New for May 2024 we are introducing "Edo Blended" with unique colors and a fun new Dragon Spiral design located in our "Segmented Collection". Akalei Designs continues innovating new handcrafted woven Kumihimo beaded glass "Forever" Hawaiian Lei. Based on Maui we have showcased on HI Now as part of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement Pop-Up Marketplace and continue to discover new customers are our Kihei location on Maui.
This is our first new 2024 necklace design we created to celebrate Merrie Monarch Hula Festival in Hilo. These designs will be expanding as the year continues to allow us to experiment with braid structures and bead styles (inspired by the original design from Claire at Sulis Designs). As with all our designs if you see something and it isn't available or have ideas we do make custom forever glass beaded necklace lei.
In the braiding world many beaded weavers become comfortable with a few braids. Akalei Designs has more than a dozen unique hand made designs that we enjoy blending into our necklace lei. This is one important collection where the ends are done with a round Kongo Gumi and the middle section is an Hira-Edo-Yatsu Gumi or hollow braid.