Kathryn Kinev, G.G., never imagined a jewelry-making class she took on a whim in college would lead to a business she initially ran out of her walk-in closet. She was an art student with dreams of becoming a professional painter before she was introduced to metalsmithing, a craft she quickly fell in love with.

Her entrepreneurial spirit led her to start the business, primarily financed by making plexiglass ice cubes for the advertising industry. Jewel Creations, Inc. eventually grew in to a retail business in Georgia that lasted 18 years before she sold it in 2003 to work on other hobbies.

Along the way she became highly involved with the GIA Alumni Association and still serves as the founding president for the Georgia Chapter. She may be out of the retail business, but her hands - or more accurately, what she's making with them - keep her connected to the jewelry industry.

Kinev took a moment with The Loupe to discuss the struggles and successes she encountered as a young businesswoman in the South and the projects she's focusing on now.

Q: Is anyone in your family in the jewelry industry?

A: Not at all. No one has ever worked in retail, either. It was all new to me.

 Q: So what made you decide to go into the industry?

A: I originally studied painting at Georgia State University. I wanted to become a professional painter. I had to take a 3-D, hands-on art class so I took jewelry making and fell in love with metalsmithing.

Q: What is it about metalsmithing you love?

A: I've always done stuff with my hands. My great-grandmother supposedly made everything in her house - from the drapes to the furniture - with her hands and I always admired that.

Q: Midway through college, you  started your own jewelry business. What was that like?

A: I had a large walk-in closet in my apartment so my dad helped me build a workbench that fit right into it. I made mostly sterling silver jewelry then.

Q: How did you find the capital to run a business?

A: I used to make plexiglass objects, like ice cubes, mostly for print ads or annual reports. If you see ice cubes in a soda ad, they're usually really clear and squarish because they're made from plexiglass. Real ice has a different refractive index from plexiglass and doesn't photograph well. I got paid pretty well to make those ice cubes.

Q: You opened your first retail shop, Jewel Creations, Inc., in Buckhead, Georgia, in 1985. What were some challenges you faced in the early years?

A: Being a female business owner was difficult back then in the South. I had to work hard to get people to trust me and get them to understand that I knew what I was talking about because they just as easily could have gone down the street to do business with a man. Anyone can be taken advantage of, so you really need to be aware of everything that's going on.

Q: How did you deal with this?

A: A gem-cutter friend of mine was taking GIA courses and told me how great they were. I was in hog-heaven when I signed up. If you love gemstones, GIA courses are the best way to learn about what you're looking at. As a retailer, I wanted to make sure I knew what gems I was buying and I really wanted to make sure I knew what gems I was selling.

Q: How did you become involved with the Alumni Association?

A: Gary Roskin [former director of the Alumni Association] asked me if I wanted to restart the Southeastern Alumni Chapter. I told him I wanted to start a Georgia Chapter instead. I believe you receive what you give and I really believe in what GIA stands for, so I wanted to give back.

Q: What do you enjoy most about being involved with the Alumni Association?

A: Communication with the next generation of jewelers. It's extremely gratifying to have people ask me for advice, but the discussions about what's going on in the industry or the latest technology are far more important. Education is the cornerstone of any sort of advancement so people need to continue to communicate to share knowledge.

Q: Why did you sell your retail shop in 2003?

A: Eighteen years is long enough to own a store. I was ready to move on to other things. I can't do the same thing for too long - I get bored.

Q: So now what are you doing?

A: I'm still making custom-designed jewelry and selling it online. Lately, I've been making replicas of ancient Egyptian jewelry. I had the opportunity to examine pieces at the Petrie [museum of Egyptian archaeology in London] and it was incredible. I'm fascinated by how these ancient cultures made jewelry without casting - only by hand-forming pieces.

Q: What other hobbies do you have?

A:  I'm working on illuminating (embellishments such as gold leaf) medieval scripts and doing Egyptian painting by grinding raw pigments like lapis and malachite and mixing them with a binder, like egg yolk.As long as I'm working with my hands, I'm happy.