Goldfish Kiss X Hoa Kai
HOA KAI X GOLDFISH KISS
By: Rebekah Steen (aka Goldfish Kiss)
For anyone who ever asked if I could do a beach towel with my artwork on it… here you go. Hoa Kai X Goldfish Kiss Limited Edition Turkish Towels are here, and they’re rather rad.
For anyone who is just on the hunt for a beach towel, I think you’d like it too.
So, long story short, I teamed up with Hoa Kai to make one of their oh so soft and useful, hand loomed Turkish Towels. I came up with a fun print made up of plumerias I’d painted…et voila. You can now lay down, dry off, or be wrapped up in a bunch of puas. If only we could’ve made it smell like them too.
As fun as the print and collab is (we’re so pumped with how these turned out), I think it’s rather amazing what Kelly at Hoa Kai is doing as well. So let me shout out some praises her way really quickly…
Hoa Kai is a family owned and operated business in Kauai. Lifeguard. Two boys. Beach momma. They know beach gear. Big time. So when they found their first Turkish Towels, they were fans, and started investigating where to find the best ones to buy for family and friends.
That’s where the interesting part begins…
They learned that the creation and weaving of Turkish towels has been around for centuries, is an amazing trade that has been taught for generations, and very skilled craftsman are raising cotton and hand-looming these beautiful pieces in Southeast Turkey.
BUT, they also learned that most of the Turkish towels sold today are mass-produced by large scale manufacturing companies. In fact, only a handful of traditional weaving workshops remain because industrial textile manufacturing has all but wiped out Turkey’s weaving culture. Which meant hundreds, maybe thousands of weavers have been put into poverty. Selling these huge quantities of towels at a lower cost put families who have been creating these towels for centuries out of business and out of work. Urg.
That’s where Hoa Kai stepped in…
They wanted to support these weavers and their craft, and definitely appreciate an old-style-shuttled loom more than a mouse click. So, through their research, found some incredible weavers (that they work with directly) who’ve been making Turkish towels for over six generations. They are in a small village in Southeast Turkey near the Syrian border, and have quality that no computer controlled loom can copy. Humans for the win.
So, all because of an initial admiration of a Turkish Towel, some research, and taking a leap of faith, Hoa Kai is bringing awareness, work, and some much needed moolah to some Turkish families who have been struggling.
Extremely functional, soft and well made towels that are covered in a print that’s designed and painted by yours truly, that also helps keep an art form and tradition alive…Yup. I’m definitely a fan of these towels.
For many reasons.
Hoa Kai X Goldfish Kiss - Available at hoakaisurf.com …and at a few really cool surf shops and online stores.
