Shells
Kahelelani
Spreads
Vault Plate 002
Shell lei arranged on sand at golden hour. The second archival plate from the Bank of Sally Shore collection.
Stories
The Collector's Hands
Her hands have sorted a quarter million shells. She can tell a kahelelani from a momi by touch alone, in the dark, underwater.
Pieces
Kahelelani Rope — Original Strand
Eleven months of sorting, grading, and stringing. A single rope of kahelelani shells from the west side of Niʻihau — the rarest shell lei material in the world.
Pieces
Kahelelani Rope
A single-rope kahelelani strand sorted by color gradient. The most labor-intensive lei in the Hawaiian tradition — each shell hand-selected, drilled, and strung on twisted thread.