Business,  Hawaii Island 2017 May-June,  TSWA

Talk Story with an Advertiser: Hamakua Canvas Company

Hamakua Canvas Company is a custom sewing business that specializes in upholstery (home, boat, trucks and cars), draperies, and covers of many kinds (heavy equipment, awnings, boat dodgers, biminis and full-boat enclosures). With roots in Alaska, owner Laurie Lloyd opened up shop on Hawai‘i Island in 2014.

“In Alaska I owned a commercial fishing business and a sailing charter operation. There I built fishing nets and sewed covers for my own boats,” Laurie shares. “I bent frame and made my own dodgers, biminis, upholstery and full winter covers out of necessity and my own pleasure.”

She opened her first canvas shop in Juneau in 2008 and kept busy with projects for the Navy Seals, the Coast Guard, the Alaska state ferry system, and the Department of Fish and Game among others. Laurie opened another location in Kodiak, Alaska before selling the business and moving to warmer climates in 2014. She operates out of her home on the Hāmākua Coast.

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Click the cover to see this story in our digital magazine.

“In Hawai‘i, barbeque area covers have proven popular, plus reupholstering lānai furniture in Sunbrella fabric—there are so many pattern options!—vertical awnings on tracks, and even outdoor sculpture covers,” Laurie says.

Laurie helps clients from beginning to end, from talking story with the client about the project and offering suggestions for design and fabric choice, building patterns on the spot or bringing the item to her shop to complete the project there. For most people’s needs, there is no standard cover or mass-produced pattern available. Laurie fills that void with custom patterning and fabrication.

“I have a wealth of information and sourcing for hardware and materials, and the skills to fabricate the end product with customer satisfaction, top quality and long life of service always the goal.” ❖

Hamakua Canvas Company
808.936.2235
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