We had the good fortune of connecting with Jules Kim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jules, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I started my own jewelry business with the hopes of creating a legacy and building stability for myself as an independent artist. In the early 2000s in Manhattan, there was a bubbling over of street culture that impacted fashion and ultimately, jewelry. I felt the need to assert this style into popular culture.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am super proud to have created a career path that suits me and advances my ideas into the world. I feel that I have a duty to comment on our times and origins so the world can be a better place. As a creative and a business person, I have had to face lots of adversity and in jewelry, that comes at a price. I am cool with learning the hard way and encourage my colleagues, clients and chosen family to embrace this aspect of risk taking. Challenging the status quo; remarking on future thoughts; and building community is integral to my work and establishing order in a chaotic world.

Nothing comes easy and my career pursuit has taken two decades to explain. Now, I do not feel obligated to explain but more drawn to leveraging my education and experiences. I am super independent and self reliant. As a self-taught bench jeweler coming from nightlife, I was isolated when making pieces and social when selling them either on the dancefloor or behind the DJ decks. Because I was not born into this generational business and I am a mixed race outsider, I worked relentlessly on building a network that would serve the same values as my own. All of the artisans I work with are BIPOC and minority. We share a commonality of struggle that enables mutual respect and support. I like to include their stories in my work as I salute the entirety of making jewelry, not just the end product. Jewelry is incredibly cyclical since we draw intrinsic value from the raw goods and materials and add origin stories to those at the root source. If we have the technology to certify where the diamonds come from, then we should know who is making the jewelry. I will launch a documentary on the female workforce responsible for fabricating my newest Debeers collaboration. Asking them about their dreams was an extraordinary collaboration; they were passionate about making my jewelry as women for women.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am an actual nomad for the last few years, although I herald from New York City since 2002. To state that I know anything about Dallas is a mistake, so I will share what I know: Best place to shop for amazing fine jewelry and an interesting curated selection is Grangehall. Their lunches are to do for, so please book a table! For drinks, I loved the Rosewood’s Mansion Bar.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Of course! I’d love to send a big hearted shout out to my artist mother who raised my twin sister and I as a single parent. We are half Korean and Scotch Irish, so raising mixed twins in the 80s alone in the south was a challenge. I believe that is one reason why I am drawn to building community and tying my work into empowerment as a whole.

Website: bijules.com

Instagram: @bijules

Image Credits
Portrait: Alessandro Simonetti Editorial: Published in Office Magazine Photographer Brooke Nipar Jewelry by Bijules Styling by Keyla Marquez Model Cailin Russo Hair by Maranda Widlund Wigs by Aura Friedman Makeup by Ozzy Salvatierra

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