I’ve been obsessed all year with these luminous, colorful bracelets – made from sleekly gorgeous Japanese beads – and I’m excited to share my source with you holiday elves. Made of delicate colored glass, these elastic bracelets are light and easy to wear, quiet and unobtrusive but also bright and fun. I’ve hardly taken them off since I got them months ago, and they still give me a daily tickle of joy.
Before my friend Rachana turned me onto these bracelets in February, I’d never heard of Tila beads. Since the 1930s, family-owned Japanese manufacturer Miyuki has been making beautiful, precisely crafted glass beads that are used in both jewelry and intricate crafts. The flat, glossy Tila bead, slightly rounded on one side and flat on the other, was added to the lineup in 2011.
Nona Designs on Etsy has the loveliest collection of Tila bracelets ($16) in a rainbow array of colors. Nona’s kind shop owner Wenona is brilliant at curating color, and I’ve passed many happy hours combing through her selection of styles and colors. I also love mixing in Wenona’s super-delicate seed bead bracelets (3 for $19) with the larger Tila bracelets (along with a couple of string bracelets from Ana in Spain – which some of you who have been around since 2013 may remember).
…
