Fleurings Jewelry, a Lei to Wear Every Day

By Léo Azambuja

Samantha Lockwood

Give your sweetheart fine jewelry, and she’ll have it forever, but there’s nothing more romantic and passionate than giving her flowers. What then if you gave her jewelry that could hold many kinds of beautiful flowers?

“Your flowers will stay fresh for hours, all day,” said Samantha Lockwood, owner and designer of Fleurings, an ingenious and stunning line of jewelry that can hold flowers and keep them fresh an entire day.

Each piece of Fleurings jewelry — whether it’s a is an earring, necklace pendant or hair clip — is a small vase that holds enough water to keep a flower, or two, or three, alive for a while. The vases are made of hypoallergenic stainless steel and plated with gold.

“I’ve always loved flowers,” Lockwood said. “My mom, my grandma, my stepmom; all women in my family are really into flowers,” Lockwood said.

The name Fleurings comes from this love for flowers. “Fleur” is flower in French language, so Lockwood just added half of the word “earrings” to come up with the jewelry line’s name. Flowers may be a life-long love affair for her, but the idea for Fleurings came from a tip from her grandmother.

Years ago, while taking a break from college, Lockwood got a job waiting tables in Los Angeles, between acting classes and teaching Bikram Yoga. Her grandmother told her if she put a flower in her hair, her tips would increase. Though Lockwood was skeptical about it, she gave it a try, only to find out her grandmother was right. Her tips almost doubled, but at the end of her shift, the red flower she had put in her hair was lifeless.

The flower became a fixture in her hair during work, but it wouldn’t hold its beauty through an entire shift. So Lockwood came up with the idea of creating jewelry that would act as a holding vase for the flowers.

“I went through so many prototypes, too heavy and bulky, not comfortable, and it just didn’t work, the water would spill out,” she said. “Finally, I created this design where water stays in the jewelry, it’s lightweight, even when you have a flower in them they’re still pretty lightweight and comfortable.”

Lockwood doesn’t wait tables anymore; she’s actually a talented Hollywood actress with an extensive resume, and also owns her own Bikram Yoga studio in Kapa‘a.

But the love affair with flowers is still hot. And so is Fleurings, which has been featured in several magazines, has got ravishing reviews everywhere and sells to customers all from over the world through the Internet. Celebrities and movie stars have bought Fleurings jewelry for weddings, personal use and modeling. And everyone else just buys it simply because it is a beautiful piece of jewelry that can be even more beautiful by adding flowers.

Part of Fleurings’ success may have a scientific explanation. Lockwood said many different reports point to flowers producing positive emotions in humans.

“When you wear a flower, it creates that bonding between two people, and they feel like they’re sharing something,” she said.

Fleurings comes in three different sizes — small, medium and large — and in several different finishes. It has earrings, necklaces and hairpieces. Even the chains are adjustable and can be worn low or high on the chest.

For the Hawaiian Islands, and especially for Kaua‘i, where there are so many orchids everywhere, Fleurings is perfect, Lockwood said.

“It’s a lei you can wear every day,” she said.

Find Fleurings at www.fleurings.com, at Bikram Yoga Kaua‘i in Kapa‘a or at Hippie Café in Wailua.