Jewelry I find is the most finite, concrete, and enduring form of communication for me
as an artist.
If I have this loose idea, this ephemeral floating thing, I can actually grab it in
the air, manifest it, and it will last a lot longer than we will.
My name is Jules Kim and I'm a jeweler.
I really seek to redefine fashion standards and, at the same time, redefine jewelry standards.
I find the shapes that I design, they free flow and follow the body.
Also the placement of my jewelry is super strategic because my ideas are so out there
that people refuse to make it.
So I'm constantly reaching these obstacles with not only the people but industries in
general that I literally have to prove my process in order to explain it to a final object.
The objects that I create become communication tools for the story that I'm telling.
Once I tell that first layer of a story that it's the client's duty to continue their own
version of it without me trying to put a period to the end of their sentence.
If I create an environment that journeys from an actual client recognizing the Jewel's brand,
coming down into the store and then just being like, I want to continue this as a way of life,
then they come to my parties and then it becomes this community-based kind of thing.
I come from a party background, DJing and promoting and the act of self-promotion is
how I make a living so there's no shame about it.
So I was wearing two or three of my pieces in the club because I knew everyone was going
there to listen to dope music, have drinks with friends and buy jewelry.
It literally built my business from the underground up.
I think the most important factor is failure.
I would not be successful if I hadn't failed several times in between.
So once you understand and confront your own fears as an artist and a business person,
you're really sort of free to make the mistakes and create a new pathway to success.
I do believe that happiness is my only core success that I'm trying to constantly seek
and it comes in different shapes and forms.
For me, success itself is not defined by it, it's defined by its pursuit.
