MEET THE DESIGNER: T.KAHRES JEWELRY
"In the beginning, I worked at a teeny bookshelf, but it didn't matter—I was just doing it for fun." Teresa Kahres SHOP ALL
During Teresa Kahres's early years in NYC, she shuttled between the East Village, where she worked at a restaurant, and her home turf, Long Island. There, she'd hole up with a torch in her mom's basement, crafting necklaces and rings. Through a friend, Teresa, who had studied jewelry design in college (including a semester-long stint in Italy), met fellow up-and-comer Lauren Wolf, and when Lauren asked her new pal to go in on a cheap studio space in Brooklyn's Dumbo, Teresa happily agreed. "I thought, 'I can have my hobby without going to Long Island,'" she says. "I worked at a teeny bookshelf, but it didn't matter—I was just doing it for fun." Well, that's what she thought at the time. READ MORE
During Teresa Kahres's early years in NYC, she shuttled between the East Village, where she worked at a restaurant, and her home turf, Long Island. There, she'd hole up with a torch in her mom's basement, crafting necklaces and rings. Through a friend, Teresa, who had studied jewelry design in college (including a semester-long stint in Italy), met fellow up-and-comer Lauren Wolf, and when Lauren asked her new pal to go in on a cheap studio space in Brooklyn's Dumbo, Teresa happily agreed. "I thought, 'I can have my hobby without going to Long Island,'" she says. "I worked at a teeny bookshelf, but it didn't matter—I was just doing it for fun." Well, that's what she thought at the time.
Pretty soon, customers came calling, and after selling her work—which is inspired largely by natural forms such as shells, leaves, and ice—at the Grand Central Holiday Fair in 2011, she went legit. Was it scary quitting her two other gigs to pursue her line full-time? Most definitely. But over time, it also just felt so right. "It's like, this is going to work—this is my business," she explains of her ever-growing confidence. "No matter how many times people tell you that, you have to find it in yourself." —meghana gandhi
tkahresjewelry.com
DESIGNER'S WORK
Green Garnet Cage Necklace BY T.Kahres Jewelry
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