I grew up loving all things nature related, especially rocks and rock collecting. This passion eventually moved from rocks to jewelry partly because my father was a jewelry store manager. I still have the first piece of jewelry I ever purchased from my dad's old job, Getz Jewelers. I was around 7 years old and it was a gold plated four-leaf clover bracelet.

A few years later my parents briefly had a small mom n' pops jewelry store in a St.Bernard Ohio strip mall, which may or may not still exist. This is where I designed my first ring by gluing some foil backed stones and scrap metal pieces together.

Eventually, my father moved into the wholesale division of the jewelry industry. This definitely broadened the horizon for me. We would travel to different jewelry shows in the summer and I would get to walk around and probably really annoy most the vendors with my questions and unending curiosity.

Growing up in the jewelry industry combined with a love vintage jewelry and gemstones, drove me to study gemology, jewelry manufacturing, wax carving and jewelry design at the Gemological Institute of America in Carlsbad, CA.

Eventually after studying in California and working in New York I moved back in my hometown and had a family of my own. Now my mother, father and I are working on getting a long collected inventory of vintage jewelry and accessories on to Etsy.

This past year, after a couple years off of the jewelers bench, I was driven to revamp this skill. Currently, I do custom and commission work, along with vintage item conversions. For those of you who are unfamiliar with conversion jewelry please check out my Handmade/ Conversion shop section. The items in this section are made from repurposed vintage brooches, stick pins, cuff links, earrings ect and converted into something more wearable but still vintage. I love doing these!!

I am always adding new finds and conversions so check back often!

Best,

Kim