This week on our blog, we wanted to take you on a trip back in time, to the beginning of Padilla Designs, before Larry Padilla and his clan transformed the Family business into what it is today. We hope you enjoy!

Larry is always willing to share his story with those whose attention his sculpture “Peace of Time” grabs, with an open invitation to snap a picture standing next to his sculpture of time.

Years ago, when Larry and his wife Mary Jo first moved to the island of Maui, he was selling small, one-of-a-kind, hand -crafted metal sculptures out of the back of his old Dodge pickup with the intention of creating his own “Mona Lisa”. The truck was his mobile workshop as well as his own unfolding work of art known today as “The Peace of Time”.

This masterful work of art was manifested by Larry over the years  using rust as a medium  to express the movement of time itself,  By having the truck sandblasted, Larry encouraged the nature of rust to take its course capturing the movement of time. Larry says, “by using the Dodge, I could take my work with me wherever I went, so that whenever inspired I could work on my sculpture of time”.

Each sculpture on this truck represents a different piece of time that commands its own story. The first sculpture that went onto the truck (in the early 80s) was a 6-foot, giant steel buoy that was once used in the military during WW2. Larry envisioned inside of this buoy a sculpture that set the stage for his “Peace of Time”. The buoy was sculpted into a world – with an eagle on top and a bear within – signifying “worlds within worlds”, in harmony with nature, living together in peace.

Several years of working out of his old rusting Dodge, Larry was approached by his very first residential client. They wanted him to construct a main entrance gate for their home in Wailea and they wanted it to look like a tropical forest. Since Larry loves challenges and had never built a gate, he happily took on the project building his very first copper gate and started the journey of Padilla Designs. Now, years later, Maui visitors can view Padilla Designs’ work all over Hawaii and beyond, ranging from commercial to residential functional works of art.

In our next installment of our blog series we are going to be sharing with you the story of the theme behind the “Peace of Time”, which features the turtle and the fisherman in the legend of “Don’t Eat Your Boat”.

Want to explore other installments on our blog? Check out the entire blog archive here.
Want to inquire about a new project at your home or commercial property? Don’t hesitate to reach out.