Dear Jewelry

Arizona Artist Series: Katherine Londen Q&A

Katherine makes jewelry that mixes edgy lines with organic shapes and she always uses beautiful stones as a focal point. She just launched her etsy store, shopdearjewelry.com and we can't wait to see what she comes up with next. 

Stick Earrings

How did you get into making jewelry?

I first became interested in metalsmithing in college, when I worked for a year as a sales assistant at a boutique jewelry store in Tucson called Viir Jewelers. I learned a little about gemstones and how they form in the earth, what gives them their colors, where they come from, etc. and I was fascinated by it. Jewelry making is really the intersection of art and science. I think that is the coolest thing! Years later, I read an article about Harold Studio and when I ended up taking a job downtown, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a class and learn. I've since taken several different classes.

What inspires you?

Science and nature - the things we see all around us, like our environment and its creatures, but also the things that are hidden to our eyes, like diatoms, which you can only see with a microscope. I'm also inspired by gemstones themselves - a particular color or shape or type of gemstone will get my creative thoughts racing!

What is your design process?

Silver Diamond Ring

For me, it's mostly about the stone itself, because I want the stone to look its best. Its color, shape, etc. all give me ideas. Sometimes those ideas work, and other times I have to rework the ideas!

What is your favorite tool?

I don't know that it's my favorite, but the tool I use the most and that I find comes in handy all the time for all sorts of things is my bastard mill file. Also, I couldn't live without my optivisor.

What is on your bench right now?

I rent studio space from Harold Studio (thank you!!!) so right now, nothing. But there's usually my optivisor, saw, a bunch of stones, silver sheet and wire, files, bristle or silicon discs, and some works in progress. I think you can testify to the fact that a lot of the contents of my toolbox, in fact, find their way to the bench, creeping across two spaces rather than one. The organization aspect of my jewelry making is a work in progress itself, haha!