How it started
Wings started in 2003 at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa: Sam and her best friends, surfer girls selling what they made at campus sales. Jewelry from hand-gathered Hawaiian shells and recycled metals, clothes from repurposed fabrics.
In 2005 Wings moved to Maui, and it’s still here: jewelry made at our bench in Haʻikū, sold in our shop in Pāʻia.
“If I had listened to all the business people who told me it wasn’t going to work, then I wouldn’t be here.”
Samantha Howard, founder and head designer
In the studio
Our jewelry is made by hand in our studio at the old Pauwela Cannery in Haʻikū, where we also sew and screen print.
Stamping metal at the bench
Sunrise shells and cowries, sorted
Sewing on a patch
Screen printing
Highlights
2003
Started at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, on Oʻahu
2005
Moved to Maui
2008
Opened our studio in Haʻikū; our jewelry in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit for the first time, on Tori Praver
2009
Moved the shop to Pāʻia
2013
Back in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, on Kate Upton
2021
Moved to our shop at 100 Hana Hwy
The team, on the step of the Pāʻia shop