Spotlight on Karla Witukiewicz, Founder of kWIT Jewelry
What would you say to your older self?
Your passion and energy are the currency that pays for your dreams. Be curious. Dream big. Share. Inspire. Create. Love. Have fun. Repeat.
Weirdest thing in your tote bag?Besides hand sanitizer, a black mask and black rubber gloves, my blue camouflage, ‘I’ve Got This’ Lingua Franca x MZ Wallace tote (benefitting She Should Run) has:
a coloring book (as my notebook)
a gauge
a loupe
5 different color Sharpies
AND
two tiny tools that turn wire and the end of a rivet into a screw
(You caught me on a day when we are creating new designs. I don’t always have a ‘screw it’ attitude!)
Best gift you gave or received?
The highlight of my instagram feed is pop artist Ashley Longshore. She’s brilliant at celebrating life’s beauty, but also recognizing—and laughing at—the struggles we face. At her recent book signing at the Strand, she spoke about the concept of ‘soul douching’ and how ‘shit makes amazing fertilizer.’ You could say I saw that concept firsthand while growing up on a Clydesdale horse farm, so I knew immediately that Ashley needed my diamond encrusted, poop emoji, ‘You’re the Shit’ pinky ring.
I kWIT: How I Stopped Pretending and Followed My Passion
I grew up in rural Michigan, graduating from business school there with a degree in marketing and an art minor in metal sculpture. My parents didn’t want me to be a starving artist, so they had nudged me to business school. But in the winter, I’d cut through the art department to avoid the bitter cold, and quickly found myself selecting metal sculpture for all my electives—losing track of time soldering, making my own tools and learning the craft from the ground up.
As a junior I interned at an advertising agency (still spending all my spare time in the studio), which hired me as an account executive when I graduated. In meetings, women and men would buy my one-of-a-kind jewelry off my body. Next I started selling to stores and at art shows. My passion eventually took over, I decided to quit the agency biz and moved home for the summer to make jewelry out of my parents’ garage. That was such a beautiful time. I went to the farmers market, experimented cooking in the kitchen and made jewelry until the sun came up. I sold jewelry to local stores and we had jewelry parties in friends’ homes.
I moved to Chicago at the end of the summer, and continued making jewelry full-time. After two years in Chicago, I visited New York City—jewelry’s promised land—for the weekend and ended up signing a lease, packing my jewelry studio and whatever else could fit in my SUV, and moving the next month. Heading down 47th street for the first time….my Dorothy in Emerald City moment. It took time, but by chit-chatting and listening in as best I could, I gained trust and confidence from these legendary diamond district guys. I know a few of the Jedi tricks of jewelry now. I’ve never been so relieved as when I first showed pieces from the collection to a master jeweler, who said, “I’ve been making fine jewelry for over 50 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this.” More validation came later, when unbeknownst to us, a set of rings was given to Gwyneth Paltrow as a gift. She featured a shot of our rings in her newsletter calling them one of her “new favorite finds,” and today you can find my collection, kWIT, at GOOP stores and special events.
kWIT jewelry is a canvas to individuality. The letters are a personal lexicon, a medium to express what you love, where you’ve been, your passions and dreams, how you feel, what you wish for. Because by now, you’ve got a lot of all of the above.
To address the problem of food insecurity at this challenging time, kwitjewelry.com is donating 30% of every purchase to No Kid Hungry.
