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Meet Local Jewelry Designers Ashley Feng & Erin Wong of The Two Daughters!
The launch of our very special Mahal Kita Collection meant so much to me in a number of ways. Not only did it allow me to loudly and proudly celebrate my mom and our Filipino culture, it also gave me the opportunity to partner with a few amazing local Filipina creatives.
Our graphics were designed by the amazing Hues of Rose and our campaign images were shot and edited by local photographer Shaneika Aguilar.
Styled in our photos, are jewelry pieces by one of my favorite local jewelry brands, The Two Daughters! Owned by Filipina best friends Ashley & Erin, The Two Daughters has an amazing back story of how the brand came to be, a friendship that "blossomed" into the beautiful small business that it is today! Let's get to know Ashely & Erin a little more, and be sure to shop their new Iingatan Ka Collection that perfectly compliments our Mahal Kita tees!
NAMES: Ashley Atmospera Feng & Erin Wong
HOMETOWN: Kaimuki & Hawaii Kai
BUSINESS NAME: The Two Daughters
INSTAGRAM: @thetwodaughters
TELL OUR READERS ABOUT YOURSELVES! I KNOW.. LOADED QUESTION LOL. OKAY, LET'S START HERE: WHAT ARE 3 FACTS ABOUT YOU THAT YOU'D LOVE OUR READERS TO KNOW?
ASHLEY: Im Ashley, one of the cofounders for The Two Daughters. Hehe what do I want people to know about me? I’m 100% Filipino and Proud! My family is from ilocos Sur, Philippines (Sto. Domingo & Vigan) I am a nurse with a med-surg background but mostly focusing on the surgical side. I’m no longer working bedside since I had my daughters so closely together, Ava (4) and Taylor (2 1/2). I am very fortunate to be able to stay home to take care of them because “the days are long, but the years are short.”
ERIN: I’m Erin the other cofounder of The Two Daughters. I work full time for an insurance company and The Two Daughters is my passion hobby turned into this beautiful forever flower shop. Ashley and I went to college together in Omaha, NE! We were two fashion loving girls styling it up in the Midwest, haha! Now we are both back home in Hawai'i!
HOW DID 'THE TWO DAUGHTERS' GET STARTED?
ASHLEY: When the pandemic started and in the midst of lock down, I was a fresh new mom of now 2 little girls. Taylor was about to be 5 months old at the time, Ava was 1 1/2 and honestly I was struggling. I had postpartum depression after having Taylor and I was really struggling with myself. I stopped working bedside as a nurse and I felt that I had nothing to look forward to that would be just for me. I needed to find joy for myself that was separate from my kids. I searched for a creative outlook to help me get through those sleepless nights to help bring me out of my PPD. Now having two daughters I always admired the relationship Erin has with her sister and hopes one day Ava and Taylor will be just as close and have such a tight and special bond. When figuring out what we wanted in a name for our business it was as natural for us to tie in the inspirations in our lives; from having two girls, the strong sisterhood between Erin and Lauren, and that we are both daughters. We then became The Two Daughters bringing custom handmade pieces that were effortless with a little touch of fancy fun.
WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE ALL THE PUA NECKLACES AND BRACELETS YOU TWO MAKE! HOW DID THE DESIGN FOR THESE PIECES COME TO LIFE? WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THEM?
Thank you so much! It makes us so happy to hear when people love them as much as we do! I don’t know what we love more flowers or jewelry, haha. It’s a strong tie between the two! We often shared stories when we were younger on how we made different types of jewelry we were into or inspired to create. Erin helped me a lot when the girls were very young. We often took the girls on walks, saw different flowers blooming on trees and go to flower shops and be inspired by the flowers we’ve seen and the scent they had. So we decided to merge the two together, our love for jewelry and our love for the local flowers we’ve seen and wanted to create something that would last a long time. We wanted to make our floral jewelry unique by only using gold filled beads to make it feel a little fancy ;) and put our Hawai'i ties into it. We would gift each other leis for every occasion and thought how amazing if we created a lei necklace that would last forever and inspired by the leis and florals we grew up with! So we created our first lei collection necklaces which included the Gardenia, tuberose, tiare, yellow plumeria, and Hawai'i bougainvillea. So with every pua we create it has our signature gold filled center to create that perfect pua.
FOR OUR READERS JUST DISCOVERING YOUR PRODUCTS, WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR BEST SELLERS?
First of all we want to say Aloha! Thank you for finding us and we can’t wait for you to get a pua that will last forever! One of our favorite things about our pieces is that they can be worn for any occasion. Here’s a breakdown of best selling necklaces and pua bracelets.
LEI NECKLACE:
Gardenia - This is our best selling style lei necklace as it’s our only all gold filled necklace with white pua
Tiare - It’s a great alternative to the Gardenia and a great neutral necklace to layer with!
Hawai'i Bougainvillea - Customer favorite especially with the keiki! It’s a fun pop of color that’s vibrant like the bougainvillea walls you see around the island!
PUA BRACELETS:
Gardenia - A classic neutral color pua intertwined with gold filled beads. A great piece to build your stack off of or compliment any stack
Camellia - A trio of white pua woven next to each other complimented with gold filled beads. A minimalistic take on our pua bracelet style.
Pink Tatas - We often do capsule collections, which are exclusive to that drop. Our past Pink Tatas for breast cancer awareness was inspired by the women in our lives who are survivors and those who have passed on.
FOR THIS SPECIAL COLLECTION, WHAT PIECES ARE AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE AND HOW CAN OUR READERS ORDER THEM?
We are so excited to have been asked by Shaiyanne to make a limited edition collection of our signature pua jewelry to incorporate it with the Mahal Kita Shirt Collection. We wanted to incorporate the women she looked up to in each piece we created. We sourced colors that not only matched the collection but the woman behind the Dolkii brand. As a mom, my daughters are my inspiration when creating pieces to each collection. So it was a natural fit to create the Willa necklace. The two puas in different sizes symbolizes a child and the love for their mother. The signature Dolkii rose cloud color shows the innocence of a child’s love for their mother. Before having kids, the role of an Aunty or what we say in Tagalog, Tita is also a very important role. We named our keiki bracelet stack, the Zoya stack after Shaiyanne’s niece. The Philippines is known to have South Sea Pearls in their reach, so we wanted to create pearls in the women’s collection. It symbolizes maturity and wisdom that is gained with life experiences and that is what the Lola represents. It has a mixture of what we call the Dolkii rainbow pua colors with a mixture of pearls in various sizes, representing the various depths of motherhood transitioning into being a grandmother, a Lola. We wanted a matching necklace to pair with the keiki Willa necklace because what mom doesn’t want to match with her mini me! The Anak necklace has that same two pua style but the colors are neutral and more mature. The Nanay necklace is a statement piece. Its a rainbow of puas with fresh water pearls in between. It represents the many roles we play as mothers. Erin has a beautiful bond with her older sister so she felt really connected in designing the Yasmin bracelet, after Shaiyanne’s Ate (older sister). The bond of a sister is special, a permanent best friend for life. We love a good friendship bracelets; with both Yasmin and Shaiyanne now moms we wanted a bracelet that had the same style as the Nanay to represent the mother role that they both hold. We will be launching this limited edition collection on our Instagram stories with details on how to order. All pieces are limited until supplies last. So please follow us @thetwodaughters on Instagram and check out the Iingatan Ka Collection with collaboration with Dolkii!
WHO ARE THE WOMEN YOU LOOK UP TO IN LIFE?
ASHLEY: the number one lady in my life is my mom. If I had to describe all the reasons why I look up to her, it would be a novel, haha. I just have such a high admiration for her. She is such a beautiful person inside and out with the most genuine soul. She lives life with so much feeling. She has endured so much throughout her life but her perseverance and strength to continue to push through all of it is unbelievable. I am truly lucky to have a mom that is also my best friend.
My grandmothers are very special to me. They help raise me while my parents worked. They taught me life lessons and shared stories about their life in the Philippines and their life in the U.S. that shaped who I am today. Coming from a Filipino family, my aunties are just as fierce, just as dominant and strong women who influenced my life in such a profound way. I became a nurse because of them, hehe. They are my second mothers.
I have a strong small core group of girlfriends who have seen me in all stages of my life and I’m lucky to have one of them be also the best partner. Erin is the little sister I never had but always wanted. She’s so positive and uplifting.
ERIN: My biggest inspiration is my sister, Lauren. She’s 2 years older than me and has always been a role model and biggest cheerleader. While in college, I had the pleasure of being in a sorority and met such strong and confident young women, who also my sisters for life!
As I transitioned back to Hawai'i after living on the mainland, I immediately was back in the presence of wise and encouraging women. It’s been really comforting to be surrounded by strong women in my professional career. I work with a team of women who strive for the best everyday.
I am also inspired by co-founders Lauren and Marianna, who founded the skincare brand Summer Fridays. Their positive energy is infectious and definitely a trait I aspire to emulate. They collaborate as partners while empowering other female owned businesses. This also ties in to the Two Daughters as Ashley & I are very close friends and we’re grateful we get to do this together as partners. And last but not least, my mom - loves her <3 She is a strong woman with the best energy and positive outlook on life!
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE DOLKII TEE OR ITEM FROM OUR SHOP?
ASHLEY: I love comfy chic clothing! As a mom I wanna have that feeling of being effortlessly put together but still being comfortable! So my favorite Dolkii item are the Luca pants! Dress it up, dress it down, roll out of bed put it on and off to school drop off the kids kind of pants. My favorite dolkii tees are of course the Nanay because it holds just a special place in my heart to represent our Filipino culture and the vintage aloha love club tee. Pair it with bike shorts, pair of booties, and hat instant cool mom vibes outfit!
ERIN: I love the Wahine dolkii tees! I love how soft it is and how wearing them shows female empowerment! I come from a line of strong wāhine figures in my life. When I wear the Wahine tee I’m representing the women in my life.
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