Mayon Hanania is a French artist and designer who moved from Paris, France, to San Pedro, California in 2016. She's a multidisciplinary artist who owns a vegan shoe company she created 10 years ago. Mayon is a long-time vegan, and her love for nature has drawn her toward clay and ceramic. She designs vegan shoes to walk on the earth and then uses the "earth" to create beautiful clay objects to accompany us daily.

Mayon creates utilitarian pieces and infuses her memories and vision into them. Each piece is unique; the hand of the artist is always palpable, and her stories unfold on the smooth surface of the clay. 

"Fifty Shades of Clay" is how Mayon named her second show at Polu Gallery. There will be mugs, cups, plates, and tiles, all made on different bodies of clay, displaying countless variations in colors and textures, and that's why she's jokingly or not so jokingly called her show this way.

The surfer mug series started with an idea for a gift for her friend who lives in Pupukea. They surfed together, and she wanted to create a utilitarian, poetic object that felt like a memory worth revisiting daily.

The first surfer mug was created 3 years ago, and since then, she has made countless handmade unique Surfer mugs that are often hard to get but worth the wait. The Surfer mugs, plates, bowls, and tiles are her favorite pieces to make.

Hawaii has been one of Mayon's most influential and inspiring places in her work; her dream came true when she visited Oahu for the first time 10 years ago and felt a pull toward the island ever since. She dreamt about it when she lived in Paris, as far as you can be from Waimea. Now that she lives in California, she gets the luxury to visit once a year and be more inspired each time she returns.

This is the second time Mayon has shown her work in a solo exhibition at Polu Gallery in Haleiwa.

She has thrown and painted these ceramic mugs, plates, and cups to be seen as pieces of art and utilitarian objects, as she believes the two should go hand in hand.