Lei Po'o Workshop

I had the great opportunity to photograph a lei po’o class recently. For those of you who don’t know what a lei po’o is, it’s a traditional Hawaiian flower crown. A small groups of friends did a girls day and wanted me to photograph them making their cross and some portraits of them wearing the crowns they made themselves. This class is run by wonderful woman, Samai. As a florist, she has been a fan of flower crowns for a while. When she moved to Hawaii a few years ago, she dedicated herself to learning the traditional way of making lei po’os. Mai offers solo classes, as well as small groups. Her belief is that the more people that know how to make them, the more people get to carry on this centuries old tradition. Mai loves sharing her knowledge and passion with others, and doesn’t think it should be something she keeps to herself. Samai is such a bright, cheerful, and sincere person and an amazing teacher! During the class, she surprised everyone and brought out a DELICIOUS charcuterie board. And as I mentioned before, after everyone had finished making their lei po’o, I took their pictures. What I didn’t mention though, was the beautiful outdoor studio space she has! Aside from the outdoor floral tub, Mai also has a vintage VW bus that she uses to style picnics for elopements, styled sessions, or for fun events like this. She also has a gorgeous backyard garden, a wicker egg chair, and an outdoor shower. Over-all, it was an amazing experience and I cannot hype Samai up enough! If you wanna check out her instagram, you can find it here.