Growing up in Hawaii, lei were an integral part of my life. I remember climbing our plumeria tree in the backyard, stringing them with my mom out of buckets of water, and presenting them to my teachers in damp plastic bags the next day.
We celebrate May Day as Lei Day in Hawaii — it's even a song — and we'd make the trees bolo head (bald) from taking every single blossom to make as many lei as we could.
Moving into my teens, I gave a maile lei to my prom date — a twisted leafy vine lei that smells spicy and fragrant. A rite of passage, really, as we moved out of childhood.
I wore a stack of lei over my long-sleeved, high-neck white formal holoku gown at my high school graduation. There's a unique feeling to having layers and layers of beautiful flowers around your neck — until you're sweating and every petal is stuck to your skin and you can barely see over the top of them. That was also my grandparents' last visit to me, and I treasure the memory of being with both of them, the scent of all those flowers up to my chin making me feel special, celebrated, and filled with love.
Even today, I'm a lucky recipient of the handmade lei. My childhood friend Tracy strings them with tiny pikake buds from her mom's yard. It's absolutely the best feeling to receive a handmade treasure like that — and honestly, it must be what our customers feel like when they get a piece of jewelry made just for them.
A Little History
The lei tradition predates Western contact, but its modern significance is deeply tied to Hawaiian identity. King Kamehameha I, who unified the Hawaiian Islands in 1810, helped establish the lei as a symbol of honor and celebration. The first recorded lei given to a visitor was to Captain James Cook when he arrived in 1778 — Kalanimoku presented him with flowers and leaves.
But the real meaning of lei goes beyond what you can see. It's a spiritual connection between the land the flowers come from, the person who strung them, and the person who wears them. It links us to each other through aloha — love — and mana — our spiritual power. Best when made from the heart and given with our highest intentions to celebrate and honor the person receiving it.
From Flowers to Beads
It's no wonder we love wearing garlands around our necks. While fresh is no ka oi — the best — there's something beautiful about a beaded lei too. A strand of gemstone rounds, a rope of pearls, a necklace you made with your own hands for someone you love. The intention is the same. The mana is the same.
That's what we do here. We give you the materials to make something meaningful — something that carries the same spirit as a plumeria lei picked from your backyard tree, strung with love, and given with everything you've got.