Thanks to its status as the state flower of Hawaii, the hibiscus is one of the most popular motifs in windsport art, and widely found in website logos, icons, border designs, and banners.
A striking example is the hibiscus that punctuates the small banner ads in the left column of the Wahine Surfing website. Infused with intense blue and magenta chromas, the flower has been stylized to the point that its petals resemble kites, and it's central shaft, a board crowned with stars. For all its apparent virility, this central shaft is, in botany, the flower's female organ, the pistil.
A modest black and white line drawing of a hibiscus stands duty on the Wahine logo. It seems to me that if Wahine wanted black and white for its logo, it might at least have dared something like the ink pad style that appears on Hawaiian Watersports .Com. Oh well, ink pads aren't that daring anyway, to tell the truth.
Though associated with Hawaii, the hibiscus is thought to have originated near the Indian Ocean. Thus Pro Surf Extreme Kenya may fairly stencil the hibiscus across the top and bottom of its webpage plus employ it as online booking and newsletter icons. My, that little flower does a megapixel of work!
Today the hibiscus, nearly as widespread as windsports, even decorates the banners of German websites such as Flowsports and Silke Gorldt Stiftung, where it receives a tasteful, if numbingly repetitive treatment. You may recall that Germany borders the North and Baltic seas, not the Indian Ocean.
In addition to websites, the hibiscus appears on boards. One board, from custom designer 6Boards, combines a hibiscus with a motto ribbon, a Victorian filigree, red stars, and a black sunburst. Although it does not star in this ensemble, after countless hours backstage, the hibiscus must enjoy getting out there to have a little fun.
The questions remain, "Has the hibiscus spread into snowkiting country?" and "If so, what role does it play there?" Well, "no" and "possibly none". I did discover a snowboard with a flower motif, however the flower was definitely not a hibiscus. But that will be the subject of a future post.
By the way, the hibiscus is related to cocoa and hence to my nom de plume for this blog, tocoa.
Monday, May 18, 2009
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