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Continue ShoppingAkalei Designs is Hawaii's only designer of handcrafted Kumihimo beaded Hawaiian Lei. With over 100 unique designs we were recently awarded “Best Beaded Lanyard” from The American Kumihimo Society (2023) for our complex braid structures. In addition our silk Hawaiian necklace is being showcased in a commercial for the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement Pop-Up Makēkē Market. And another positive compliment was three of our designs were selected in a juried art exhibit in Oahu by The Hawaiian Handweavers Hui. This public recognition reflects how our unique and high quality necklace lei are gaining attention. All our designs are handcrafted on Maui. We are unique in that we are able to 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’iHua (The Forbidden Island).
Hawai’i Inspired Kumihimo Necklace - Lava Black with Brown Earth Tones - 18”
The necklace was inspired by the beautiful shell necklaces made famous on the Hawaiian island of Ni'iHau (The Forbidden Island). This beautiful hand made style necklace was made using hundreds of glass Japanese seed beads on multiple nylon cords that are woven together on a wooden Marudai stand (in a kongo gumi kumihimo braid pattern), then finished with a strong shiny silver brass toned magnet end cap to ensure it is secure.
Akalei Designs make great gifts for woman, girls, and men! Akalei is the Hawaiian word for "bead reflections" which truly describes this unique style only available here on Maui. We specialize in designing a wide range of modern yet classic Hawaiian looking lei. For customized orders please contact me at info@akaleidesigns.com.
This Brown Picasso with Matte Black Necklace can be made into various lengths (from 10” choker up to 45” double strand), prices will vary with length or materials used. Akalei is Hawaiian for "bead reflections" or "string of multicolored glass beads", which describes this unique style only available here on Maui. We specialize in designing a wide range of modern yet familiar Hawaiian lei
Kumihimo is an ancient Japanese braid making technique that creates beautiful and durable interlaced necklaces and bracelets. This art form goes back hundreds of years as braids were made for use in armor of Samurai warriors. In modern times these braids are used for belts (obijime) on kimonos
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