A Minneapolis Local
Judith Kinghorn is a Minneapolis jewelry designer who works primarily in high karat gold, sterling silver and precious stones. Her studio is tucked away in a neighborhood in Uptown Minneapolis, where she works alongside her two assistants. She’s lived in and loved the city her whole life, and credits it with her passion for the nature-inspired designs she brings to her jewelry. Minneapolis is dotted with numerous parks and green spaces, like the greenways that run along the banks of the Mississippi, and only a short drive from prairies, forests, and floodplains. With all that inspiration at hand, she brings nature back into her corner of the city.
Inspiration
“I am drawn to forms and shapes arising from both the natural and man-made worlds and I seem to store them as an internal inventory. My work is about transforming these visual impressions into objects of beauty in gold, silver and precious gemstones.”
Design
“My process is essentially intuitive. I work responsively to form pieces from an array of the metals and stones. One piece informs the next. Invariably, the pieces evolve into greater complexity from the original idea. My artistic satisfaction lies in the capture of often-contradictory relationships combined with my love of hand-making and the manipulation of materials.”
Collaboration
“The pieces take on lives of their own as I name them and speak about them to my clients and those who inquire about my work. The collaboration between maker and wearer is of great significance; I don’t consider my work finished until it finds its home with the wearer.”
photo credit: Stuart Lorenz
Handcrafted Every Step of the Way
The work begins with the gold overlay we hand fuse in our Minneapolis studio. Multi-layered and intricately textured, most of the pieces are comprised of heavy layers of sterling silver and 24 karat gold fused together using a type of blowtorch called a mouth torch. These torches have been used for several thousand years, and since they are controlled by the artisan’s breath they allow a level of precision and heat difficult to achieve with conventional torches.
With this technique, it’s possible to work with the rich color of 24 karat gold and the structural integrity of our oxidized sterling silver.
When we aren’t using 24 karat gold overlay, we primarily use solid 22 karat gold, to achieve the richest gold coloring possible.
Dedicated to Community
While Minneapolis is her home, Judith has a storied history on the North American craft show circuit. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that she knows all the other regulars, and always makes an effort to meet the new jewelry artists on the scene. Craft shows are a place to visit with old friends, makes new ones, and share ideas. Her booth is often filled with visitors who have met her at past shows and wanted to say hello; customers who are wearing their favorite Judith Kinghorn jewelry and wanted to come show them off. Now and then she gets the chance to make the rounds and visit with the other artists too, but rarely gets far without someone stopping her to chat!
Meet the Team
Judith works alongside her two assistants, Nadine and Sylvie.
Nadine is a local Minnesotan like Judith, and the two were friends long before Nadine joined the studio. They met at the jewelry night class where Nadine was learning metalsmithing and Judith was preparing to open her own business. For ten years, they kept in touch, occasionally collaborating on projects until they decided to make it more formal. Over their many years working together, Judith’s designs have shifted from a more abstract and even architectural style to the flower-inspired and highly textured designs she is now best known for, and Nadine has been a steadfast and highly skilled assistant jeweler through it all.
Sylvie is the newer of the two, and joined the team in 2018 as an apprentice. She may not hail from Minnesota originally, but she completed her liberal arts BA at nearby Carleton College and fell in love with the state. During those four years, she majored in art and specialized in jewelry, working as a TA in the school’s small metals studio. Judith was looking for a new assistant the summer after she graduated, and Sylvie was delighted to be chosen. She assists Judith both in the studio and in the office, as she is the more technologically inclined of the three women.
photo credit: Sylvie Stanback