“Our ambience and flavors from Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Jamaica will take you on a gastronomical experience that will leave you feeling like you are in the Caribbean in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!”

Amid COVID-19’s devastating economic challenges, especially in the food & beverage sector, Sara Polanco chooses to not just survive but thrive. Sara’s unfaltering belief that Maui needs authentic Caribbean cuisine paired with her heritage and experience ideally positions her to share its unique spices, preparations, and cultural ambiance. Starting with booths at local street town parties and farmers markets, she soon became known as the Empanada Lady (empanadas are crescent-shaped, savory pastries made of dough and filled with a variety of ingredients; savory turnovers that can be fried or baked.)

The Empanada Lady (LLC) Restaurant opened in the quaint town of Wailuku, Maui in July 2019 only to close mere months later by COVID-19 mandates. Undaunted, utilizing small federal PPP and EIDL funding and negotiated rent forbearance, Sara reopened in June 2020. Still under the restrictive COVID dine-in guidelines for sanitation and social distancing she significantly increased sales by adding online ordering, take out and obtaining a liquor license. Sara doubled down on her marketing, offering many promos and discounts to maintain customer relations and communications. A huge boost in customer visits (and revenue) came about through daughter, Tanama’s passion for singing by offering the restaurant (and now also bar) on weekend nights as a live performance venue for the non-profit Jazz Maui. During July to December 2020, food/liquor sales was profitable.

Challenges beyond COVID continue however as the County intermittently closes Wailuku streets/parking and access in 2021 for a major Civic Center/Parking Structure/Government Building project. Dine-in must again shut down until December 31, 2021. They have successfully negotiated an agreement with the landlord to renovate the restaurant during the closure in lieu of rent, while still serving limited take-out and offsite events to preserve the brand. These tenant improvements will magnify the restaurant’s appeal when they are allowed to re-open for dine-in, January 2022.

Hawaii Small Business Development Center, Maui provided technical support and guidance throughout these tough economic times (including with Federal relief funding). In the spirit of not just surviving but thriving, Sara has signed up with HiSBDC-Maui to continue to work on these critical need areas:

• Leadership Principles & Organization developing organization chart, employee manual and job descriptions – creating policies and procedures, roles and definitions
• Business Model Development-Customer/Value Proposition/Revenue Streams developing cost tracking and control systems for kitchen and bar operations
• Financial Systems-Accounting/Cost structure/Controls developing accounting procedures – outlining management accounting reports for cost controls.

The Empanada Lady can be found online at: the-empanada-lady.business.site and facebook.com/themepanadaladymaui.

Entrpreneur Adapts (Pivots) to Award-winning Success

In 2010, a pregnant Monica Bogar leveraged her soon to be stay-at-home mom situation by “consulting” YouTube to transform her backyard into a sustainable, organic urban farm focused on Aquaponics. She developed her subject matter expertise but needed business expertise and started working with the Maui office of the Hawaiʻi Small Business Development Center, resulting in a long-time relationship of advisement and business development.

The foundation of what Monica has always believed is providing Fresh, Locally grown food, using Organic principles and methods and ultimately developing a network of like-minded food providers and consumers.

This is Napili Fresh Organic Farm LLC DBA “Napili FLO Farm”.

By April 2011, Monica realized that aquaponics from her urban-home setting was always going to be limited and acquiring more acreage was contra to working from home. Monica identified a significant demand for microgreens, a high value crop that could be grown in very little space with high harvest turnover. Year-end 2011, Napili Flo Farms pivoted from aquaponics to greenhouse fresh microgreens.

The microgreen business started great but by Jan 2016, microgreen competition had heated up, driving prices down, so again, a pivot was called for. Inspired by a well-regarded family recipe for Korean fermented pickled vegetables known as “KimChi”, Napili FLO Farm had it’s next pivot as a food manufacturer. Monica enrolled in the first cohort of the Maui Food Innovation Center’s X-celerating Foodpreneurs program to obtain subject matter expertise in food manufacturing.

In 2017, Napili FLO Farm officially became a “locally-crafted artisanal kimchi and fermented foods” manufacturer focusing on wholesale accounts and local Farmers Markets. In 2020, Napili FLO Farm won two national awards from the San Francisco-based Good Food Foundation for its Pineapple-Ginger-Turmeric Sauerkraut and Gut Shots, a probiotic elixir made from kimchi brine.

COVID19 in April 2020 necessitated the latest major pivot as wholesale accounts disappeared. Monica re-focused on direct sales to consumers by updating her social media and extensively revamping her website: napiliflofarm.com. This enabled her to reach her new consumer audience with fully enable e-commerce and fulfillment. Most importantly, her sales volumes were restored.

Chester “Woody” Smith started Woody’s Plumbing Services LLC in 2016-17 to spend more quality time with his newborn son and to create a cohesive work environment dictated by his morals and standards. What he and wife Zasha created in Woody’s Plumbing is a more personal and trustworthy customer experience with expert quality work by a licensed plumber. Believing in a client-focused relationship, Woody’s even offers alternative solutions or DIY tips if the client wants to save money in the short term.

Owners Woody and Zasha Smith approached the SBDC back in fall 2018 for guidance to hire their first employee. Through advising sessions with Maui Center Director, Wayne Wong, the Smiths were able to proceed with an onboarding process to hire staff (Woody currently has 4 employees).

In later part of 2019, the SBDC assisted again when the Smiths needed financing to expand and bring on new equipment. “Using the latest camera and locating equipment, we can detect leaks, provide sewer inspections and even install in-place, pipe restoration/new pipe coating,” says Woody.

COVID-19 economic challenges necessitated a severe pull back from their aggressive growth business plan. They reconfigured the budget, cutting back as many expenses as possible while maintaining their solid expert staff. Work has slowed but Woody is determined to continue to help his community.

The company continues to strategize with the help of SBDC Maui Center. SBDC’s assistance enabled Woody’s to successfully acquire both CARES Act Payroll Protection Program money and the SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan to maintain staff and service offerings. To keep an inflow of business even during these difficult times, customer communication was increased, sanitation and customer safety was emphasized, and prices were dropped to help people afford services. Furthermore, availability/access was increased by staying open 24/7, and offering free estimates and COVID discounts to those who are really in a bind.

Woody is confident that steadily growth for his company will happen again once people feel safer with having others in their homes and he remains well positioned to make that happen.

Woody’s Plumbing Services can be found online at: woodysplumbingservices.com and facebook.com/woodysplumbingmaui.

Motivation, Education, Dedication; Strength & Fitness can overcome sickness…

Justin Yanagida, Maui-based trainer and gym owner of Yanagida Fitness LLC opened up shop over 4 years ago at the age of 19 with less than $70. Today, the business is thriving supporting 11 employees and revenues of over $100K. With no prior experience in running a business, no marketing or business plan, he found it was difficult convincing people to believe in him. For example, when shopping for gym space, a landlord asked him where his father was. Then, when clients didn’t come rushing to his new gym, his determination had him walking the neighborhood, door-to-door, to introduce himself and his business. As other gyms around him started to falter, with SBDC’s advice, Justin fine-tuned his value proposition and re-emphasized his differentiation by creating custom offerings targeting high value clients looking for individualized training and added corporate offerings emphasizing wellness. With business growth came scalability challenges as Justin didn’t think he could afford to hire highly experienced coaches. With SBDC guidance he designed a curriculum to “build” desirable career-oriented coaches. He was ingenious in looking at his 3 original clients and developing them into the coaches he wanted. Three of the five original people he trained are still with him today, benefitting his business and creating sustainable wage jobs for Maui County.

Born and raised on Maui, Yanagida’s childhood was a constant battle with chronic asthma and liver illness. By his teen years he was overweight, was being bullied and unsurprisingly, depressed. His strong desire to play sports eventually motivated him to find a way to overcome his physical limitations. He now shares his story in his business as a Certified Fitness Professional, as well as in two published books to inspire others to take that first step; that fitness can overcome sickness.

Impacts attributed to guidance from HiSBDC towards his goal of scaling to a sustainable enterprise with employee coaches:

• Developed employee hiring, training, management and retention protocol = 11 part time employees
• Services and value proposition development = Custom Corporate Wellness Programs and over $100K annual sales
• Sales growth to support new expansion of Gym Facilities (Re-Grand Opening Dec 2019)
• Published second book, expanding on his first book integrating two new concepts: recovery and the role mindset plays. Besides sharing lessons learned there is a section where five of his coaches are contributing authors. Available on Amazon.com.
• Nominee for 2018 Maui Mayor’s Small Business Awards for exceptional small business, less-than-10-employees category, then again in 2019 for Young Businessperson of the Year.

Appreciated Expertise in Clean and Safe Kitchens on Maui

After years of being “under appreciated” as night manager for a worldrenowned restaurant, Dana Daniels wanted to strike out on his own and started Deep Kine Kitchen Cleaning, a commercial kitchen cleaning service specializing in deep cleaning, especially exhaust vent cleaning.

Shortly after starting his business in January 2018, Dana and his wife Wendy approached the Maui Center of the Hawaii SBDC for business guidance, with cashflow as a main concern. Dana felt that as he took on more clients, adequate cashflow became a larger and larger challenge. Unfamiliar with managing business debt and financing, the client needed direction.

Through advising from Maui Center Director, Wayne Wong, the Daniels computed profit and loss projections as a basis for forecasting a sustainable cashflow. Additionally, SBDC coached them on pricing, best practices for financing and lines of credit and effective marketing on a budget. The result has been an abundance of leads and exciting new client acquisitions.

Deep Kine Kitchen Cleaning’s specialization on deep cleaning and exhaust vent cleaning, along with a building reputation as reliable and for outstanding work has created a lot of demand for his services. He has acquired some big clients (i.e., Maui Ocean Center) as well as well-known, high-end restaurants (Sarentos, and Ruth Chris). Registering with HIePRO, the State of Hawaii eProcurement system, enabled successful bidding on State government contracting jobs. Currently, his government clients include a hospital, a college and schools (i.e., Maui Memorial Medical Center, UH Maui College).

Dana and Wendy feel SBDC gave him the fundamentals and support that helped him start off properly. He now looks back and sees how that foundation allowed him to jump out ahead of his initial expectations. He carefully noted the things the advisor suggested, learned and implemented them and feels that’s why he’s where he is today.

June 2019 marks 1.5 years in business. In that time Deep Kine Kitchen Cleaning has grown to 5 fulltime employees, paid significantly over minimum wage at $18 hour. Counting himself and his wife Wendy, that makes a total of 7 jobs created.

Above all, Dana and Wendy feel fulfilled as small business owners and are proud of the jobs they’ve been able to create. Even better, they enjoy that their destiny and further achievements are only limited by how smart they work at it.

Young Entrepreneurs take over a 25-year-old Flower Farm

Emily Church and Tasha Wright have a dream of running a profitable working farm and eventually offering farm teaching to schools and agri-eco tourism activities to others. An opportunity arose to take over a long-established Protea Flower Farm from retiring owners, prompting the team to seek assistance from the Hawaii SBDC -Maui Center.

After researching the existing S-Corporation ownership, SBDC provided advice and guidance:

• Creation of a new legal entity with a Purchase and Sale Agreement for the company goodwill, branding and assets rather than purchase and assuming the shares (and liabilities) of the S-Corporation
• Introduction to and application preparation for financing with the USDA Farm Service Agency for a low interest farm loan
• Creation of an employee manual with policies to hire/save the jobs of the 4 previous employees of the S-Corporation.
• An updated business plan that included not just expansion of the wholesale flowers business, but a move into retail with the opening of a small retail flower stand in the nearby town and expansion into asparagus, both as a crop and a value-added salsa product.

As of the end of September 2018, Emily and Tasha are officially the new owners of Anuhea Flowers. “We are carrying on the legacy and continue to work hard to care for and cultivate the land to produce gorgeous harvests, so we can design and arrange beautiful, fresh-cut long stem gift boxes, arrangements, and wreaths for our customers to enjoy locally and across the nation.”

Anuhea Flowers can be found online at: anuheaflowers.com on Instagram @anuheaflowers and check us out on Facebook at Anuhea Flowers.

Maui Company Creates First FDA-approved Coral-Safe Sunscreen

With help from the Hawaii Small Business Development Center (SBDC), Maui resident Jenna Davis created Raw Love Sunscreen, waterproof and rated SPF 35. It is the first FDA approved, coral-safe sunscreen created in Hawaiʻi (Zinc based with no harmful chemicals, preservatives or fillers and also features plastic-free packaging.)

Davis put her background in chemistry and marine biology to work, initially transforming her kitchen into a lab to create her own unique mineral sunscreen for herself and friends. As demand grew, she discovered getting her product into retail stores, was not a simple task and Davis sought out the SBDC for assistance.

“Sunscreen is considered an ‘over-the- counter’ drug for retail compliance purposes requiring FDA-certified Drug testing, an SPF protection rating certification and an FDA-certified Manufacturing facility to mix and bottle the sunscreen. These facilities are not available in Hawaiʻi”, said Wayne Wong, center director. “Furthermore, it is a good time to be in the business of selling reef-friendly sunscreen products, as legislation has just passed that would make Hawaiʻi the first state to ban sunscreens that contain ingredients found to be harmful to coral reefs and other marine life.” With SBDC guidance, Davis was able to move forward with testing and manufacturing.

Her product is now in over 100 stores and will be soon be on shelves locally at Whole Foods and hitting mainland stores next month as well. Jenna also sells her products direct online at her website as well as on Amazon.com. Moving into wholesale, within this next year, she expects to, and is prepared to have production to support, selling over 10,000 units per month.

Hawaiʻi SBDC helped Jenna since March of 2016 starting from registering her business with guidance for a growth and marketing strategy through FDA certification and manufacturing and most recently how to approach wholesale distribution.

Raw Love Sunscreen can be found online at: rawlovesunscreen.com and facebook.com/rawlovesunscreen.

Things to do on Maui – Stargazing on Haleakala

Jan Roberson conducts astronomy tours at Mount Haleakala under a special permit from the National Parks Service. It is Maui’s ultimate, science-based visitor activity and is fun for all ages. It all starts with a spectacular sunset at the 10,000-foot summit. As darkness settles, the spectacular night sky reveals visible planets and deep space objects, including galaxies, nebulae and star clusters. Jan orients her guests with a laser-guided tour of the constellations followed by dazzling close-up views through the largest portable telescope on Haleakala. Maui Stargazing even supplies all the necessary warm clothing to keep guests comfortable throughout the stargazing session.

Jan came to the Hawaii SBDC Maui Center in early 2017 because her business paperwork and tax reporting seemed overwhelmingly complicated and she desired better profitability. By analyzing her situation and reconfirming her goals, her corporation was dissolved and replaced with a more streamlined sole-member LLC. Then marketing was analyzed, especially looking at campaign tracking and calculating return on investment. Some significant traffic generators were found to be unprofitable due to extremely high subscription costs and replacing those marketing channels with online and social media marketing resulted in sustained and even improved lead volumes at a much lower cost. Rebranding with a fresh and updated logo also helped with better user acceptance. The result is easier accounting and administration, improved client traffic and most importantly improved profitability. Equally significant is that Jan is in control of her business with metrics that indicate the health of her business.

Most recently, National Parks pressure to reduce automobile traffic and parking congestion spurred Jan to think about acquiring a large van to transport guests in style and provide additional opportunity to educate them. Hawaiʻi SBDC assisted in the selection and financing of a van, assist in vetting the marketing and identity wrap for the van and assistance with obtaining the PUC license.

Maui Stargazing can be found online at: mauistargazing.com and on Facebook at: facebook.com/MauiStargazing and online review sites: TripAdvisor.com and Yelp.com.

Cultivating Island Style Marinade Using Some of Hawaii’s Freshest Local Ingredients

Agnes Dinh and Gary Lee loved barbequing but never imagined their “secret” sauce for family gatherings could result in anything but a bunch of satisfied palettes – certainly not a family-owned business. With the addition of a baby daughter, however, they were inspired to do something more that would provide for this new family.

They approached the Hawaiʻi SBDC in early 2016 to explore what it would take to start a business. Per Agnes, “the Maui SBDC office was instrumental in guiding us and validating our idea. We were referred to the right food group resources to obtain food permits, food safety requirements, labeling and barcode requirements and bottle manufacturing.” Elle’s Maui Kitchen was born, featuring Elle’s Island Style Marinades, a unique blend of flavors from fresh local ingredients that differs from the rest of the brands on the shelves. Its sweet yet savory flavors offer versatility allowing it to be paired with meats, seafood, and vegetables.

The SBDC advisor encouraged and prepared the company for a debut at the largest products show in Maui County; Made in Maui County Festival, a two-day annual event that introduces local product vendors to state-wide buyers and distributors on one day and is open to the public for retail on the second day. Elle’s Island Style Marinade was a hit and sold out their complete inventory. Equally significant, wholesale contacts made at the show enabled Elle’s Maui Kitchen to secure accounts with six significant wholesale venues. Additional interest in foreign exports are being negotiated with Canada, Japan and Korea.

Since the company’s inception, Elle’s Kitchen has become a proud participant of the Made in Hawaiʻi with Aloha and Hawaiʻi Seal of Quality programs. It is a privilege to qualify for these programs and represent the cream of the crop of Hawaiʻi’s producers, establishing and protecting the integrity and value of products that are Hawaiʻi made or grown.

It was frightening for both Agnes and Gary to quit their “day” jobs to work full time in the business. But with the guidance the SBDC provided and the knowledge that the SBDC will be there for the next stages of their business development, Agnes and Gary feel confident that they can quickly overcome any challenges in growing their new business. Stay tuned for further updates.

Elle’s Maui Kitchen can be found online at: ellesmauikitchen.com and facebook.com/ellesmauikitchen.

Penny Dant of Pukalani, Maui has something special up her sleeves. Her business, Maui Mini Aloha, designs and produces origami fabric mini-aloha shirts. Originally conceived as Maui mementos and Christmas tree ornaments, the unique detail and quality, using authentic aloha shirt fabric and buttons, has elevated the mini-shirts to be sought out as collectables, custom designs event memorabilia and even as unique “money holder cards” for graduations and birthdays. Started in December 2013 at Penny’s dining room table, today, she employs five and her products can be found in over 30 retail locations. The company has been a standout performer at the annual Made In Maui County Festival, one of the largest product shows in the State of Hawaii, where most recently she won second place for booth design from over 140 other vendors.

Penny engaged the Maui SBDC in early 2016 when her sales started to plateau and she entertained dropping her wholesale prices. A quick analysis revealed that there was not much profit margin to sacrifice. Even more telling was identifying which of her retailers were performing and which ones could be replaced by better performing partners. Retail partner assessment also opened other doors to even more selling partners – restoring and surpassing the previous sales levels. The same analysis also motivated product development into more lines and even “sets” of mini-aloha shirts: the wedding series (both custom and sets) and the coffee series.

With the Hawaiʻi SBDC’s counseling, Penny focuses “On” her business rather than just “In” her business using metrics to determine what is happening. “SBDC not only provided needed subject matter expertise but motivated me to get into a personally uncomfortable area – looking at ‘numbers’. That enabled me to make sense of what was happening and control things,” says Penny.

The next challenge for Penny is to develop a long-term strategy with the desire that the business continue to grow and provide jobs. SBDC is currently working on that with Penny and you can bet that she has more surprises up her sleeves.

Mitzi Toro is The Maui Cookie Lady crafting cookies with distinct flavor, utilizing quality, primarily locally sourced ingredients. She just likes making people happy with food and feels it’s a way to connect with people.

As a tribute to her late dad, Mitzi wanted to raise money in appreciation for the team of nurses that tended to him. The fundraising cookie sales were a hit. Never intending her fundraising would turn into a business, a growing list of orders compelled Mitzi to launch her inventive bakery turning out a host of handcrafted cookies, cakes and other items.

Her orders took off, but with no guidance or direction, Mitzi became over-whelmed. Large orders that initially were exciting started to mean a seemingly endless string of all-nighters as she struggled to keep up with production. With no budget and no statistics, she did not even know if she was making a profit.

To make sense of what was happening, Mitzi turned to the Hawaiʻi Small Business Development Network – Maui Center. Mitzi was advised to work “On” her business rather than just “In” her business enabling her to understand and control where she was going. She was provided a framework for documenting, planning, measuring and analyzing the state of business:

• Referred Mitzi to a local 36-hour course which provided an understanding of business concepts while enabling completion of comprehensive Business Plan,
• Assisted transition of financial records from a “shoebox” system to QuickBooks to both streamline paperwork and implement financial reporting that provided status and guidance to profitability goals,
• Analysis revealed her largest cost was not labor (which had previously been assumed) but production methods which severely limited business growth. This lead to acquisition of a bench top dough dropper that increases production capacity by a factor of over 2,000X while maintaining quality.

With the Hawaiʻi SBDC’s counseling, Mitzi now works “On” her business as much as “In” her business and it now makes sense. Experiencing positive results, Mitzi has renewed enthusiasm for her business, instilling enough confidence in her profit projections that she’s shedding her “safety net, day job” to conduct her business full-time.

In the fall of 2013, the owner of Positive Apparel, a $400k annual revenue silk screen T-shirt printing company approached the Hawaiʻi SBDC Network (SBDC) on Maui to assist with the purchase of another similar business. The SBDC worked with them to successfully purchase another silk screen T-Shirt business, thus doubling sales and adding 5 more employees. However, the owner did not stop there, they have partnered with another T-shirt business and expect to double sales yet again in 2014.

The Positive Apparel story is very appealing and unique. While they specialize in hyper-detailed, multicolored screen printing, it is more about the creativity and positive attitude of the company. The owner created and branded the “HI, I like you” concept which in his words means:

“Three simple words when used together are so powerful. Never could I have imagined the effect they have on those around me. I’ve always liked to consider myself as a caring person and have tried my best to help where I could but, once I started using the words, the results were miraculous. The more I used ‘HI, I like you’ to help brighten someone’s day the more I began hearing others saying (and meaning) the same thing. People’s lives were being changed in a happy and positive, way.”

The SBDC continues to mentor and assist the company with continued growth.

Founded by C.T. Ryder, Univision Hawaiʻi is the only locally-owned and operated, major broadcast television network affiliate TV Station in the state. After persuading the CEO of Univision to grant him the affiliation back in 1999, C.T. put the new Univision station on air with an analog transmitter and antenna, broadcasting the station over the airwaves on the island of Oʻahu.

The station had been on-air since March 2000 with the Univision affiliation but could not pursue local ad sales without digital cable distribution.

In 2013, C.T. came to the Hawaiʻi SBDC seeking assistance in obtaining growth capital to finance the digital conversion of its analog signal and to purchase equipment for ad insertion, master control and other general corporate purposes. Together with the help of his SBDC advisor, they spent many hours reviewing and updating his financial model and projections, reviewing various financing terms including private placement investments and other funding options. In early 2015, C.T. was able to submit a finished business plan and was approved for a $1.2 million loan.

Upon funding, work quickly began to obtain sustained digital transmission and by May 2015, Univision Hawaiʻi was permanently converted to digital signal. Further improvements include the ad insertion software and hiring of sales personnel. Stay tuned for further updates.

Univision Hawaiʻi broadcasts statewide on every island through Oceanic Time Warner Cable’s “Digital Variety Pak”, on Channel 35.

Diversified Crane Maui is a local small business based in Wailuku, Maui. The company provides dependable boom trucks, crane rentals and crane services for transporting and lifting heavy commodities.

Their portfolio includes the successful construction of master-planned communities, commercial buildings, office complexes, and more.

The Gushiken’s pride themselves on maintaining safety. Through certified equipment maintenance, operator certifications and securing the newest Crane Smart systems, the company provides the safe and professional services sought by projects on Maui.

“We are certified by the National Commission of Crane Operators and the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Labor and Industrial Relations as a Hoisting Machine Operator. Diversified Crane is a certified rigger and certified signal person… Our standards are as high as our lifts!”

Owners Ika and Paula Gushiken came to the Hawaiʻi SBDC in October 2014 for advising on securing a bank loan to purchase a 300-ton crane to add to their heavy equipment rental company.

Through their appointments with their SBDC consultant, they were able to produce a detailed feasibility for a $600,000 crane and successfully secured the purchase.

In 2012, with the assistance of the Hawaiʻi SBDC Network (SBDC), Sherri Dhyan opened a studio in Paʻia, Maui. The SBDC assisted with obtaining the necessary financing to start the business and continue to mentor when appropriate. The company has recently just reached the two year anniversary and added two employees.

Studio22k is a showcase for goldsmith Sherri Dhyan and her guest 22k goldsmiths from around the world. Each goldsmith represented in Studio22k handcrafts their own unique jewelry.

The main purpose of Studio22k is to support and perpetuate the art of hand-fabrication 22k goldsmithing with integrity and honor.

Studio22k is a one of a kind gallery and workshop located on Maui, Hawaiʻi’s north shore. They specialize in ancient gold smithing techniques with a design focus from the Byzantine and Mesopotamian Empire. There are only a handful of goldsmiths in the world utilizing this ancient form of jewelry art. You can clearly see the influence of these ancient cultures in all the jewelers’ works.