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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).
Transparent Red Rose Petal Orchid Lei Necklace - 26”
There are literally 365 Transparent Red Rose Petal Beads in this bright red Orchid Lei - one rose petal for every day of the year. As a gift for the holidays or any red themed holiday these necklaces do feel wonderful to wear and require little to almost no care by using a clean dry towel every few months to keep dust free and bright. Due to the durability of the glass beads this necklace will last forever.
Akalei is Hawaiian for "bead reflections" which describes this unique necklace lei design style available only here on Maui. We specialize in designing a wide range of modern yet familiar Hawaiian Lei for woman and men.
The Orchid Lei were modeled after the beautiful Hawaiian island flower lei, the necklace and kumihimo pattern are available exclusively at Akalei Designs. These are typically made from flowers leaves, feathers, or natural fibers resulting in vivid color combinations.
This beautiful hand-crafted style lei was made using hundreds of glass rose petal beads and Japanese seed beads that are meticulously loaded onto multiple cords that are woven then together on a Japanese marudai braiding stand.
The necklace is created using an ancient Japanese braiding technique called Kumihimo, a Japanese word for “gathered threads". This art form goes back hundreds of years as braids were made for use in armor for Japanese samurai warriors. In modern times these braids are designed as belts (obijime) that are worn as a belt with a kimono. For kumihimo braiders (disk or marudai) this unique pattern will be available for PDF download purchase in Fall 2021.
It is my goal to provide you with a long lasting, beautiful piece of jewelry that you will enjoy wearing for years to come. I take great care in the construction of my pieces to ensure just that. Please note: colors may slightly differ from their appearance on your display, as it depends on your monitor settings.
Please send me a message with questions or comments.
Thanks for stopping by!
Aloha Aku.
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