Jenny Kim, custom jewelry.

Jenny Kim, of San Mateo California, has been making jewelry since 2004. Her pieces are original, delicate, feminine and hold a the eye with their organic shapes and beautiful finish.

How did you get started on Etsy/Making things?

I've been making art in various forms since before nursery school. My first "mural" was a crayon portrait of my family in my childhood bedroom. In the third grade, I began selling mini-picture and puzzle books to classmates for the going-rate at the time of 50 cents apiece. I was a student in the Advanced Placement Studio Art Program at a Los Angeles-city high school, taking nine semester-courses of art before graduating.



Years after finishing an undergraduate degree unrelated to the arts, my instinctive urge to make pretty things with my hands cried out again, and I began taking metalsmithing courses at the City College of San Francisco, in the evenings after my long workdays. Metal immediately became my favorite medium. I have a hard, edgy side to my personality, juxtaposed against an equally-present soft, sensitive, and sensual side. Working in metal, and particularly creating organically-inspired forms with the lost-wax casting method, spoke to me like no other medium had in the past. I have now been creating jewelry and metalwork on a full-time basis since 2007.

What does buying and selling local handmade mean to you, and how has it affected your life?

Buying and selling locally handmade products means that I am supporting my neighbors, my community, and my local economy. I have also purchased items that were locally made in places where friends and family live to give as gifts. For example, I've made an effort to buy handmade products from artisans in, say, Seattle, to give as a gift to my sister who lives in that city, with a note: "This was handmade in Seattle. Just supporting your local artisans."