I grew up in the mountains of Hawai‘i, surrounded by wide open skies and endless ocean. That’s where my love for gold and jewelry truly began. My earliest memories are of the sounds of Hawaiian bracelets jingling together — whether it was at my mother’s or grandmother’s house, the women in my life walking down the halls as I slept.

In the 80s, my father wore a gold rope chain that never left his neck. The way it caught the light while we played in the ocean is an image I’ll never forget. The gold jewelry of my homeland runs deep and holds so much meaning. My daughter has grown up surrounded by gold — and a shared love for the pieces that hold our stories.

My creative path began in front of the camera, where I first fell in love with imagery — a love that eventually led me to photography. Moving from Hawai‘i to Los Angeles opened my world to visual storytelling, and photography became my main creative outlet. Over the past twelve years, my work has taken me across the globe and deep into the world of high jewelry — shaping my eye for detail, light, and craftsmanship.

In recent years, I’ve immersed myself in the age-old process of lost wax. Each piece begins in wax before being cast in gold — a tactile, meditative process that’s become a quiet counterbalance to my photographs. It’s a return to something timeless: a place to slow down, focus my imagination, and create with my hands.

That background — emotional, tactile, and visual — is the foundation of how I design.