‘Iwa Earrings

Available in gold filled, rose gold filled and sterling silver. 

Each bird is hand shaped and hammered, creating a sparkly finish. 

Earrings measure approximately 2 inches. 

Upon unifying an archipelago of separately ruled islands into the Hawaiian kingdom in 1810, King Kamehameha was awarded an epithet likening him to a certain bird. He was called Ka‘iwakīloumoku, the ‘iwa that hooks the islands together. It was a pointed homage. ‘Iwa is the Hawaiian name for the great frigate bird, Hawai‘i’s largest bird. ‘Iwa is also the Hawaiian word for thief, a reflection of the bird’s strategy of snatching fish from the mouths of smaller birds—or in the case of Ka‘iwakīloumoku, snatching islands from other chiefs.