Clay that turns into silver?!?” And the hunt was on. “Luckily one of the metal clay masters, Gordon Uyehara, taught
the Art Clay Level 1 Certification Class on the next island.
So I decided to take his class. The workshop was challenging and inspiring. I was hooked!”
Up next, was wire wrapping. “In 2010 I attended the Weekend with Wire Masters where I was exposed to amazing
teachers and met lifelong friends; Julie Panusis and Heidi
Kingman. Then I decided to go big and attended Bead &
Button Show from 2011-2013.” Kumi doesn’t mess around
when she’s looking to learn. She told me, “it’s one of my
favorite venues with so many choices of workshops and
vendors!”
I suppose all of us get a bit burnt out from time to time.
And it sounds like Kumi is at that inflection point in her
journey, and no wonder at the pace she’s been going.
“I started making jewelry to bring balance to my life. I
work full time+ with long commute that’s about 3 hours a
day. In my typical OCD, Type A personality, what started
off as a hobby to relax quickly turned into a part time job.
In 2009 I started selling at one of the local galleries and
picked up another account in 2011. I set sales goals and
exceeded them in 2012 and 2013. While I was successful
in growing sales, I found myself doing mass production
work, and not growing as an artist and expanding my
skills. After doing a Trunk Show in October and meeting
the demands of the Holiday season, in latter part of 2013,
I was burned out. It left me with unfulfilled emptiness
and found myself not wanting to go into my studio as it
just felt like work. One of the gallery owners closed the
gallery due to health issues and the other one told me
she too is thinking of leaving the island. This gave me an
opportunity to reassess the direction I want to take with
jewelry making in 2014.”
When telling Kumi that she has a very distinctive style, she
told me “it took a while to find my voice and brand. I am
still developing my ‘style’ but I love the sophisticated rustic look.” She said “all successful artists have a recognizable
style. You have to go with a style that makes your heart
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