Lei by Kealohi

03/23/2025

Had fun making this ribbon lei with faux flowers 💐 it’s been a while since creating with ribbons, which makes it feel like returning to an old friend. Created as a departing gift 🍊🌷🌼

03/20/2025

Happy spring equinox! ☀️🌱🌼
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Today is one of two days a year when both hemispheres of earth get equal amounts of sunlight & is considered the first day of spring on turtle island! ☀️
Although this isn’t historically a Hawaiian way of time keeping, living on the continent means adapting to the landscape & learning from Indigenous people here who’ve navigated/stewarded this environment for centuries.
Experiencing snowy winters especially reminds me to appreciate the changing of seasons - to sit with the CA poppies, revel in the sun & appreciate the blessing of slow moments with ‘āina in uncertain and tumultuous times.
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[repost last 2 slides from , ]

03/18/2025

Pūʻolo: bundle; to tie up in a bundle at the top; wrapped kapa, tī leaves, and other plants;
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This pū’olo was brought to the ocean as an offering of grief - an abundance of love for someone with nowhere for it to go. It’s filled with lei as a physical manifestation of that aloha — lei pua melia (plumeria), pua ka launa (crown) & pua kou (cordia subcordata). Ka’ena point is also known as leina a ka ‘uhane where loved ones leap into the afterlife, so I hope these lei made it across the threshold as well.

11/21/2024

Spent a month on Moku o Keawe (Big Island) & it was filled with lei 💜 Grateful to have some time to tune in with ‘āina & build pilina with plants that I got to mālama at my aunty’s home - including this pōhinahina! This is one of the first plants they’ve grown in abundance to reforest their farm with native plants 😊

09/02/2024

08/28/2024

Fall semester starting up this week but I’m still appreciative of having the chance to make lei for graduates last semester. Loved seeing this polaroid collage of Cerritos College graduates in the EOPS office — white carnation lei on blue 💙

07/11/2024

I often forget to take pics thru out the lei making process, but sometimes I gettum. just a scrappy backyard setup with plants & a dream to share lei with community ☀️

06/27/2024

how precious is she?! 😭💗 Matching pink/purple set for this sweet lil baby’s preschool promotion 🫶🏼

06/14/2024

Top 10 best feelings is when you see all the lei you’ve made for them adorned beautifully in their home 💚
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The wonderful thing about lei is that it’s not a one time wear, keep them until you’re ready to let go. Remove the string & bow, then return the natural materials to the land — it’s ceremony, it’s a release of the mana in that chapter you’ve been holding on to. I take my lei to water, whether it’s the ocean or river, and let it wash away the crushed dried flower to continue in the life cycle 🦋

06/13/2024

First plumeria blooms of the season at the minami household 💛 The excitement builds as our trees have slowly grown full with leaves and buds… as seasons change so do the plants we’ve nourished thru the years & it’s a beautiful thing to bear witness to. Without fail, nature reminds me there’s no flowers without rain & loving like ‘āina means embracing the ebb/flow of growth 🌊

05/08/2024

Lovely lavender graduate + performer 💜
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These lei kept me grounded & connected to the plants growing around me as my dear friend asked for foraged plants. Theo wrote a song in collaboration with a poem their grandma composed mentioning gifts of rosemary. Asking neighbors for plants from their yard, I feel blessed to build community while calling upon ancestral memories making this different lei hili of rosemary 🪻
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(Ps: enjoy these rough cut pics in my “lei stations” cuz we make do with what we got & reality is not always as aesthetically beautiful as what we create😝)

05/07/2024

Congratulations to Cerritos College EOPS/CARE/LINC/NextUp grads!! 🦅💙
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This lei was donated to their raffle celebration & was won by this sweet graduate. Graduating college is no small feat & not only do graduates deserve their flowers, but the family, friends & community who support them along the way also 🌹