"We're all where we come from. We all have our roots." — John Guare
Sewing has been in my family for at least a couple of generations, although the women in my family haven't all had the same relationship with it.
Some sewed because it helped support a family. Some made things simply because they wanted to. And when I eventually started Momako Designs as a way to stay connected to my roots after moving away from Hawaiʻi, sewing became part of how I did that too.
Two very different kinds of makers
My grandmother on my mom's side, affectionately nicknamed Grandma Lanai, sewed as a side hustle. She and my grandfather were raising 11 kids on plantation wages, so bringing in extra money wherever she could made sense.
Grandma Lanai had "money face" — always looking for another way to make money and help keep her family afloat. But she never let that turn into materialism. She was humble to the core.
My grandmother on my dad's side, Grandma Konno — not nearly as fun a nickname, but considerably more accurate — had a different relationship with making things.
She was more of a hobbyist. She crocheted when she felt like it, and I remember seeing the things she'd made, but she wasn't particularly showy about any of it. She made what she wanted when she wanted to and seemed perfectly content with that.
Both of my grandmothers made blankets, although they couldn't have looked more different.
Grandma Lanai pieced colorful scraps together into quilts with a style that was distinctly hers. Grandma Konno crocheted soft blankets in pale, neutral browns. Having one of their blankets in the family meant something. They weren't just blankets; they were things somebody had spent their time making for you.
I didn't actually learn to sew from either of them
Neither of my grandmothers taught me how to sew. That came from my mom, who became a professional seamstress and eventually had the pleasure of trying to teach her very stubborn, very left-handed daughter.
We've established how well that went.
But I think my grandmothers still influenced how I think about making things, even if they weren't the ones sitting beside me at a sewing machine.
I grew up seeing handmade things being used, kept, and valued. They weren't precious because somebody had declared them works of art. They were useful things made by someone you loved, and that made them worth holding onto.
Momako Designs was always about staying connected to my roots
I started Momako Designs after I moved from Hawaiʻi to Cleveland when I got married. Being so far from home, it became a way for me to stay connected to where I came from.
At the time, I don't know that I was specifically thinking, I'm carrying on what my grandmothers did. But sewing, handmade things, and the way my family valued them were already part of those roots.
And looking at the business now, there's a little bit of both of my grandmothers in how I run it.
The money face is definitely still there. Momako Designs is a business, and I'm constantly thinking about ways to make it work, make money, and keep it moving.
But there's also a lot of Grandma Konno's I'll make it because I feel like making it in there.
I choose prints because I like them. I make products because I want to make them. Sometimes I try something simply because I think it would be useful or fun to have, and then I figure out whether anyone else wants one too.
It's a business, but I don't want to lose the part where I actually enjoy making things.
Handmade still means something to me
I think that's probably the biggest thing I inherited from all of them.
Growing up, having something one of my grandmothers made meant something. It wasn't valuable because it was handmade in some abstract sense. You loved the thing because you loved the person who made it, and because it had become part of your life.
That's still what I like about making things now.
I want someone to buy a bag because they genuinely love it and can't wait to use it. Or pick something out because they saw it and immediately thought of someone they love. I want the things I make to be used, carried around, given as gifts, and hopefully kept because somebody actually enjoys having them.
And yes, when you buy something from Momako Designs, it is technically a handmade present that you paid for.
But the idea is there. Trust me.
Momako Designs started as a way to stay connected to my roots when I was thousands of miles away from them. Years later, I'm back home on Kauaʻi, and those roots are still part of the business — in what I make, why I make it, and what I hope those things become once they're no longer mine.
I think both of my grandmothers would understand that.
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