How Huna Beads Came About
It’s one of those funny stories. The ones where 100 events prior to the idea had to occur for that particular idea to even begin to form. Never in a million years would I think I was starting a jewelry company… to talk about “living your best life”, who am I to even talk about that? Well I, like most of us, don’t know a whole awful lot but also like most, I’m putting it together piece by piece.
Huna Beads started with a pursuit to get back to me. Attending school and working as a full time waitress had me feeling productive and ambitious, but pretty overloaded. I didn’t mind it much until I would have a day off. I would get frustrated with myself because I would spend the majority of it doing nothing. I had so many ideas of what I wanted to do but the drive to do any of it wasn’t there. I was tired and feeling that if there isn’t work to be done then I was wasting my time. So, when all of the work stopped for a minute, I couldn't help but think “what am I working so hard for?” Each part of my day was designated towards setting goals and completing the never ending to do list I had set in my head.
So, over the summer I decided to quit my job, put my studies on hold, and put all my belongings in storage for 2 months and no plan. I knew that energy flows where attention goes but I couldn’t figure out where I wanted that attention to go. I figured what better place to get back to my roots then to the people that planted them, it was time to pay a visit home to my family in Maui.
I did the typical social media break to find myself freeing up a lot of mental space… and hand space. I started to realize my busy mind had busy hands
My mom would make these bracelets for friends and family, and I never took mine off. When I first got to Maui and saw her, I asked if she would make me a new one because I had given my last one away. She was happy to do so, and she was pleased to hear it was because I had given my last one away. That was the spirit of these bracelets, as my mom would insist. One night, as she sat at the dining room table to make me a new set of beads, I asked if she would be willing to teach me how make them myself. I had watched time and time again but it wasn’t until I had tried it for myself that I started to discover just how much care and attention goes into each and every piece.
As I finished my first bracelet, I had come to realize that my mom had made hundreds of them … and she had given every single one away. She didn’t gift them to just friends and family though; her recipeints were neighbors, employees, friends of friends, even complete strangers. Now, I know my mom is a generous person, but I couldn’t understand as to why she would give away so much time, energy and money to so many people whom she barely knows. I asked her, “Mom, why do you give them all away? They aren’t very easy to make, and they certainly aren’t cheap. Half of these people, you don’t even know… why do you make so many just to give away?”. She smiled at me and chuckled a little bit to herself as if she had a secret she was keeping. She said, “it allows me to share my huna with others, whoever it may be. These acts of generosity spread, see as you gave away your last bracelet for someone else to enjoy. To love is to be happy with, this is part of the Huna, and I am happy to share my craft. Now that you can make these bracelets, you can share your Huna too”
One, two, ten, fifty, the beads kept getting sewn. It became meditative,
I began to really think on these principles as I stared at making each bracelet.
My life quite literally flipped
(& from a couple beads, it sounds so silly to say).
HUNA is my lifestyle, now I share it for others to twist it, stretch it, spread it, or keep it .
The bracelets make it a little more tangible.
To feel original. To feel authentic. To be just a little extra (sometimes)
maybe it turns into a story that sticks.
A reminder to build your story for you, by you, within you.
It all comes from within.
The beads on my bracelet serve as my reminder to live my truth, as vague as that sounds. But vague is good here, to live my truth is something that is completely individual to me… one-of-a-kind. As I’ve grown I’ve realized the world makes it very very easy to get lost in conforming, and pursuing what truly makes us unique can often be a forgotten pursuit. But, as the principle a manawa goes, “energy flows where attention goes”, so here I am, putting my attention on what really matters: not just another trendy bracelet company, but a company that is setting out to really make something one-of-a-kind to me. Huna Beads is my jumble of puzzle pieces to create and connect with others in the most authentic way I can possibly imagine.
