a.ell design - Hemp and Eco-Fabric Clothing from Kauai

Kauai Artist – Denise Dion-Scoyni

Angelique Ell — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:34:45 +0000

This Saturday Sept. 4th for the Old Kapaa Town Art Walk we will be featuring Denise Dion-Scoyni. I came to know Denise through my daughters school – Denise is the art teacher at Kauai Pacific School – and a fabulous one at that. I recently started carrying her beautiful tiles in the atelier. This Saturday she will be bringing in her original paintings as well. Don’t miss this chance to meet Denise and let her know how much you love her work! Please check out her website to see more

http://www.dionfineart.com/

new hemp/silk kimono robes!

Angelique Ell — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:55:57 +0000

New to a.ell are one of a kind, Kauai made, hand painted kimono style hemp & silk robes! Thanks to Takuyo (just one of our wonderfully talented Kauai artists) each of these luxurious robes come adorned with a wide assortment of designs, patterns, and colors! Our robes look (and feel) great around the house, lounging after a long day at work, or hitting up the pool!

more new eco items!

Angelique Ell — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:19:35 +0000

a.ell design has been having trouble keeping things on the racks this week! Even so, we’ve been working extra hard to keep new and exciting items on our shelves. Some of our favorite items have been reworked with different color combinations, and we have added a new style of skirt to our inventory thanks to Max! As you can see, Angelique is hard at work behind one of our new skirts, which is paired with a reversible asymmetrical top (seen in Orange and Pink). Whats great about these one of a kind pieces is that most of them can be worn as both skirts and dresses! Each one is an individually crafted art piece, made with our super soft eco fibers: bamboo, organic cotton, soy, and hemp!

New Burlap Coffee Bags!

Angelique Ell — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:27:04 +0000

New to a.ell design! Take your caffeine fix to the next level with one of a kind burlap bags! Our friends at Small Town Coffee in Kapaa gave us some burlap bags, so not only will your new fashion cause a buzz with your friends, but you’re recycling too. The bags work great as reusable grocery bags, beach bags, purses, and anything else you can imagine. They range from $24-$32 and come in a wide variety of styles, sizes, and shapes. These wonderful new pieces are all hand crafted by our newest member to the a.ell team, Max Lemaire!

What’s up at the atelier!

Angelique Ell — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 02:01:10 +0000

Whooh its been a busy couple weeks! While preparing for the eco fabulous fashion show at Kilohana we created quite a few new items to feature. Aaron Feinberg took some great shots at the eco show, to view photos visit his site at http://afeinphoto.com/Heath_And_Wellness/Pages/Best_Of.html#13

I am really inspired and grateful to the artists, volunteers, musicians, and everyone who helped in making this another super fun and successful event. Close to 50 of my local Kauai Ohana stepped up once again and I just want to say how amazed I am that you are walking your talk.

The collaboration between Takuyo and I is a really exciting one. She is hand painting on our bamboo and hemp clothing creating some spectacular one of a kind pieces. Takuyo is creating a sea life collection in which we are donating 10% of all sales to our local Save our Seas organization. To find out more about what they are doing please visit them at http://www.saveourseas.org/saveourseas/aloha.html

A.Fox created a bouquet of really fabulous hair pieces – these gorgeous creations are now available at the atelier.

We started a hip mens bamboo tee shirt line and are working on mens yoga pants as well – first pair out – working on the kinks but should be available soon!

There are 2 new flirty skirts – one made from bamboo knit, its short and sassy – great for these hot summer days, Ive been wearing mine constantly. The other is equally as sassy but made from a limited edition of linen fabrics, great for work, the market, or a dinner party.

Unfortunately these items are net yet available through the website – but stay in touch – hopefully you’ll see them soon. And almost everything was shot at the fashion show so look at Aarons website to see photos, otherwise come on down to Old Kapaa Town and visit us at a.ell atelier.

Kauai Made Eco Fashion Show!

Angelique Ell — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:00:48 +0000

a.ell design is hosting a fashion show June 19th at Kilohana as part of the Healing Garden Festival. Naturally the theme is eco. Part of what being eco means to me – in addition to using fibers that are kind even benefiting the Earth like hemp, bamboo, and organic cotton is the concept of supporting your local community. Giving jobs to your neighbors, spending your dollar in a way that largely benefits the people you live closely with. Not only will the money be spent feeding, clothing, and housing your community but it also cuts down on your carbon foot print. Less shipping (less oil), less pollution (from shipping), more control in your beliefs (choosing locally & organically grown food). Its quite empowering and frankly money talks. So spend it where it matters to you. It is how we can change the way things are done. It is, It is, It is!

Ok so back to the fabulous eco fashion show! We are featuring many artists this year. Maxine Graham & Takuyo Williams are hand painting on our bamboo clothing line and hemp hats, Denise Tjarks is showing off her fantastic retro hawaiian handbags, Lorraine Skalla is making some sick messenger bags using up our favorite novelty fabrics and combining them with hemp. We have the models strutting Anandra’s jewelry, and Tora Smart showcasing her cashmere pancho’s. Kirk Smart bringing some students in to add the live music element. Amber Fox created some incredible head pieces shown on our website with the handpainted wedding gowns. Oh and the models are a combo of both my fabulous friends as well as the entertaining Rollery Derby Gals. Phew hope I got it all (probably more I forgot).

There’s just one more thing worth mentioning – we are debuting a new ocean theme hand painted collection that will be a project to raise money for our local Save Our Seas Group, a non profit organization. Takuyo and I are donating 10% of all proceeds to the Save Our Seas education department.

For more information on the event check out www.hawaiihealinggarden.com

Hand Painted Gorgeous Gowns

Angelique Ell — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 08:18:38 +0000

Well its that time, I’ve gotten in over my head, joined the rat race (well the Kauai version), too much, too much, too much. I haven’t been able to think about the a.ell wedding collection for months – so I took the plunge and am carrying another wedding line, the most fabulous designer I’ve come across, and perfect for our Kauai brides. These dresses are individually hand painted and each one hand made. The artist states that she wanted to create wearable art and she has in a very glamorous form. These dresses are seen on celebrities continuously. Since my clientele is a bit more interesting than traditional I thought these pieces would be a perfect addition to our unique, custom wedding collection. I have chosen a few colors as well in case your not the white wedding type, planning to wear to a party, your the bridesmaid, or just collecting art. Each dress shown here is one of a kind, but if we sell it or you need a different color or size we can custom order with 8 weeks notice and an additional 15% charge. Currently view on the womens page of website or

http://www.islandhempclothing.com/fashions/womens/

Old Kapaa Town Art Walk – 1st Saturday

Angelique Ell — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 07:47:41 +0000

After much ado we’ve decided to evolve the Kapaa Art Walk to the 1st Saturday of the month. Which means we’re just a few days away from a fresh new release! This week at the atelier we have Lefty playing guitar along with Kaili showing her gorgeous paintings both outside on the sidewalk. Inside we have John Howards black light paintings and farm animal tees and tanks for both the ladies and the gents. Its still 4 days away so I’m guessing a few more artists will pop up to show what they have as well as the sidewalk is open to everyone!

So come on down, eat, dance, talk, and show that you think supporting our local folks is important – its not an easy path – but its just so fun!

Kapaa’s Pono Market

Angelique Ell — Thu, 20 May 2010 00:56:12 +0000

a.ell atelier moved to its new location just a bit over 6 months ago. Since then we’ve discovered many benefits and bonuses to this street front destination. Besides business being a heck of a lot better, I’d have to say one of my favorite additions – being short walking distance to Pono Market. I average at least one trip a day – usually for their fresh ahi sushi, often a second trip for an afternoon espresso pick me up (served in biodegradable cups!), and tomorrow a trip to pick up tickets for the Anahola Taro Patch show this weekend. My daughter loves their manju and ahi poke, Isa loves their hot lunches. Did you know you can even pick up a marriage license there? We all love the Kubota family, they always greet us with smiles and a ‘what can I get you sister’.

My sister Lois Ann Ell just wrote an article for the Garden Island Newspaper about Pono Market, its quite worthy of reposting and rereading, so please enjoy learning more about this Kapaa gem. While your there check out the rest of Lois Ann’s blog, become a fan, tell her HI, and that you like what she’s doing in our community. We are all in it together…..

http://www.loisannell.blogspot.com/

Keri Cooper – Photographer

Angelique Ell — Thu, 06 May 2010 01:30:17 +0000

Seven years ago (or so) I started working with Keri Cooper. We immediately fell into a groove, completely getting each other, and spent the day escalating each of our passions – hers photography, mine fashion – to new heights. Since then we walk away from each fashion shoot in complete ecstasy making plans for the next.

A couple weeks ago we worked (played) together shooting a new line of high end dresses for a.ell atelier. We found ourselves in a dream state – All of us -the models, photographers, and myself – kept laughing, smiling, saying is this really happening? It was one of those moments where you felt that you’ve done it, its happened – the dream you hoped you would live one day, your right in the middle of it.

I encourage you to take a look at Keri’s website www.kericooper.com and if you ever need a photographer she is amazing to work with. Let her know what your looking for and then step aside and let her go – trust she will GET IT!

Here’s what Keri has to say about herself…….

After falling in love with Kauai and moving here in ’99 I was lucky enough to apprentice with a Master of Photography. Soon I began covering weddings and quickly became very busy photographing all over the island and traveling to the other islands as well. After a few years I felt confident about branching out and running my own photography business. I am always refining my skills and exploring new techniques to give my images diversity as well as keeping my style fresh.

As a photographer, weddings are fulfilling to me for so many reasons. Beautiful dresses, awesome locations, happy people, lovey-dovey tender moments- what more could I ask for? The best feeling is seeing the bride and groom so elated about their wedding images and knowing that they will cherish them forever.

During a photo shoot I get in “The Zone” and its like my creative side just takes over. I say photographing for me is an “Organic Experience,” meaning that I come with an idea or focus then the energy of the shoot just takes over and it flows from there. I guess that is how a painter or sculptor must feel when they get lost in their art.

Photography has led me on an incredible journey of places, people and moments captured, I wouldn’t trade a 60th of a second!