Akalei Designs is Hawaii's premier designer of handcrafted Kumihimo beaded glass Hawaiian Lei and the world's original Designer of Hawaiian Glass Beaded Forever Lei. Recently featured in Maui on HI Now (Dec 14, 2023) with POP-Up Mãkeke and Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement. With hundreds of unique designs all our collections are handcrafted on Maui from beads we've sourced from around the globe. Akalei is unique in that we incorporate aspects of floral lei into modern "forever lei" using glass beads with designs normally only seen in the shell lei made famous on the island of Ni’ihau (The Forbidden Island). Please come by to visit our Studio located at the residential condos of Kai Makani. Please text, call or email to schedule with at least 4 hours notice.
This jewelry designs is truly found only at Akalei Designs with our diverse and inventive new jewelry concept. Nowhere else is this being designed except on Maui. It is will be a delightful addition to your wardrobe as it and works well as an accent or conversation art jewelry piece. The Beaded Oimatsu Rope™ (Necklace Lei) is one of the most complicated designs to weave and construct. All Kumihimo Oimatsu Ropes
™ are hand woven on a round wooden Japanese Marudai braiding stand using 16 strands of beaded fiber with each strand loaded with between 500 -800 Japanese glass beads for a total of up to 8,000 to 10,000 beads per braid. Because these are Hawaiian Forever Necklace Lei you will notice these are extra long compared to other items in our store. The length is consistent with the lovely Hawaiian Floral Lei the islands are known for.
This beading technique is also known as Continuous Beaded Braids (CBB) and when first introduced into jewelry world took Kumihimo braiding to a new level of design options, especially for the Hawaiian style of beaded necklace lei. These stunning (and comfortable to wear) braids are easy to clean.