About Pono Woodworks - Hand Finished Koa in Honolulu
We started with a straightforward belief: that good products shouldn't be hard to find. So we built a place where everything is chosen carefully, presented honestly, and backed by service that doesn't disappear after you check out.
What does Pono Mean?
What does Pono mean? Pono is a Hawaiian word that means to do what is morally right and live in harmony...it is simply our goal. We’re certainly not perfect but wanted to set the benchmark high for how we treat and interact with our customers, retail partners, suppliers, and employees. Having the name on the door seemed to be a good start. We always strive to put our customers and partners first while we work on carving out a living.
How's this work?
I hand finish all of the Hawaiian Koa wood for my designs in my shop behind my house in Honolulu. I also do the design work for the different products and figure out how to produce them. Manufacturing is a hybrid of what I can complete in my shop and what I must outsource. Turns out, some things are better made elsewhere… I’d love to make Hawaiian watch movements but I think they’d be perpetually slow : )
How'd you Start?
I love to design and create unique and meaningful products with a goal of making them life-proof. Before Pono Woodworks, I was a remodeling contractor and required a lot of durability. After destroying my original wedding ring (and then losing it in the ocean surfing…oops, don’t tell my wife), I set out to make a better ring and created the Koa inlay Tungsten ring. It created quite a trend and I was able to get them in a large retailer where I learned you could almost get away with making this a full time job.
How's it going?
I feel incredibly lucky to be able to run Pono Woodoworks as a full time business and be somewhat successful with it. The landscape has changed so drastically in the last couple years, I feel fortunate to still be in business... most of my contemporaries have folded. I’d love to say that we are a large company with deep pockets and endless designs flowing from a team of designers and woodworkers but the truth is, Pono Woodworks is a very small “boutique” design/woodworking company.I think that’s the polite way to say, I complete all the designs, prototyping, woodworking, marketing, website and oversee the manufacturing, billing, etc, etc, etc. My pockets are never deep enough and my time always seems far too limited to create all the designs I have rolling around my head. Instead, I’m forced to bootstrap and pray I don’t have a flop of a product as it could kill the business. I always feel like I’m at Vegas going all in on every design but it seems to be working so far.
What's Next?
The pandemic wiped out most of my wholesale accounts and it's been slow coming back. I was able to focus online and that has been great as I can create an experience from start to finish. I'd like to continue this with a branded vw kiosk and slowly work my way into branded retail stores.
Brett Gontarek - Founder
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Pono Woodworks?
Pono Woodworks is a small, mostly one-man shop in Honolulu, Hawaii, hand-crafting Hawaiian Koa wood accessories — watches, rings, phone cases, iWatch bands, knives, jewelry, etc. Think of us as an ETSY shop that got way out-of-hand. I started making koa rings because I couldn't find anything for my wedding that showcased real curly Hawaiian Koa the way I thought it deserved. Most "Koa" products out there use Australian Acacia or generic grain Koa. We use only the most rare and beautiful "curly" Koa, personally picked from the Big Island, hand-finish it in our shop, and back everything with a no-hassle guarantee.
What does "Pono" mean and why did you name the company that?
Pono is a Hawaiian word that has multiple connotations..but roughly translates to "doing the right thing" or living in harmony — it's a lofty goal but living in balance and doing the right thing seems to be the foundation of anything worthwhile. It's a value I try to live by and build into every piece we make. The Koa is sustainably harvested from dead or dying trees only — no live-tree cutting. The products are built to last a lifetime.. and if it isn't right, we will make it right.… That's pono.
Where is everything made?
It depends on the product but to give you an idea…for the phone cases, the phone case shells come from a specialty manufacturing partner, and then the Koa wood is hand picked, hand sanded, hand finished, and laser cut/etched in our small shop in Honolulu. We assemble it and ink the design. Jewelry follows a similar path as well as the watches… basically, the Koa portion always is worked through our shop and the designs are inked out on my desk over many beers…I mean iterations. We ship our creations to our shipping peeps on the mainland who ship out most items when you order to keep shipping fast and free. The Koa itself comes from the Big Island.
Why buy from a small shop like Pono instead of a bigger brand?
Because you get something no big brand can give you — real Hawaiian Koa, actually hand-finished in Hawaii, in a design that isn't going to be on 10 million wrists. Every product is one-of-a-kind. Every product is backed by a real person (me) with a real no-hassle guarantee. If something's not right, our automated support portal makes the exchange easy and free. That's the deal — that's pono.