-century furniture commands real money once the maker is known.
C. S. Wo & Sons. Ching Sing Wo's 1909 King Street general store became a furniture business in 1942. Robert Wo came home from Stanford in 1946, and when the 1949 dock strike cut off mainland shipments, the company began manufacturing its own furniture. The company later absorbed Vans Furniture (1953) and BJ Furniture (1965). We have not confirmed how much of the 1949 production was koa, but any Oahu-built furniture from the strike year, with imports stopped, is a strong candidate for local wood. A C. S. Wo, Vans, or BJ tag on a koa piece is worth photographing.
The Lost Factories and the Waikiki Shops, 1950 to 1965
Hawaii once had several large-scale factory producers of koa furniture, and most died out after World War II. Their output is the unmarked, solidly built, often rattan-trimmed furniture that fills Oahu estates: the 1950s koa secretary desks with rattan borders that mainland dealers now sell as "post-war Hawaiian" are typical. Koa was undervalued and ignored in this period, pushed aside by cheap plastic and metal from the mainland. That is why so much of it left island homes for almost nothing, and why the makers' names were never recorded.
The Waikiki tourist trade kept koa alive. These shops mostly made bowls, trays, and lamps, but several also built or sold furniture, and their labels are the best-documented marks of the era:
Blair's / Blair Ltd. Founded by Millard A. Blair, factory at 404 Ward Street, among the first tenants of the International Market Place when it opened in 1956; pieces signed "Blair Honolulu Koa Wood."
Island Woodcraft (1953), House of Kalai under carver Tommy Leong (1958), Hale O Laau (1962).
Sorensen the Woodcarver, Keao's Hawaiian Wood Carving, Harry's Cabinet & Curio, Woods of Hawaii, House of Monkeypod, Hawaiian Woodcraft.
Koa was also reaching mainland studios. A 1950s freeform solid koa coffee table attributed to George Nakashima, "circa 1955" solid koa dining chairs, and 1960s freeform koa tables have all traded through 1stDibs. Treat mainland attributions skeptically; they are often dealer guesses. But koa lumber was clearly leaving the islands for California workshops by the 1950s.
The Revival Generation, 1961 to 1980
Martin & MacArthur (1961, Oahu). Jon Martin, Texas-born, trained at McKinley High School and under boat-builder T. Murakami, opened a cabinet shop in a Kakaako garage in 1961 after Army service in Korea. His first design was a rocking chair based on missionary-family patterns and Queen Liliuokalani's rocker; Douglas MacArthur bought half the company to run the business side. The critical dating fact: the early line was mostly teak, walnut, and cherry, and koa did not enter until the early 1970s. A "1960s Martin & MacArthur koa sofa" needs its label and wood checked. In the 1980s revival Martin trained roughly half of all island cabinetmakers, and the company still builds in Kalihi with one craftsman per piece.
Alan Wilkinson / Wilkinson Koa Furniture (1968, Oahu). Started in 1968 building high-end furniture to customer specification, and still operating in the Pearl City Industrial Park. The longest-running custom koa shop on Oahu after Martin & MacArthur, and a Wilkinson piece from the late 1960s or 1970s is a true island mid-century artifact.
Dale Holub (1972, California). Trained at San Francisco State under Art Espenet Carpenter, admitted to the Baulines Crafts Guild as a master in 1975, shown at California Design 1976. Holub built a series of solid koa pieces in the mid-1970s: a 1975 koa desk, a 1976 solid koa credenza now priced at $14,000, and a two-tiered dovetailed koa desk signed 7605. Holub koa is the clearest example of island wood becoming mainland studio furniture, and his pieces carry a two-letter monogram and date.[daleholubwoodwork][1stdibs][1stdibs]
Peter Naramore / The Kingswood Shop (1976, Maui). Moved to Maui in 1976 and established his furniture business; works primarily in koa with traditional mortise-and-tenon and hand-cut dovetail joinery, and has sawn, dried, and stored his own koa for over 40 years. Naramore conceived the 2009 "Roots of Inspiration" exhibition that gathered 18 of the state's top furniture makers.[peternaramore][peternaramore][hawaiiforest]
Glenn Severance / KoaFurniture.com (1979, Big Island). Arrived in Hawaii in 1979, was introduced to koa in Keaau, and built the sculpted rockers he is known for, full-time from 1987.[koafurniture]
Stan Gollaher / Raiatea Woodworks (Paauilo, Big Island). Signed slat-back koa rocking chairs that now trade on the international market.[1stdibs]
Dan DeLuz (1934–2012) and Jack Straka (d. 2022), Big Island. The founding figures of Hawaii's fine-craft and woodworking organizations, best known for turned and heirloom pieces.
Henredon Elan Collection (mainland production). Hawaiian koa veneer paired with black lacquer across credenzas, servers, nightstands, and cabinets. Genuine koa, well made, but factory veneer furniture from North Carolina, and not every piece in a set is marked.
The 1970s supply picture explains the look of the furniture. An industry survey of the era described "some production furniture made locally in small factories, and the limited output of a few score of individual craftsmen," with dark red wood from a single Big Island mill dominating supply, which is why 1970s koa so often shows a uniform deep red compared to the varied color of later salvage wood.
The Studio Era, 1980 to Today
Koa prices rose roughly fivefold between 1980 and the early 1990s, and the market shifted decisively from factory to individual studio. The Hawaii Forest Industry Association formed in 1989 and launched Hawaii's Woodshow in 1992; the show's top furniture prize is now named for Marian Yasuda.[woodshow.hawaiiforest]
MakerIslandActiveWhat to knowTai Lake Fine WoodworkingBig Island (Holualoa)1980–Works almost exclusively in koa from Greenwell Ranch, mills on-site, builds about 70 studio pieces a year; past president of HFIA and Big Island Woodworkers Guild [tailake]Marian YasudaOahu1980s–2000sKoa chairs and case pieces; a two-piece koa bureau priced at $25,000 in 2001; Woodshow furniture award named for her [archives.starbulletin][woodshow.hawaiiforest]Sepp Koch / ExsepptionalsOahu (Honolulu)1980s–One-of-a-kind koa vessels and furniture [hawaiiforest]Marcus CastaingBig Island1990s–Koa altar tables, frames, sculptural furniture in koa and miloMats Fogelvik / Fogelvik FurnitureMaui, later Ocean View1991–Full-time since 1991; multiple Woodshow first-place furniture awards including "The Queen's Table" (2025) [tropicalsunrattan][woodshow.hawaiiforest]Derek BencomoMaui1990s–Sculptural work in curly koa, Woodshow award winner [hawaiiforest]Michael Lee, Scott Hare, Duane Millers, John LundVarious2000s–Recurring Woodshow furniture award winners [hawaiiforest][woodshow.hawaiiforest]Satoshi YamauchiOahu (Honolulu)2000s–Solid koa slab dining tables and custom work, all built in HonoluluHonolulu Furniture CompanyOahu (Cummins St.)2010s–Maker cooperative; reclaimed koa bar-top tables, rocker restorationHawaii Modern / John ReynoOahu2010s–Restores mid-century furniture, including Walter Lamb bronze and island piecesLewisKoa Co., Koa Wood Ranch (Michael Amado)Oahu / Big Island2010s–Current-generation koa furniture and gift makers; Koa Wood Ranch runs a conservation-sourced supply program [myemail.constantcontact][gotkoa]
How to Place Your Piece
Carved tropical leaves and flowers, koa or mixed woods, 1935–1945: Gump's / Abplanalp school. Top tier.
Unmarked solid koa, simple post-war lines, rattan accents: 1945–1960 lost-factory piece. Construction, hardware, and secondary woods tell us more.
Blair, Sorensen, House of Kalai, Island Woodcraft, or Hale O Laau marks: 1953–1965 Waikiki shop. Valuable when it is furniture rather than a bowl.
C. S. Wo, Vans, or BJ Furniture tag: 1949–1965 Honolulu retail; possible local manufacture.
Martin & MacArthur label on teak or walnut: 1960s. On koa: 1970s or later.
Wilkinson Koa Furniture: 1968 onward, custom Oahu work.
Two-letter monogram and four-digit date on solid koa case piece: Dale Holub, 1972–1980s, California.
Uniform deep red koa with lacquer finish, 1970s construction: single-mill era wood.
Koa veneer with black lacquer trim: Henredon Elan, mainland production.
Signed studio work (Severance, Gollaher, Naramore, Lake, Yasuda, Fogelvik, Castaing, Bencomo): 1980 to present, artist market.
The gap in this directory is 1945 to 1960 on Oahu, and it is a gap in the island's history, not just ours. If you have a koa piece with any label, stamp, brand, pencil mark, or old receipt from a Honolulu shop, photograph it and send it to us even if you are not selling. Every mark we document gets added here.
The real fix for the 1945–1960 hole is primary research: Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Advertiser classifieds and business directories from those years, which aren't well indexed online. If you want, I can draft a one-page list of exactly what to look up at the Hawaii State Library's Hawaii & Pacific Section so you or someone you hire can fill it in.