Interviewing MAKEbhm: AK Jewelry
I interviewed AK Jewelry of MAKEbhm a few days ago at her work station at Make. My first question led her to dicuss her length of time at MAKEbhm...
How long have you been working at MAKEbhm?
I’ve been here a little over two years.
What’s your favorite thing about working with MAKEbhm?
I love being at Make (MAKEbhm) because working alone can be really isolating. So working in a space like this I feel like I have coworkers. And I feel like your work ethic plays off of other people.
How did you get into jewelry making?
In college I decided that I wanted to learn how to make jewelry because I’ve always been interested in it. So I talked to the dean of my school and there was a girl who attended my school and she was a goldsmith out in New Mexico, and I emailed her. She invited me to come out and do an apprenticeship, so I did that for a few weeks out in New Mexico just to see if I liked it. After I graduated college I went to Revere Academy in San Francisco for jewelry making.
On your website it says, “A.K. is inspired by the imperfections of this life, but how the imperfect can still be used to display undeniable beauty. She hopes to achieve this idea in her designs.” Can you tell me about some pieces you’ve made that reflect this idea of capturing imperfect beauty?
A lot of my pieces start out with me just looking at a stone, and then creating it from that. So a lot of the stones that I pick out aren’t perfect. I’m drawn to those stones. The metal isn’t necessarily going to be perfect when setting a stone like that- I like that you can see the imperfections. Imperfections aren’t necessarily a bad thing. But that’s the thing about custom orders, people really want a piece that feels like them.
Could you name some artists whose work inspires your own OR artists whose work you admire?
The jewelry artist who inspires me the most is Marco Bicego, he’s actually why I started getting into jewelry making. A lot of it is cast but still has these little imperfections that I love. I also tend to pay attention to the cycles that fashion is going through, but I’ll find a specific piece that I like that inspires me to make something.
About MAKEbhm
I recently got the opportunity to sit down and chat with some of the creative folks at MAKEbhm, which is a group of businesses that include Alabama Sawyer, ECam and Co., Amanda Loper, and more.
