A fun and festive way to represent

FlagBeads.com grew out of a vending hustle — selling Mardi Gras beads at Carnaval San Francisco.

The annual event in the Mission District, is a multi-sensory feast where practically everybody loves to “represent,” that is, signify an affiliation with a country, tribe, organization or tradition.  The marriage of patriotic pride in cultural heritage and Mardi Gras-style festive ornamentation enhances the frolicsome, bling-blingy ambiance and highlights the allure of wearable flag regalia in the context of a huge multicultural celebration.

FlagBeads.com offers the “real deal,” old-school beaded flag necklaces made with hand-painted polystone flags. Polystone is a ceramic-type material suited to rendering designs, such as flag crests and emblems, in raised relief (3D). Polystone flags have a more lustrous, keepsake quality than one-dimensional, screen-printed flag ornaments molded from plastic. But because they’re not machine-made, the painting is not always uniform from one ornament to the next. These imperfections, however, typically aren’t noticeable unless viewed from close range.

Apologies if the flag you’re looking for isn’t yet part of our collection. We plan to add more styles going forward. Meantime, please feel free to make suggestions and keep us posted about events enlivened by expressions of patriotic pride.