Neola Caveny lives on an entirely solar-powered tropical flower farm in Huelo, Maui. She trained and worked as a gemologist and appraiser for many years until she discovered a passion for working with gourds while she was learning to make ipu – percussion instruments often used to provide a beat – as a student of hula. Most of the patterns and subjects she uses on her beautiful pieces have a traditional Hawaiian, Marquesan, or Lapita (a proto-Polynesian culture from the western Pacific) background, and she uses wood-burning, carving, and painting to create the designs.

In ancient Hawai’i, gourds were used for cooking, musical instruments, and headdresses and were often highly decorated using the same time-consuming techniques still used to this day.