A Love For Flowers Blossoms

Kala Oshiro
Owner, Kala’s Kreations

Please tell us about your business. Kala’s Kreations in Kapaa is a florist company. We provide flowers for occasions like weddings, funerals, conventions and everyday arrangements. We specialize in weddings, and also have a selection of individual flowers daily for people to purchase, including lei. We have many different types of fresh flowers, such as roses and peonies. Lei also can be custom-made and we provide premium lei-like pikake. In addition, we sell snacks, including chips and ice cream, for the kids after school.

Do you make deliveries? Yes. We service the whole island.

Where do most of your flowers come from?All over the world – Hawaii Island, Florida, California and even Israel. However, we do try to carry as many locally grown flowers as possible.

Why did you start this business? I had been a florist for many years at Flowers Forever in Lihue, but I wanted to be on my own. We opened two years ago, and before that I was working for a company in Lihue.

How has business been? It has its ups and downs. But it’s pretty steady.

What is your key to business success? Keeping everyone happy.

Why did you become a florist? I worked a lot with flowers as a kid, and I did a lot of watercolor paintings of flowers.

What do you enjoy making the most for people? I enjoy making arrangements for weddings. Wedding customers like to have centerpieces or archways. However, there are some people who don’t really have a budget for that, but we still try to help them as much as we can. The price of flowers tends to go up and down, depending on the season, and sometimes it’s hard, but we make do with what we have. I also enjoy creating the bride’s bouquet and groom’s boutonniere.

What sets your business apart from others? My personal arrangement style. I like to do things creatively. My arrangements can be traditional, but I also get into my design modes.

Where did you learn how to create floral arrangements? I am mostly self-taught, and I also learned by working with a production company on

Oahu and did many conventions for them. They would fly me off-island to do flower arrangements. We did one huge event where we created a full-on secret garden, which was amazing. I’ve also done functions for Mercedes and FedEx. It was a great experience for me.

What’s the most challenging aspect of your business? Staying alive. The whole flower business is like going to Vegas – everything is a gamble. When you go to Vegas, you spend all your money, and you’re not sure if you’re going to make it back. Same way with flowers – I’ll buy a bunch of flowers and I’m not sure if I’m going to make my money back. So, it’s all like a big gamble. The thing that keeps me going, however, is seeing all the smiles.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of your business? When you bring flowers to the bride and they’re so happy, shocked and surprised. I have a habit of asking the delivery person if they liked them, and that really keeps me going.

4597 Olohena Road, Kapaa
821-1838
kalaskreations.com