Thank You Honolulu + A Toast to our Venue

THANK YOU HONOLULU!!!
On August 27, 2016, over 1500 foodies, fashionistas, and revelers gathered at the surprise location of the Honolulu Convention Center’s rooftop garden for the third annual Dîner en Blanc - Honolulu.

Thank you once again for the amazing effort you put forth to make this evening magical, the styles and decor were show stopping. We would like to extend a very special Mahalo to our fantastic leaders, entertainment, vendors and everyone who made this night possible. Hotel Wailea's Chef Zach Sato collaborated with Chef Kevin Nakata and his team at the Convention Center to create our delectable picnic baskets. Le Diner en Blanc Honolulu also gratefully acknowledges LIST Sotheby's International Realty, Taittinger and Paiko as the official local partners for this year's event.

A TOAST TO OUR VENUE!!!
A fixture of the Honolulu landscape, many of us drive by the Hawaii Convention Center regularly. We admire the soaring glass structure topped with those iconic white sails, but may not give much thought to what’s inside. As the building’s 2.5-acre rooftop garden was the site for this year’s Diner en Blanc - Honolulu, it provided us with the perfect opportunity to experience this building and appreciate all that it has to offer.

A few (of many) reasons to love the Convention Center:
Trailblazing design
The 1,100,000-square-foot building was completed in 1998, and was designed to employ energy conservation before sustainable design gained popularity.  LMN Architects designed the structure with references to traditional Hawaiian building forms, and created the instantly-recognizable folded fabric roof sails that adorn the roof. Not only are the sails visually iconic, they capture Honolulu's sweeping trade winds to generate air flow and reduce the need for electric air conditioning.

A pilgrimage for Losties
The Hawaii Convention Center has been a filming location for no less than nine episodes of Lost, used to depict the Sydney Airport.

Sustainable practices
The Convention Center management and staff believes strongly in a “buy local” policy whenever possible, sourcing Hawaii-made food products and items created in Hawaii.  Additionally, they make it a point to purchase ecologically-friendly products for housekeeping, landscaping, engineering, and food and beverage services.  Executive Chef Kevin Nakata sources ingredients from local suppliers, and creates menus dedicated to featuring Hawaii flavors and products.

A celebration of Hawaiian art
The Hawaiian art on display in the Convention Center includes Hawaiian quilts, woodcrafts, and paintings.  One of the larger pieces is an 80-foot community mural project painted by five native Hawaiian artists (including Solomon Enos, who painted the mural onsite at Diner en Blanc) and a group of young Hawaiian artists from Hawaii’s schools. The mural was created as a visual response to the gathering of world economies in Hawaii.

And local art!
Nestled in the rooftop garden pool is a large bronze sculpture by living legend Satoru Abe, one of Hawaii’s most beloved sculptors and painters.  Titled “Reaching for the Sun”, the sculpture is composed of brazed copper sheets in the form of trees, with angular branches and stylized leaves.

When passing by this landmark building in the future, perhaps we can take a moment to enjoy its glory as one of Hawaii's most beautiful architectural buildings.