Last weekend I got to participate in a fashion show at Ocean’s 808, featuring local designer Angela Matsuo, who will be attending FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in the fall. I heard from Angela a few weeks ago, who had been referred to me by her good friend and my good customer Cheri, who I always call by the wrong name Keiko (since it’s her middle name and it’s cute!). I was so excited to have been invited to participate and to include my clothes in her fashion show, so it was definitely worth the long haul all the way to Honolulu. I’m being a little facetious here as it’s only an hour drive from where I live.

Angela and I

Angela organized an amazing event, with breakdancers, beautiful models, delicious food, and of course, very unique clothing designs. Here are some of the pictures from the fashion show:

the beautiful models in their unique outfits designed by Angela

I had lots of help from my new and wonderful UH intern/assistant, Jessica. She got the memo on the green dress:)

me and Jess

Coco Ho is amazing. She is one of surfing’s most recognized young women, because of her incredible talent. Just a couple of weeks ago, she received fourth place at the Surfer Poll in California, which is pretty much equivalent to the Oscars in the World of Surfing. I am so proud of her, to be able to sponsor her and to say that she grew up in my neighborhood and is an integral part of the community for her leadership qualities. Coco is definitely a local role model to young women her age and an inspiration to women surfers. Congrats Coco!

Coco received her award for 4th place at the Surfer Poll, wearing her customized Noelani Designs necklace

I had the opportunity to meet with Coco a few days before she left for California. She emailed me letting me know she had a special event and wanted to wear some special jewelry with her new black dress. So she came over to the studio and picked out some earrings and customized her own matching necklace. She chose a black mother of pearl hoop with 3 black freshwater pearls on gold chain to be a pendant on a gold chain. Beautiful. Funny enough, I had a very similar style a few years ago named the Coco, after another friend of mine. Coincidence? I think not. The Coco necklace will now be available in my collection- it will be a little while before it’s up on the site, but it will be available at private showings. Email me if you’d like to purchase one.

This is a survey sent to me by a Japanese client who is considering representing my line at their trade show in Japan.
Thought it might be interesting for my readers to get a little background info on me to see who I really am… (sorry for the typos; it’s just a draft)

1. Where you are from. When you were born(if you don’t mind)
2. When you moved to Hawaii (if you are not from here)
3. When you started designing and how you started.
4. What inspires you for your design.
5. What main concept, feeling, expression of your products.
6. What kind of material you use. Anything special?
7. Any media exposed? Please list them as much as possible.
8. Including your back ground, something catchy and interesting story to go along with your brand concept OR totally opposite story.

1. I was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, my mother is Hawaiian and I spent my summers growing up in Hawaii visiting my grandparents, always wishing that I lived the island lifestyle.
2. I moved to Hawaii after I graduated from college in 2005. I moved here December 24, so living in Hawaii was my Christmas present to myself.
3. I started designing jewelry in 2002 by making some Christmas gifts of earrings for my girlfriends. I was at a craft shop and I bought some special pieces to make for my friends, and didn’t know how to make earrings, but I tried, and they were happy with the earrings
4. Nature is a very big inspiration for my pieces. I like to see how I can recreate nature in an earring, whether it be symbolic of the trees outside my window, the crystal blue ocean water at my footsteps, or my favorite flower
5. The main concept of my artistic expression is to allow every woman that wears the jewelry to feel beautiful by wearing the pieces. I love how a piece of jewelry can bring an outfit together and make a woman feel so complete and confident in herself. I really want women to feel beautiful by recognizing the goddess within themselves and share that with others. I feel that my jewelry is able to make women understand their inner beauty.
6. I like to use very high quality materials, such as 14k goldfill wire, sterling silver, and freshwater pearls, mother of pearl shell and special stones. I try my best to recycle and be as eco-friendly as possible because I care about the well-being of the planet. The shell that I use comes from the discarded mother of pearl shells in Tahiti. The black pearl farmers use only the pearl inside the shell, and for them, the shell is waste. So I am happy to reuse it so there is not as much waste.
7. I have been featured in a lot of local (Hawaiian media) as well as Japanese media. Local magazines include: Ala Moana Magazine, FreeSurf Magazine, Honolulu Advertiser, Hawaii Modern Luxury magazine, and many others. Japanese media includes: FRAU magazine, Beach Girls Magazine, Aloha Tengoku TV show, Surfing Lani TV show, and Hawaiian Express TV show.
8. I am a single mother, living on the north shore of Oahu. My son Aukai is 18 months old and he was born here in our house. It was a very special and empowering moment to give birth to him all natural. I love being a mom although it can be very difficult at times. We live a very simple life and like to spend time at the beach, bodyboarding, running on the beach (with him on my shoulders), riding bicycle on the north shore bike path, or just playing in our yard. I love designing jewelry and I love supporting and empowering women who are doing awesome things with their lives. I currently sponsor professional surfer Coco Ho and singer Anuhea. I think it’s very important to give back to the community around me so I am beginning to expand my company to hire local women to work with me, so that everyone can enjoy beautiful jewelry with good energy that is made in Hawaii.

my dog Meli and son Aukai

This year was my fourth year in a row participating in the Haleiwa Arts Festival. This is, by far, my favorite art festival all year long. The first reason being that it is in my hometown, so I don’t have to drive very far to get there! The festival is always held at the end of July at Haleiwa Beach Park and the weather is always gorgeous. I love meeting my customers, and since I sell my pieces to a lot of shops, I don’t always get to meet my customers. But at the Haleiwa Arts Festival, I get to meet the people that support me and love to wear my jewelry, and I get to hear their feedback about the pieces. I love it!

I'm all smiles

I didn’t take too many pictures this year because I was so busy talking to customers and customizing jewelry that I forgot! My great friend Vanessa came to help as my assistant. She was so awesome, as she helped me keep customers happy by helping them pick out jewelry for themselves and keeping the shop tidy. She was also in charge of designing our layout inside our tent shop. She did a great job and many of the customers commented on the beautiful presentation of our shop!

Naia, me and Vanessa

busy busy busy with customers

The setup worked out great for everyone, as they were able to flow in a circle throughout the whole shop. I spray painted some branches that we placed in the center of the booth with earrings hung from the stems. It looked really cool. Vanessa had just bought some tables for her house that worked perfectly in the booth to set the branches on. I love how everything came together!

the jewelry trees

My girlfriend Sheradan and her cute lil baby Sage stopped by too to say hi and take pics. Sage is soooo cute. Check out the Sheradan earrings!

baby Sage

My website designer, Mimi Silvia, even stopped by with her hubby John. I love Mimi! She does such a great job at designing my site and keeping it all updated on time with my last minute requests! And she apparently likes to do the work, so I’m very happy about that. She went home from the festival with lots of new Noelani Designs jewelry for herself. I hope she’s happy with her new pieces!

Mimi and me

Well the festival ended up being a great success and at the end of the two day festival, Vanessa and I celebrated in my usual tradition of jumping in the water at Waimea Bay. We literally “jumped” in, as we jumped off the big rock! There’s nothing like a nice sunset swim in the bay at the end of a long work weekend…

Noelani Designs is going international!! I am really excited about appealing to the Japanese Market as I have been featured on three different Japanese TV shows in the past 4 months and on Monday, Beach Girls Magazine came to do a photoshoot. Heidi, the coordinator, called to set it all up and we planned for Monday morning at 8:30. Heidi, Akemi (the writer), and the photographer ( I forget his name!) showed up and I just did my usual morning routine with Aukai. We did laundry, I hung the clothes on the line. We watered the garden and banana and papaya tree, then we went for a little bike ride to the beach and Aukai and I kicked on the bodyboard. It was so entertaining for the crew because Aukai was excited to have people following him around and taking pictures. He was definitely enjoying the attention.
The photographer was great at capturing real moments, and not afraid to run quickly to a different location to catch an image. He was literally running here and there and everywhere all day.
It was kind of exhausting for me to have some pressure on me to perform to a certain standard and also being so self-conscious of my camera presence and how my hair looked all the time. I laugh as I think of this.

Well anyway I am excited about receiving some press in a different country and the prospect of people all the way in Japan buying my jewelry!!

Akemi, myself, Aukai and the photographer

I have been gearing up all month for the upcoming Haleiwa Arts Festival which will be held this Saturday and Sunday, July 18 &19. This is by far the biggest festival I participate in all year and I love it!! I get to see so many people enjoying the festivities and the art is incredible. I wish I had more time out of my booth to walk around and browse for hours, meeting the artists!! If you aren’t already completely busy this weekend, you should definitely devote some time to come and support our local artists. There are over 150 artists from the islands and all the creations are original and handmade here in Hawaii!!

Here is a preview of the rings I will be showing:

I pounded out 25 rings in just 2 hours. Some are toe rings!!

While I was making jewelry on my lanai, one of the invasive Madagascar lizards came to check out my pliers. He was just cruising next to me for the longest time!

They are pretty but invasive and compete with our local lizards for food!

So hopefully some of you are inspired to come out and check out the festival. If you mention this blog, you’ll receive 10% off of your total purchase. You can go to www.HaleiwaArtsFestival.org for more information and a complete list of the artists.

Well I got the chance to go home to North Carolina to be in one of my best friends’ weddings 2 weekends ago. I am finally getting around to posting some of the pics. Shan and I grew up together in Charlotte, NC. And although we didn’t meet until we were 15 on a 5 week bus tour of the western United States, we became wonderful friends and still remain close friends a whole decade later. I can’t believe I’m old enough to say that! Wow time flies. So anyway, Shanley got married and she was a beautiful bride!!

beautiful Shanley on her wedding day!

We had so much fun at the reception and Shan picked out beautiful dresses for the bridesmaids. We danced into the night to an awesome band, “The Maxx,” and I had a good ol’ time down South! I even danced so much I tweaked my knee!!

I love you Shan and congrats on your newest adventure in life!

Shan and I gettin ready for her big moment

Hi everyone! Ok so I just figured out how to check out my blog stats and it is really cool to know that you are actually reading this. I never thought I’d have this many followers of my simple and, in my opinion, very elementary writing. But I am very happy!!! I had no idea that people were truly interested in my daily doings and supporting my company in it’s growing process! Not only my company, but me too, of course, and my personal path with my own soul and my son son Aukai. So thank you all for your support and taking the time to read this. I have one request, however, PLEASE give me feedback. I would love for you to leave a comment, even if it’s a simple “Hi!” OR “I liked your story about babysitting two infants at once” OR “I disliked your comment about….” I would love feedback. Mahalo!!

Here is a picture for you all to enjoy!

me and Aukai enjoying the beautiful summer day

I am so excited to announce that HIC (Hawaiian Island Creations) is now carrying Noelani Designs! My pieces are available at the following two HIC locations:

Lahaina Cannery
1221 Honoapiilani Hwy
Lahaina, HI 96761
808-667-6111

AND

Roxy Kailua
Kailua Village Shops
539 Kailua Road- suite 105
Kailua, HI 96734
808-263-ROXY

That is so exciting!! How it all happened is really exciting, too! I got the opportunity to meet the women’s buyer for HIC at a commercial audition. Sasha and I were sitting next to each other and each of us had to state our profession for the producers. As soon as she announced her position, I thought, “Oh, that’s why I’m here. I’m not going to get the audition, I am here at this moment to meet Sasha!” And everything worked out. She is so cool and sweet, not to mention pretty! (Needless to say I didn’t get the part for the commercial…)

These are some of the pieces that are now available at HIC:

All of the pieces are made of mother of pearl shell so now you can find my Island-style pieces at HIC. Check them out before they sell out!!

Today I got a visit from Hawaiian Express, a Japanese TV show based on cool things to buy and see in Hawaii. Julie, the beautiful hostess from the show, is friends with my good friend Lehua, whom the Lehua earrings are named after.

Julie and the crew have arrived!

Heidi, the coordinator for the show, was so helpful because I didn’t know what to do for the show. I got kinda nervous and she was directing me by giving me some ideas of what to talk about and how to promote my business. I even forgot I had turned on the stove to boil water for tea and Heidi noticed while I was shooting. Good thing I have good people around me!

I was so stoked that the crew to my house and got to check out the Noelani Designs studio. Julie interviewed me and I told her about how I started designing jewelry six years ago and got my business started soon after college. Then they filmed me as I made a pair of Lehua earrings for Julie.

Here are some of the behind-the-scenes pictures from today’s shoot:

Behind the scenes of Hawaiian Express

They wanted to get some close-up shots of the jewelry, so we put some on my eco-friendly rotating rack made by my good friend Jen Homcy. The rack is made completely out of recycled or second-hand wood.

Jewelry Rack by Jen Homcy from Tr3EES.com

Julie in her new Lehua earrings

I am excited to see the episode on TV! I hope I get more Japanese customers coming to my studio and designing their own jewelry.