The Story Behind Our Koa Wood Ring Designs

The Story Behind Our Koa Wood Ring Designs

Where Each Design Came From, and the Hawaii That Inspired It

When you make phone cases, rings and watches all day, you start to wonder what you're doing with your life. Usually after a few beers and a heroic dose of mushrooms (just kidding of course), I settle into the comfort of knowing… well you gotta pay for 3 kids private school somehow.. then I think a bit deeper and realize that what I actually love about what I do, is the creative process that hopefully resonates with you on a deeper level. My hope is that you glance down at your Koa wood ring and it gives you a little bit of joy, a little bit of knowing theres a place that exists that’s not so wound around time, status and striving.. a place that’s about being and experiencing. My hope is to create little love letters to what Hawaii represents…and more importantly…what it means to you. This is the story behind those designs.. where they came from and the inspiration.


Why do all my designs start with a drawing?

Most of the rings you’ll find online start with the same handful of factories. When I started the Koa Tungsten ring craze over 13 years ago, there was none of that and I was flabbergasted how quickly I was copied. It took me 6 months to figure out how to get the wood to bend and the resin application…they sorted that in days. I realized very quickly I couldn’t compete on price so I went about making the most unique rings with the highest quality “verifiable” curly Koa from the Big Island. It turns out, they didn't care where they got their wood or if it was really Hawaiian Koa.

I started drawing all my designs (watches, jewelry, etc) so that my creations wouldn’t be copied. With rings, it’s a bit restricting…there’s only so many ways to change up a ring design but the inspiration for the design is unique to me. Everyone is drawn, prototyped, worn, usually destroyed once or twice and refined until it earns a spot in the collection.


What was the OG “original” design?

The flat top design with beveled edges was the first design. The idea was a ring that could stand up to my construction day job and this provided the most protection for the wood and resin. Basically, you’d have to scratch right down the middle to create a problem.. It still is the most robust design. The bevel catches the light nicely and create a sparkle w/ movement. The koa has enough room to display some beautiful grain and chatoyance (apparent movement of the grain in the light).


What was the second Koa wood ring design?

The second ring design was the rounded top version. Not much to this design as it follows a standard wedding ring shape. For a long time, this was the most popular so it’s available in 8mm and 6mm wide in both tungsten and titanium. Lately, the more creative designs have taken over but this has it’s place as a wedding band and all around looker. The rounded metal shines and is super comfortable as theres no hard edges.


What is the Faceted design?

I love the look of the lava fields on the Big Island. The black matte finish of the lava rock with sprouts of super green plants growing up through… the start of life returning to the lava fields. This ring is closer in color to the fresh lava fields…as you travel the big island, you can tell the different lava flows differ in years by the color of the rock.. it get’s lighter as it gets older. This is a reminder of the sprouting of life against the odds.


What’s the Black Tungsten and Mother of Pearl Design?

Another favorite experience is the black sand beaches on Maui and Big Island. This ring draws it’s inspiration from the black sand beach sitting at the end of Miloliʻi on the Big Island. A small fishing village that feels like its blissfully from a different era. The black sand beach is so stark against the Blue Pacific Ocean. Palm trees and green bushes sprout up in the middle giving the inspiration for the three elements used in the ring.


How bout the Sandblasted Koa Wood Ring?

Again, we go back to the lava fields of the big island. The gunmetal grey is a spot on match for the lava fields outside of Kona.. I should know, I color matched it. The concept on this ring is maximum Koa exposure.. the domed shape also magnifies the grain of the Koa to spectacular heights. This design only works with amazing curly Koa and we’ve got that dialed in. The resin and Koa are more exposed but they hold up surprisingly well.


The 4mm with Koa and Mother of Pearl?

This is a bit cleaner of a look with the polished silver. I wanted a thin ring that would look elegant on a smaller hand. The blue is thin but adds a spectacular Pacific Blue pop to the ring. I enlarged this to 4mm (from 3mm) to add a little more room for the Koa so that the grain is still spectacularly on display. These require a super tight curly Koa so that it can be seen properly. Rest assured, we’ve got it dialed in.


The 3mm Koa Ring?

The simplest and cleanest design… the sides are thin but allow for a maximum sliver of curly Koa to proudly shine through. This ring goes well as a women’s wedding band. Simple, clean, and beautiful.. just like your chick eh brah! Just checking if your still reading : )

A quick word on width..

I’ve found that wider than 8mm starts to get a bit uncomfortable while 8mm is perfectly fine for most men. I’m able to get different looks by widening the width of the channel w/o widening the ring. That’s why I tend to stick with the 8mm for men…it’s very versatile. The standard for a smaller width that fit both women and men is the 6mm. It doesn't look particularly masculine or feminine and works well for everyone. If you’d rather something that fits without feeling bulky, the 6mm is your jam. Smaller than 6mm starts to look more feminine but I’m sure you’ve got enough moxy to rock it anyway. I’ve noticed people like to stack the thinner rings with their engagement rings..or other rings they love.


What Koa Ring Design is Right for You?

That’s something I can’t answer…but hopefully, I’ve created something that resonates with you on a deeper level than..that’s cool. One things for sure, you can’t go wrong and the quality of our rings and Koa wood is the very best.

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FAQs

Yes — every design is drawn by hand and prototyped in our Honolulu shop, where the curly koa is also hand-finished. We started the koa-tungsten ring trend more than 13 years ago and have designed every ring since, rather than ordering shapes from a factory.

Places on the islands. The faceted ring echoes the Big Island's fresh lava fields, the black-tungsten-and-mother-of-pearl design comes from the black sand beach at Miloliʻi, and the sandblasted gunmetal is color-matched to the lava outside Kona. Each design is a small nod to somewhere in Hawaii.

The flat-top ring with beveled edges. It was our first design and it's still the most protective for the wood and resin — you'd almost have to scratch straight down the center to cause a problem. The bevel also catches the light and shows off the curl.

8mm is our most versatile men's width, 6mm is a true unisex size that suits almost everyone, and our thinner 3–4mm rings lean more delicate and stack well with other rings. We can vary the koa channel width without changing the ring width to shift the look.

The 3mm and 4mm designs are the most popular for women — thin, clean, and elegant on a smaller hand, with a bright sliver of curly koa (and a Pacific-blue mother-of-pearl option on the 4mm). The 6mm rounded band is also a great unisex wedding ring.

We put our energy into perfecting our core designs rather than one-off custom work — but between several designs, two metals, and a range of widths, there's usually one that fits. Reach out and we'll help you choose. If you want something one-off.. I know a guy.

That shimmer is called chatoyance — the wavy, tiger-stripe grain of curly koa reflects light differently as it curves, so the wood appears to ripple and shift as your hand moves. Less than 1% of koa has this figure, which is why we use it in every ring.