Kaia Seiffert

“I have never felt so alive and amazed with the world as I have when I put my bags into a van or plane and sped off into the unknown future. New lands, new experiences, new Me. And everywhere I’ve been, I brought back a reminder, a talisman of sorts, to remind me of that waterfall that my husband convinced me to jump off of in northern California, that orange Utah clay we almost got stuck in at Thanksgiving, or the white sandy beaches of the Dominican Republic. I infuse all of these experiences into my jewelry designs. Creating pieces that reflect and revive the feelings of those mountain hikes and belly laughs around a campfire with friends is what I do.”

Creating jewelry has always been an extension of Kaia’s personal journey. Growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she was surrounded by southwestern U.S. history and the diversity of cultures. Her greatest impressions come from the Native storytelling in textile and jewelry design, blended with her own Norwegian and German cultural background.

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“I blame my wanderlust on my mother’s stories of her grandmother taking a boat to the U.S. from Norway when she was 18. So, it shouldn’t have been surprising to my mom when I chose to pack my bags and head to Oregon (via South America) when I graduated high school.”

Kaia’s original training was in Environmental Science and she had a subsequent career in teaching middle school special education and science in Redmond. Art was always an outlet, which became the next stage in her life journey. She is still involved in working with kids and she donates a portion of her sales to getting kids into the outdoors. “Art and education will forever be the threads I follow in my life!”

“My goal with my art is to convey a fusing of two places: Southwestern modern design and Pacific Northwest ruggedness. I have loved leather since I was young (making myself my own purses and footwear) and, when I couldn’t find any leather and mixed metal jewelry, I decided to make them myself.

The rich colors of the leather complemented by the blue of the turquoise and oxidized silver, present a multitude of possibilities when combining them with paint. Sometimes the leather is the focus of a design, other collections focus on the stones and silver. “I love the interplay of pattern, color, texture, all the while trying to be true to western style,” Kaia says.

You can learn more by visiting Kaia’s website here. Or follow her on Facebook and Instagram.