We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chauncy Santiago. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chauncy below.

Alright, Chauncy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

It spent a lot of time trying to find the right name, something that would encapsulate the reason why I wanted to create this company and after a long time with the help of some family I realized the answer was in front of me all along.

In the Hawaiian culture children are often bestowed a Hawaiian name by a loved one, often times it tells a story or is a way to express a hope for the child. My personal Hawaiian name was given to me by a close family friend and has a special meaning attached to its translation but it starts with the word Lei’ohu.

Lei’ohu on its own can be translated to mean “adorned with Lei”, Another beloved tradition in our culture is the art of making Lei, gorgeous and unique hand picked flowers and greenery strung to create necklaces, bracelets and head pieces.

Lei can be given in times of happiness, celebration, sorrow & given with love. Some of the best feedback we can receive is that a piece reminds you of a person, place or time. Our goal has always been to create products that are reflective of & inspired by Hawaii to “adorn” our everyday lives with reminders of our home and so the name Lei’ohu was a perfect fit.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I grew up on Hawai’i Island (Big Island) This company was really created as a byproduct of COVID, Before 2020 I was working with an eco-tourism company as a operations manager. I had been working with the company for almost 5 years and I loved it, working there really helped me to gain a deeper appreciation for my home. I was able to learn so much more about the geology, the culture, the flora + fauna that makes the Hawaiian Islands unique and it really created this connection that I had been missing.

When the world shut down because of COVID, I like everyone else had a lot of time on my hands (I also broke my foot two weeks in lol) So I was pretty much stuck on my couch for the first month or so. I think one of the silver linings about the pandemic is it really allowed people to explore aspects of their life that they wouldn’t have had the time to do. I have always been drawn to creative arts, when I was younger I would draw and paint and play musical instruments. So when I found myself with all this free time I started to draw again, then I started looking into other mediums and I taught myself how to create the same works digitally. It was a bit of a learning curve going from pen and ink to an ipad but once I figured it out I was obsessed.

The idea for creating the company came after I used some of my designs on a phone case, a simple Puakenikeni Lei, this was just for my personal use, but once people saw it they immediately started asking “who made that case?” “Where can I get it?” “I’ll buy one from you right now!” I was shocked, but then I started to realize that so many times when I would be looking for a phone case I felt like I was settling, the designs I saw had no personal connection to me, they were pretty but they did not relate to anything I grew up with or saw in my day to day life. So I thought “how cool would it be to create designs that are familiar to not only me but too all of the people who live in Hawaii, or who grew up here or who visited. I started to make more designs, create an instagram account and launch a website and the response was overwhelming. So many people purchased cases but the greatest gift was receiving feedback – People reached out saying they are so excited because the design is their favorite pua (flower), or it reminds them of their tutu (grandma) or sending us cute stories.

That connection, that ability to make someone feel happiness or bring back a fond memory that is what motivates us. We started out with phone cases but since our beginning we really are focused on becoming a lifestyle brand. Creating modern and functional products for your everyday life that are inspired and reflective of Hawai’i. Our lifestyle brand covers multiple areas but I would say our pillars are the following;

Electronic Accessories: We carry our electronics with us at all times, our Electronic accessory line includes cases for your phone, airpods, macbooks, ipads and more. Each designed to keep your electronics safe and secure while on the go.

Beach Accessories: As a local girl who grew up at the beach we had to include beach accessories in our lineup and as an avid beach goer we wanted to create products that would enhance your overall experience. Sand-free, quick drying Microfiber towels and beach mats, and our best selling water resistant line of pouches and tote bags are some of our favorite products in the line.

Lifestyle Accessories: We wanted to bring a little bit of Aloha to your home with products like fleece blankets and art prints. Our lunch bags and grocery bags are some of our best sellers!

Travel Accessories: As one who can never turn down an adventure creating a line of Travel Accessories was something that was extremely important to me. I wanted functional items, bags with trolley sleeves and ample organizational storage. Organizational options for your makeup, jewelry and even packing cubes.

We are always on the hunt to bring the best products we can, we’re constantly researching and tweaking things to ensure that the best version of our vision is being made.

At the heart of our business our main desire is to continue to share all of the wonderful things that make Hawai’i unique. A lot of the times when people think of Hawai’i there are certain visuals that come to mind a plumeria, a pineapple, Macadamia nuts, what a lot of people don’t realize is that most of these things are not native to Hawaii, they were brought here.

A lot of our designs will feature Native or Endemic (Species or plants that can only be found in Hawai’i) Sometimes these flowers or fauna will be lesser known, but by showcasing them in our designs we hope to bring attention to these incredible species and to encourage our customers to learn more about them.

We hope that our designs can offer a connection whether you grew up here or visited or dream of visiting, we are so proud of our Islands and to be able to share our culture with everyone is what keeps us creating.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Building a community is something that we really strive for at Lei’ohu Designs. Our goal is to create prints that really connect with our community and then utilize them on accessories that will enhance aspects of your life.

We created a loyalty program for our Lei’ohu Ohana (Family) This enables our community to win points to use toward their next purchases. Members will also get first dips on sales and promotions and be the first to know of any new products or releases.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media is a huge part of our growth as a brand. We wanted to create a ton of awareness and excitement when we launched our website so we used Facebook and Instagram to build awareness. We ran contest and giveaways and partnered with some other local brands and businesses to try and reach as much people as possible.

To this day we still use social media daily, utilizing photos and videos and keeping up on trends can help spread brand awareness as well as build relationships and trust with your audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.leiohudesigns.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leiohudesigns/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Leiohudesigns/

Image Credits
Photos taken by owner: Chauncy Santiago