A'Kai Silks first began in the year 2000 , in Woodland Park, Colorado, by Laura King (aka Jesennia or Jes) "I had taken some time off from my nursing career to spend more time with my first son. My passion was bellydance and I fell in love with silk veils and their ethereal movement after watching my first bellydance instructor, Mahisha, perform at a Moroccan restaurant. She whirled into to dimly lit room with seven silk veils flying. I was in love.

I started out by buying small amounts of silk and a few dyes from the local craft store. We lived in a cozy log cabin at a 8500 ft elevation and often times we had no running water. So I had to be creative on how I started dyeing silks with limited resources. I had just discovered the treasure box of ebay and I taught myself how to list items on the auctions. The veils were well received and sold immediately. For a few months I would make and sell a few veils at a time. Slowly I saved up enough money to buy a whole bolt of silk, and I moved up to using professional dyes.

Word caught on like wildfire and soon I was receiving requests from dancers for custom orders. As I formed my technique and learned about faster production, I was also able to take on larger group orders and I started wholesaling. I relocated to San Francisco and I was able to expand the production area. I could not keep up with the orders. Between ordering supplies, dyeing the veils, and handling ebay I was working long hours but I loved it. I learned how to do basic editing for a website so I started the A'Kai Silks website. Business expanded... I landed an account with the Bellydance Superstars and other top performers in the bellydance community. Celebrity endorsement!

I decided to move to where the sun was shining all the time...Hawaii! A bit of a gamble but I needed continuous sunshine to help speed up drying time on the silks, in order to increase the production. I've always liked flirty flowing beach fashion so I started playing with the idea of dyeing clothing items. I started out with silk sarongs and a few basic capes... they came out gorgeous dyed in the signature A'Kai colors. Over time I developed a relationship with a seamstress who does all of the sewing for me.

Recently I have taken a step back from selling the veils on ebay, I have hired a wonderful new lady to do the ebay portion of sales so that I can concentrate more efforts on wholesaling and on the production of more silk clothing items."