Lei ‘Iwa

October 2026 
Sterling Silver

🥇🏆 FIRST PLACE WINNER 🏆🥇 
Hawai‘i Jewelers Association 2026 Design Competition
Jewelry Under $5000

The ‘iwa, or great frigatebird, is a common theme in Hawaiian art and fashion due in part to its long, graceful wings and split tail. The ‘iwa is associated with strength and wayfaring and is a kinolau of Kaiona, the goddess of the lost.

A friend of mine commissioned this piece. At dinner one night he told me that he loved my ‘Iwa Leioglyph design, but didn't want it as a pendant—he wanted an entire lei made of the stylized ‘iwa that I'd designed. We measured how he wanted it to fit around his shoulders and decided to make two other sizes so that there could be a graduation of size to a larger central bird in the front of the lei as worn. 

Finally, although the Hawaiian word "lei" and the Greek "leios" of course have vastly different meanings and linguistic trees, I do love the resultant pun of of a Leioglyph lei.