That night I made my first Hele Board Wrap.
I carried my board to my neighborhood beach the next morning and I felt like a celebrity. Everyone was asking me about it. Strangers were coming up and asking me where I got it. I knew I was on to something big.
]]>If you have, then you know how hard it is. They weigh about 30-45lbs and are between 9-12' long. They usually have a 5 inch slot in the center if the board where your four fingers fit. So basically you crunch your fingers into this opening and carry the entire weight and length of the board with 4 fingers. It's tough, an sometimes impossible. If the wind picks up, it's not a good situation. You basically have to stop and rest the board on the ground until it's safe to carry again.
My "ah-ha" moment was myself and my 2 young daughters waiting to cross Honoapililani Hwy on Maui to get to Launiupoko Beach Park. It was a Saturday and there was surf, so the beach parking lot was full and we had to find parking across the highway in the overflow lot. The crosswalk at that intersection literally takes 6 whole minutes. As I stood there struggling to hold my paddle board, I noticed the beach bag on my shoulder. It was one of my newest designs (I'm a bag designer). I noticed the wide strap, then I noticed my beach towel in the bag and had an epiphany!!
What if I used the same strap I used to make the new beach bag and made it 10 times longer and sewed it all the way around a towel. Then I could wrap the towel around my 10 foot board, center it for balance, and carry it on my shoulder like a beach bag.
That night I made my first Hele Board Wrap.
I carried my board to my neighborhood beach the next morning and I felt like a celebrity. Everyone was asking me about it. Strangers were coming up and asking me where I got it. I knew I was on to something big.
]]>On my nights off, I sewed bags, headwraps, and later, the Hele Board Wrap. Sewing was my meditation. Once the girls were in bed for the night, I turned our livingroom into my sewing studio. I cut bolts of fabric on our kitchen island. I stacked up bag parts in rows across the counter. I sorted through baskets of beautiful fabric prints to find just the right ones to cut.
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These two little faces are the reason for Kahele Maui. I became a single mom when my girls, Makena and Waimea, were 5 and 2. Looking back, I'm not sure how I held it all together. Most days I would strap surfboards and paddle boards to our blue minivan and catch little waves at our favorite Kihei surf spot, the Cove or if we had a cooler packed, we would drive across the Pali Highway to Thousand Peaks and catch bigger waves.
Three nights a week I made Mai Tai's and martinis as a bartender at the Five Palms beachfront bar and later at the Four Seasons Maui Resort.
On my nights off, I sewed bags, headwraps, and later, the Hele Board Wrap. Sewing was my meditation. Once the girls were in bed for the night, I turned our livingroom into my sewing studio. I cut bolts of fabric on our kitchen island. I stacked up bag parts in rows across the counter. I sorted through baskets of beautiful fabrics to find just the right ones to cut.
You see, I love fabrics, I really, really love fabrics! I love choosing different patterns and styles that compliment each other. Completely different fabrics that, displayed next to each other, tell the unique stories of Maui and the Hawaiian islands. Surf prints, Tropical flowers, Palaka, seashells, beach scenes all displayed together in just the right way. Like I said, I loved fabrics! Luckily, people liked my designs and supported my fabric habit.
After a few years of steady business growth I had outgrown our livingroom. I packed up my bins of fabric and sewing supplies (that were by now taking over our house), I somehow got my Juki Industrial sewing machine (that weighs a ton) up 16 steps and into the back of my truck and I moved into my very own brick and mortar storefront in Kihei, South Maui.
8 years and 1 worldwide pandemic later, I'm still in that South Maui storefront. And still making beautiful bags and accessories.
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