Forget the puka shells or the old fashioned wave pendants that your grandmother bought in Hawaii. Today, the hottest trend in Hawaiian jewelry in wood – KOA wood, to be exact. Koa grows only in Hawaii and has beautiful swirling grain patterns unseen in any other wood.
Koa from the Big Island of Hawaii is used to create beautiful personal accessories and koa jewelry worn by trendy locals,kama’aina. Visitors to the islands are seeing what the islanders are wearing and the trend going global.
Classic koa bangles or bracelets are worn by men and women alike. The narrower bangles are worn in odd numbers – 3, 5, or 7 at a time. Each bangle is carved from a single piece of koa wood. Koa bracelets go with almost any outfit, dress up for an evening out or casual for a day of shopping.
Koa rings are very popular now for wedding bands or simply to add a bit of Hawaiian style to any ensemble. Warning, don’t be fooled by cheap titanium rings that scratch easily and lose their shine. Smart kama’aina always buy koa rings made with tungsten, the hardest metal that never scratches and never needs polishing. High end retailer Martin & MacArthur has the widest selection of koa-tungsten rings in Hawaii.
Koa pendants are updated and in style now. While traditional Hawaiian fish hook pendants are still popular, young people are wearing koa pendants made with tungsten, for a shine that lasts forever. Some of the most popular styles are the koa dog tag pendant and the koa honu sea turtle pendant.
The biggest trend is definitely Koa watches. The links and casing of these wood watches are carved from solid koa wood. No one does it better than Martin & MacArthur, the company that started the Koa craze and now features the widest selection of Koa watches in the world. The company’s latest innovation is the self-winding, automatic koa watch.
Koa sets the trend in Hawaiian jewelry today.