Hawaiian jewelry makes use of materials and motifs found near the islands, such as coral, pearls, and plumeria flowers.

Coral jewelry
Coral jewelry is the oldest form of gemstone jewelry with pieces as old as 25,000 years in museums. It predates even the use of pearls for jewelry. Hawaiian coral jewelry comes in a variety of color. Hawaiian black coral is considered the world's finest and is collected off Maui. Pink coral is delicate found along the entire Hawaiian island chain. Red coral is rich and predates ancient Rome. Hawaiian gold coral is very rare and exhibits chatoyance, which is the "cat's eye effect.

Pearl Jewelry
Hawaiian pearl jewelry makes uses of Japanese Akoya pearls, Tahitian black pearls and South Sea pearls. Akoya pearls are widely sold and are usually white to creamy ivory to gold in color. Tahitian black pearls can be slightly gray to a bluish-black in color and are produced by the black-lipped oyster. South sea pearls come in gold, rose, white, and blue.

Hawaiian heirloom jewelry
Hawaiian heirloom jewelry has been a tradition in the Island for over a century since it was first worn by Queen Lili'uokalani in the late 1800s. Engravings of Ku'uipo (Sweetheart), Ku'ualoha (My Love) or your own name in Hawaiian adorn heirloom jewelry. As is traditional, the lettering is Old English in black enamel.

Other popular Hawaiian jewelry types include plumeria jewelry, which depicts the beautiful plumeria flower set in the center with diamond or other colored gemstone. Other popular motifs include pineapples, dolphins, whales, sea turtles, and plumeria set in gold. Puka shell jewelry is also common.