Bloom Bloom, Pow! These Flower-Blocked Lei Pack a Punch
Stamen + Style creates bold looks for lei by mixing and matching different blocks of blooms.
Editor’s note: This story was first published in December 2023, and Jill Harunaga’s flower-blocked style of lei has since blown up. She now teaches a highly sought-after class at Island-Boy.
Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
“Science is kind of creative,” Jill Harunaga says, noting my surprise at her previous career. Before launching her lei business, Stamen + Style, in 2018, the floral artist spent years in laboratories as a bench scientist. “A lot of it is doing presentations and submitting research for publication,” says Harunaga, who holds a doctorate in biology. “You’re presenting your work through graphics and images, making it visually beautiful.”
Science also taught Harunaga that you can’t be afraid to experiment, an ethos she leaned on after moving back to the Islands with her husband to start their family. When daughter No. 2 arrived, she pivoted to lei-making, a more time-flexible career. She wandered into it after whipping up a few lei for her keiki’s teachers using plumeria and pua kenikeni from her own yard.
SEE ALSO: Fashion Designer and Lei-Maker Meleana Estes Launches A New Book
Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
We’re especially smitten with her unique style of flower-blocking, mixing and matching different blocks of blooms in visually surprising and delightful ways. A single lei can sometimes include up to 10 different elements. As it turns out, the method was born out of sheer practicality.
Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
“The original plan was to do traditional-looking lei,” she admits with a laugh. “I started doing it that way because I didn’t have enough flowers to make a whole lei out of one flower.”
Harunaga also enjoys playing with asymmetry and unusual materials, such as agave and aloe flowers and boisterous bombax blooms. The results feel fresh and modern.
Currently, Stamen + Style retails in small batches through Island-Boy and Olive Boutique. And Harunaga hypothesizes that lei workshops will likely be her next big step. Until then, custom orders meant to celebrate special life moments are her favorite to create.
“I love hearing about who’s going to get the lei,” she says. “I like to think about them when I’m stringing it—it’s mana-full.”
SEE ALSO: In the Mood for Lei: Where to Take Lei-Making Classes on O‘ahu
Brie Thalmann is the managing style editor of HONOLULU Magazine.
