We’re excited to announce that Nalu Beads will again be our partner for the Girls On Waves (GOW) weekends 2022. Nalu is a surf jewellery brand based in Braunton, who’ve always been keen supporters of our women’s surf projects. This year all participants of our GOW weekends will receive a free Surf South West beaded bracelet, created specifically for us by Nalu Beads. We are massively grateful! When we heard the news, we popped straight over to Nalu HQ to see the beads in the making. We met up with the woman at the helm, local surfer Rhiannon Davis. Whilst there, we thought we’d take the opportunity to pose a few questions to Rhiannon and find out more about her, the brand and her views about surfing. Here’s what we discovered. 1. How did you start working with Nalu Beads and what was the inspiration around the brand? My first relationship with Nalu was back in about 2009/10 when I was running a surf school in Croyde Bay. Back then we collaborated together to run a girls wakeboard/surf crossover weekend but it wasn’t until a few years later in 2013, that I started working at Nalu HQ as an office manager. In 2017 I became a partner with Lisa Adams, the founder of Nalu. Lisa has recently retired to pursue her love of sailing. Lisa started the company in 2009 and her inspiration was all about collecting memories from the places that we love…the beach and ocean. Our love for the ocean and travel inspires every piece we make, we are just so grateful to be able to share this with others. 2. Can you tell us a little bit more about Hawaiian culture and how much it has influenced Nalu? Hawaii is the home of surfing and we love the connection that Hawaiians have with their islands and the ocean. Lisa felt that ‘Nalu’ which means ‘wave’ in Hawaiian would be the perfect name for the company. 3. How did Nalu Beads come to be based in Braunton? Does the area inspire your creativity, if so how? Nalu was born and bred in Braunton, or on Croyde beach specifically. The North Devon coast has a special energy, I love that it’s rugged and remote. I spend pretty much all my free time exploring the coast, finding special new places and taking inspiration to design new beads. 4. We are incredibly grateful for your support with our Girls on Waves weekends. What was it about these surf weekends that interested you? I worked as a full time surf coach for over 5 years before Nalu and have always loved to teach people to surf. I love how being in the sea amongst the waves allows people to surrender themselves, it doesn’t care who you are, where you’re from…the sea humbles you. Over my years of coaching a lot of women would tell me that they preferred to be taught by a female coach and having other women in the group. This inspired me to start up women exclusive surf weekends at the school I was running. They were always so much fun that when I was approached by SSW to collaborate with their Girls On Waves weekends, I jumped at it! I even came out of surf coaching retirement and re-qualified. 5. Are you a surfer and how important is the connection with the ocean to you? Yes, I love surfing, the sea is where I go to be with myself and forget everything else. I don’t think I could ever not surf. It has taken me to most amazing places around the world and has introduced me to wonderful people. I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to combine my passion for surfing with my work life too. 6. How do you see Nalu developing in the future? What are your hopes for the brand and the world we find ourselves in? I never like to plan too much, especially these days. We’ve got a great little team and we’re always coming up with new ideas and there’s alway a new beach that needs to be ‘Nalu’d’! All I can hope for Nalu is that we get to keep doing what we love and to be able to share it with others. Surf South West Girls On Waves Weekends For more information on our GOW weekends please have a look at the webpage or email/call us. The sessions are being held on 25th / 26th June 23th / 24th July, 17th / 18th September 2022. All the weekends will be run by a team of qualified, female surf instructors. The sessions are open to women and girls of all ages and all capabilities – It’s all about losing your inhibitions and just having fun in the waves. We hope that our Nalu bracelets will serve as a long term reminder of a really special day, just celebrating you.