Memory has a way of living quietly within us.
Sometimes it returns through photographs or stories passed down through family. Other times, it arrives unexpectedly through the senses - through light, texture, music, or scent.
For me, it arrives every May with the fragrance of blooming gardenias.
Growing up, a gardenia bush bloomed just outside my grandmother Joan’s front door. Even now, during gardenia season here in Hawai‘i, the scent immediately brings me back to her - to small moments, feelings, and pieces of memory that continue to live on long after someone is gone.
Over the last several years, I’ve spent time exploring my family lineage more deeply. What began as curiosity slowly became something much more personal. Through stories, photographs, ancestry research, and even recurring dreams that seemed to echo parts of my family history, I began reflecting more deeply on inheritance - not only through blood, but through emotion, intuition, resilience, and memory.
The Joan Collection was born from that reflection.
This collection became an ode to softness, femininity, and the beauty passed between generations of women. Every detail was created with intention - from the nostalgic custom prints to the luminous textures and thoughtfully sculpted silhouettes designed to feel both timeless and modern.
I’ve never been someone who creates simply to create. My work has always been deeply tied to meaning, emotion, and lived experience. Design, for me, is a way of honoring memory and transforming feeling into something tangible.
The timing of this collection feels especially meaningful. Joan’s birthday is May 19th - the official launch date of this collection and my birthday follows the next day on May 20th. There is something quietly poetic to me about that closeness in timing, as though this collection exists within a thread connecting generations of women through memory, beauty, and creation.
The Joan Collection is more than swimwear to me. In memory of a extraordinary women who still has a big impact on my life.
It is remembrance.
It is softness.
It is lineage.
It is an offering made with love.
- Kelley Chapman
Founder & Designer of Manakai Swimwear
