Kuukivi

Science and Art or Art and Science

2011-12-14T05:27:00.000-08:00

As people who are familiar with me knows I LOVE Science....especially all the fun experiments you get to do in the name of science:) I do a few Science shows in schools and a lot more experiments at home with our little one.

This weekend I am having a Jewelry show and decided to mix it up a little with Science...Maybe create a bit of Instant Snow for the guests while they are sipping wine or tea to get them into the winter holiday mood or let the kid in everyone's heart come out while playing with the amazing Chinese bowl that sprays water to refresh.... and a few others...

Will post some pictures after the show and I am excited to mix up Science and Art. Along with Jewelry, I am also making a few of these adorable gifts with live succulents in it which are easy to take care of and liven up any work place (and ofcourse home)..

@The SantaCruz Heritage Fair unveiling Childrens artwork jewelry line

2011-12-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

So ofcourse I didn't stop at just entering the competition. I have been working on this new line to customize jewelry with childrens' artwork. I wish I was more ready than I am by this time of the year but atleast I still managed to unveil it at the SantaCruz Heritage Fair well before Christmas.

The idea is simple: With just 3 steps, you can get your child's artwork turned into a family heirloom that you can enjoy daily and keep it for ever.

(a) Pick a drawing (or more if you want). This is the hardest part
(b) Send us a copy of the drawing or a good scanned image.
(c) Select the product you want in the shape you want, in the size you want

And we will miniaturize the drawing, make it into a stamp, imprint it onto Fine Silver, antique it (or not depending on your preference) and send it to you. And if that's not enough, I add a nice design on the back of the pendant (or keychain) so you can use it reversible. It is also possible for a little extra charge to put two drawings on each side or the name of the child and the year they drew the picture so even after a decade or two, you can always look at it and tell exactly when they drew it.

The products to choose:

(a) Pendant only (b) Pendant with chain (c) designer necklace (d) bracelet (e) key ring (f) charm necklace or bracelet (sizes will be between 0.5in to 0.75 inches each).

Sizes: (a) approx. 1 inch (b) approx 2 inches

Shape: (a) Circle (b) Oval (c) Square (d) Rectangle (e) Triangle (f) Flower

Pattern to choose if you want to for the backside (free of charge)

A couple of examples....

Celebrating Childrens artwork

2011-11-30T00:11:00.000-08:00

Along with the relaunch, I am bringing out a new line of products in Kuukivi. I have to say my little son is the inspiration behind this entire line. He draws the cutest cars and stick figures and ofcourse gives them to us. While I do save them, I dont get to enjoy them as often as I would like because they are always inside a box for protection. That's when I got the idea to look into how to save them and still enjoy them whenever I want to. That's when I encountered Metal Clay Silver, pure silver in powder form with organic binding thus making it look and feel like clay and once the design is done, just firing it up in a kiln burns off the binding leaving pure silver piece behind.

As luck would have it, found a great teacher Pat Evans and started taking classes and expanding my horizons. Recently there was a competition for metal clay Silver with a requirement to have a hinge in the piece created. That gave me an idea to create a miniature scrapbook made with Silver with my little one's drawings and a couple of my favorite textures added. Here are a couple of pictures of the beautiful memorybook I created.....I made this to look like a scrapbook found after a century or so - really antique with bumps and dents and.... Then I included my little one's first ring (gift from a friend when he was born) onto the hinge and his picture on the front set in resin.....

Kuukivi reborn again....

2011-11-19T18:19:00.000-08:00

2years, 8 months and a week after the last post, Kuukivi is reborn again. We came back to North California a few months ago and I decided to relaunch Kuukivi again. Only this time, adding a new innovative product line and focusing more on that but ofcourse will always have new original design line as well.

It has been a very interesting 3 years with me starting a science museum in Tampere, Finland which I was working on even while I was working on Kuukivi here. Unfortunately the financial model didnt work out in Finland and had to close the science museum there although children absolutely loved the place and got me the nickname of Science Lady (which my son makes sure it stays).

I just wanted to stop procrastinating and start posting Kuukivi blog again...will add the details about the new line and post pictures very soon... I do have a FaceBook page for Kuukivi and did post a few pictures in the last few days which I need to get them here as well....

Apart from my original designs, I started learning and using MetalClay Silver for added flexibility in designs etc and its Fine Silver....I love working with Metal Clay for another reason too. I wanted to make Kuukivi as green as possible and MetalClay gives me that option as the Metal Clay Silver is completely made from recylced Silver..

End of the path....

2009-03-12T23:50:00.001-07:00

I have been meaning to write this blog for a while now but just couldn't get myself to type. I decided to close the Kuukivi doors and hence there hasn't been any updates either on the website or the blog. It has not been an easy decision and I still love creating but we moved to Finland recently (yes, to my nice big studio) and managing a California business from Finland is just too complicated for the amount of business getting generated (especially with the current economy). I might revive it in another form later but for now, there is no Kuukivi.

Thank you for all the people who supported me and Kuukivi for the past 2 years. All your reviews, advice and support kept me going. Closing Kuukivi doesn't mean I am moving myself into darkness. Just means some other doors will open soon:)

Please keep in touch and will send personal emails to everyone before closing the website.

thanks again,
Sheela

tough market or bad choice of show(s)?

2008-08-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

So when i tried for a particular big time handmade craft show a few months ago, I got the feedback that the circles I used in the pendants are not handmade so they cannot accept the applicaiton even though I explained that I am in the process of replacing all of them with handmade ones even as we speak. I felt bad but also gave me determination to replace all the pieces except the chains themselves with handmade things - pendants, links, rings you name it. I felt all good about it and with the new line of "Silpi", handmade sculpture pendants with beads threaded and coiled I thought I am finally ready for any handmade shows. So I go for San Francisco gift fair with all the pride in the world and got shocked to learn that 'handmade' doesn't exactly need to mean 'handmade everytime'. You can make one pendant or shape and cast it and its still considered 'handmade'. I got advise from fellow designers to do just that to get the price even lower. So, its a compromise between mass produced by machines and literally handmake every piece. i am not sure I am ready to do that yet but felt cheated somehow. The SF show didn't go well as I wanted but learnt a thing or two about the market.

I signed up to go to Las Vegas ASD/AMD show fully expecting it to be a 'wholesale' only show and with the assurances from the organizers that there are other 'similar' vendors coming. Two days before the show the organizers call and say the fine jewelry section of the show which is what I signed up for is 100% filled with diamonds and platinum and what the hell am I doing in that part of the show!!!!! I refused to be moved to the other section of the show they have which I felt is filled with mass produced and really low price jewelry with almost no handmade ones. They reluctantly agree to leave me in the fine jewelry section warning me that next year if I want to come to the show I have to go to the fashion/costume jewelry section and will not be allowed in fine jewelry (even though 25% of my collection has 18k or 14k gold with precious stones and black diamonds).

But by then warning bells are ringing in my mind that this might yet be another wrong show I picked trusting the organizers to tell me the truth. Ofcourse there isn't a single vendor in the fine jewelry section who has anything but "manufactured" stuff and mostly with diamonds. And i also observed that the only booths that were busy at the show were actually doing "retail" in the wholesale show. On talkign to a few people I was enlightened that atleast in that particular show, as long as 10% of the products they have are for wholesale (or a single 4 or 6ft glass showcase full), they can sell any other items for retail!!!!

Is there a secret manual that I am missing here? How can I compete in handmade section for prices with people who can cast them and provide at lower price or in a wholesale show where people can sell 90% of the inventory in retail!. Since its expected, most of the buyers were there for retail, not the right type of buyers I was looking for. There was a company from china which was selling rings or earrings with 14k gold and a single small stone for $15 - $25!!!. It probably will cost me that much in raw materials if I want to make them handmade. Considering everything I didn't do that bad...got a couple of good accounts, and a couple of good leads who are starting new boutiques in LA and SF but the point is that's not enough to keep me in the business for long. I really learnt about some of the nuances of the business the very hard way - a few thousand dollars worth indeed...

I really enjoy working with metal, shaping, fusing, soldering, texturing you name it. But I am at a loss and don't have the courage to try any more shows at this time:)

SFIGF shows starts...

2008-07-27T10:36:00.001-07:00

well, it started yesterday. I should post (take the pictures first) pictures soon but the booth looks way way better than the ones I had last year. After searching for months, I came across linen displays (necklace busts, earring holders etc) which were offered by Rio Grande. Ordered one sample to look and feel...really liked them but ended up waiting for maybe 4 weeks before decided to place an order and.....just a week before that they discontinued the whole series!!!! don't even have any of the models I want left to ship...I am soooo disappointed and there is no one else in the entire internet world that provide linen displays!!!! I searched for a couple of days and ended up ordering white leatherette displays. Put them on a dark brown thick cotton cloth for contrast. All the 14k and 18k jewelry went into a lockable showcase again with the brown cloth at the bottom. Sprinkled a few semi precious stones around for sparkle:)

It was an ok day at the show. Towards the end of the day a couple of people came in and said they came for a different section of the show but their jewelry buyer is coming in on tuesday. They looked at all the pieces and said "you are the finest jeweler we have seen in the show". Such a great complement...hope I will get a good big order too:)

more on the show later.....btw, I am blogging from the show today:)

curves and designs

2008-07-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

Found a few designs online instead of scanning my sarees to show where my inspiration for the sculptural designs are coming from..

I have a similar saree like this purple one - with all cuves embroidered..and they definitely inspired me to make some of the shapes I haev in this new collection. I used Fine silver in some of the designs and Sterling silver in some others.

As I mentioned before Mango shape is one of the most used shape especially in silk sarees.

This shape inspired a few earrings ...basic mango shape but with the two tips curved away from each other.

Kuukivi at Nolcha Fashion Week

2008-07-21T14:39:00.001-07:00

No we are not on runway but will have a presence at the Nolcha Fashion week http://www.nolchafashionweek.com/ one whole day and display all the new gorgeous designs from Kuukivi. Nocha is for all the emerging designers like me. Although the main focus is on the apparel, jewelry and handbags definitely take their place in the show. I have been a member of Nolcha for more than a year now and decided to participate in the show and thus debuting Kuukivi designs in NY for the first time...

Here's another design that will make its way into all the three shows....Its simple but have enough color and metal to catch the eye

Kuukivi participating in ASD/AMD show

2008-07-17T22:02:00.001-07:00

we will be at the fine jewelry section of ASD/AMD show in Las Vegas in Aug. I am excited to participate in this show. With these two shows, Kuukivi enters the fine jewelry market now and into future.

this morning someone asked me about the design I posted yesterday..how did i get into those designs....I have a couple of paintings from India, especially from Rajasthan. Beautiful paintings made with gemstones crushed into powder. The drawing is actually on the glass (inside ofcourse)and different colro gemstones are crushed and applied to the painting probably with some special glue. That inspired me a lot and I wanted to do something like that but on pure silk cloth but with precious and semi-precious beads.

well, I experimented with a few in the year before starting Kuukivi. But the pure silk cloth I had from India was beautiful but delicate..too delicate to hold the weight of the gemstones. since starting Kuukivi I kept thinking how to get similar designs in smaller scale as pendants....I experimented with different types of wires and beads but since I wasn't doing much metal work initialy, I experimented with limited shapes. Figured out its much easier to work with fine silver wire for these sculptures than sterling silver. Now that I work with metal, I have all the freedom in the world to come up with different shapes.

This one here is a very special shape for me. In India, this is called a "young mango shape". Everywhere you see - hangings for the walls to borders on sarees, this shape is part of our everyday life so ofcourse I had to do this one. As time permits, I want to promote this shape with different color stones and maybe one in just greens to actually make it a young mango:)

going green is more expensive!

2008-07-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

I ordered a fabric banner to use as a backdrop for my booth at San Francisco International Gift Fair...and out of the options available, I picked recycled fabric - to start using "green" materials as much as possible and add jewelry line with green silver and gold as business grows. But the surprising thing is the recycled fabric is more expensive than the normal fabric (normal!!-- I meant the regular fabric we use everyday). oh well...maybe if enough of us start using it and recycle stuff, it might come down someday:)

I am excited and looking forward for the show. The booth number is 6306 in the Handmade section. I will be introducing 14k, 18k and 22k gold collection along with really cool sterling silver designs...here's one that will in the new product displays at the show..

Evaluating, and re-evaluating...

2008-07-08T23:58:00.000-07:00

Have been spending quite a bit of time evaluating the past year of Kuukivi's life and re-evaluating/prioritizing. Which area to focus for the future et.al. Well, instead of beign everywhere, decided to just focus on fine jewelry as a bit complex designs are what I really enjoy designing and creating. But also add more metal work to the vibrant gemstones. I realized I really do love working on metal almost as much as love working with gemstone beads and wrapping them into perfect combinations.

We will be at San Francisco International Gift Fair end of July in handmade section...debuting fine jewelry collection including a couple of pieces with beautiful black diamond drops!!

Here's one of the simple but striking pendant with a oversize quartz rock in the center. The pendant is thick 12gauge SS wire hand formed into shape, hammered and slightly textured and connected to SS chain with Smokey Quartz roundelles.

Kuukivi is Trendi...

2008-05-23T08:21:00.000-07:00

Trendi is a brand new site or as they call it "ultimate place to find fashionable clothing and accessories". Its a pretty cool site with cool features. you can pick your collection, vote on designs (magic or tragic or somewhere in between) to form the trend or simply browse products and make a list you would love to have (or have to have). Its quite different from lot of other fashion sites around.

Kuukivi is honored to be picked among the first phase of companies to be included into Trendi launch. Quite a few of Kuukivi designs are on Trendi voting list now and I am extremely happy to say that most of the designs are making into the "Magic" side of the trendi (meaning lot of people are voting it high and adding them to their online collection/wish lists). Some of the designs that became magic include "Peacock", "Maala", my favorite "Dream", almost all the multi-layer designs. Check them out on Kuukivi or Trendi.

hammering....fusing....riveting...

2008-05-08T16:51:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in quite a while. One of the reasons being to see if it will stop the spam comments I have been getting on the blog. Everytime there is a new blog, in a few hours, there are comments with a link to click which goes to some spam site. Got tired of deleting them often (and another one comes back when I delete) so thought if I don't add new blog posts for a little while, maybe, hopefully this site will get out of their range. I really don't want the readers to click on one of those awful spam sites by mistake.

And I have been taking classes learning new skills. When I created the circle designs for the summer collection, I used pre-made rings knowing that really soon I will be able to create them really really soon. now I am all ready with new shapes and designs all handcrafted by me finally:) realized that I really love working with all these tools and the satisfaction of seeing them integrated into my designs is just soo good.

tax week

2008-04-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

ofcourse even though we know this week is tax week, quite a few of us put it till the last minute and in my case actually filed for an extension:) but atleast did all the preliminary work and so can concentrate on other things like blogging....starting tomorrow:)

until then.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

earrings coming this weekend

2008-04-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

a few of the earrings that will be online this weekend. I started working with hoops and they are lot of fun to work with. ofcourse there are a few circle shape earrings too but I love this gold filled hoops with a big green onyx drops.

Style and Dream collections online..

2008-04-01T01:05:00.001-07:00

Finally got the designs online. Not 100% satisfied with all images but most of them came out good. Changed the image size (thumb nail and the big images) but the old ones are still a bit small. Still need to work on those tomorrow. Couldn't get the half dozen or so new earring designs online yet. Images came out good. just need to get them on the website..probably by end of tomorrow the rest of the images can be fixed and the earrings come online. Phew!!

This is one of myf avorite "Style" designs with a fancy pendant and the Sapphire drops just fit perfectly into the necklace.

Check out both Style and Dream collections.

Appel&Frank pics

2008-03-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

We went to the Appel&Frank show and realized that I forgot the steppers I planned to use to display the designs at different heights and the camera to take pictures. Our neighbor exhibitor Sarah graciously took a few pictures and send them today. Thank you so much Sarah.
That's Savita who came to help me out at the show. Thank you dear

The summer collection that I am still trying to get on the web

Ovalcoral

2008-03-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

Ok Ok..when I said this years summer designs are all about circles (and multi layers), I included oval drops (and rectangles and rhombuses) shapes too into the category...Here's one design that has two Silver drop shaped rings connected to the chain. A natural red coral hanging in between and a few rectangle coral beads on just one side to make it modern yet give a tinge of color and brightness.

have a nice weekend and a great Easter everyone...

as seen in "What Designers"

2008-03-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

What Designers is an online shopping guide with focus products that are contemporary/modern aesthetic. Kuukivi is one of the jewelry designs that got into the spring guide. Ofcourse the design chosen was "Mohini" .

The shopping guide has quite a few unique items and not just in jewelry. I loved the BEEBEE Mod tees for kids

Thank you all of you for supporting independent designers.

Oceanbreeze....another summer design

2008-03-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

My favorite circle design which took quite a while to get the design exactly to what I envisioned a few months ago. It has been sitting on a sketch just because i was missing a few tiny iolite drops to add the tinge of dark blue into it. It has about 70 gemstones handwrapped individually from seablue chalcedony long drops to tiny iolite drops with Pearls and a whole lot more in between.

Still hoping to get these designs online by end of tomorrow...

3 layered necklace..

2008-03-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

one of the multi layer necklaces from summer design collection. I thought I will finish photographing and editing and post on the website this weekend but had to take the weekend easy and not work much. And I still need some practice on focusing (as you can tell from this picture) so it might be a little while longer till they get on the website.

This is a gold-filled necklace with 3 different styles of chain. The first and innermost is very thin chain with solid rectangle pieces connected to a single faceted chalcedony bead horizantally. The middle layer has three different types of stones (19 in total) namely hessonite garnet, spessarite and garnet with a citrine right smack in the middle. The outermost chain has another chalcedony bead connected vertically. This bead has ofcourse three drops hanging one of them is green apatite to just add a tinge of green to the entire necklace.

The necklace just look stunning with all the drops sparkling away and the colors complement the gold filled chains really well. I really loved working on it and it came out just the way I envisioned it.

spring breeze...another summer design

2008-03-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

hehe, yes the name says spring breeze and it is part of Kuukivi summer design. what can I say:) walking everyday with my 2 yr old amongst lot of trees that just started to get new leaves while yellow pollen with white petals flying around everytime there is a slight breeze is such an inspiration for mind and heart.

And like I mentioned in the previous blog, this summer collection is about circles and multi layers...this one is another circle focused design. The handmade hammered center circle has a beautiful long Green Onyx drop and I don't know which is complementing which. Around that there's a bountiful of gems - Emeralds with their rich green color, citrine with its cool yellow color and ofcourse tiny pearls with aquamarine beads...just love the color combination and this chain goes so perfectly with everything.

cool summer designs coming...

2008-03-10T22:37:00.001-07:00

Started the photographing stage for the new designs...Last summer/Fall was about designs with exotic pendants from India. This summer its all about multi-layer designs and circles....Here is one of the designs that will be unveiled at Appel&Frank event this thursday.

Lots of beautiful moonstone drops, Hessonite garnet in different shades, green apatite drops (in total 30+ drops) handwrapped to this beautiful thick chain and 5 Silver rings spaced evenly into the necklace with one of them in the center of the pendant hanging down.

Will try to blog about one design every night this week and hoping to get all of them on the website by next monday.

Kuukivi jewelry now available thru Succulentwife.com

2008-02-27T19:38:00.000-08:00

I am excited to announce that Kuukivi designs are now available thru The Succulent Wife . The Succulent Wife promotes women artists who wish to convert their creative passions into income-producing enterprises. Anne-Marie Kovacs, founder of The Succulent Wife is one of very diligent people I have met. I like her tagline for the company "An artist-featured gift company".

She has a great collection of gift items including jewelry. I know there are quite a few websites out there which are focused on finding the perfect gift for anyone but this is one of the few websites where you feel there is a personal touch in the items she selected. And I am very happy Kuukivi is part of that family too now:)

I have been keeping my head down and work on the Summer collection to get it out by mid-March and online by end of 3rd week or so. So, blogging has been neglected a bit again but ofcourse I have to share the good news

On another note, got a new SLR camera and have a small help session tomorrow(I love Wolf camera folks...I got the camera for a great price and they help with technical stuff too) setting up white balance and will try out pictures this weekend and post some of the upcomign designs:)

woes of shopping cart:(

2008-02-18T22:56:00.000-08:00

Well, for the first time, signed up for an online trunk show with SheFinds thinking now that I am back in US, I should start getting the name out more and build internet sales. Well, with moving just about a month ago and with the flu seasons and what nots and overconfidence that every shopping cart will have a feature to offer discount codes, I completely forgot about checking into the shopping cart I use if they actually do offer the feature. And ofcourse in the last second possible realized that it doesn't!!. Literally the only option available now is to change the shopping cart of the website! While its not a bad idea to do that, I can't do it in a day or two...takes a couple of weeks in development and then testing before putting it on a live site!!!. I got sooo royally screwed (pardon my french).

I am hoping the customers wont' get completely put off by this and send me an email with the order # and the discount code so I can promptly give them the discount. To show my appreciation for being understanding and patient, I am sending a gift certificate for $20 for any future purchases (Yes, the current shopping cart does take gift certificates:)).

I reallly want to get the spring/summer collection and the wedding collection out on time as planned (towards end of March) so decided against my better judgement to leave the shoppign cart as is and take it up a couple of months later.

Calling all designers...for D4A's first auction of 2008

2008-02-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

It's D4A's first auction of the year!.
When: March 27
Whom: The South Sudanese Center
Cause: Build wells in Sudan to provide drinking waterBenefit: apart from that great feeling of being part of the great cause, your company's name will get more audience, your logo and link to your website will be placed in D4A website, list of companies with a small blurb will be published in D4A blog.

The last auction in Oct 2007 was a huge success and managed to raise enough funds for turnabout pump which is bringing safe water to a school of over 1,200 in Uganda. This time there are even more designers participating but we can use more designers to raise even more money to help with the cause.

It doesn't need to be your hottest design. Even designs from the last holiday season would be a great contribution.
Please send an email to April@aprilstardavis.com or me (sheela@kuukivi.com) to sign up.

We are trying to get more press for the event too. And there is a good possiblity of having some celebrities attendign the event!

wintery wedding necklace unveiled

2008-02-07T13:40:00.001-08:00

I know I blogged about this beautiful Wedding necklace I was custom designing for a friend in Tampere, Finland. Well, that was the last piece I worked there before moving back to California. well, design was done before but altering the length and add a beautiful back to match the wedding dress got done last.

Since its a winter wedding, the necklace has lot of moonstones to represent snowy white ice with a long almost 2cm long moonstone drop in the center. small balls with tiny crystals are added to give that extra sparkle just like the snow flakes in sunlight. All of these handwrapped to a tiny curved chain.

And introducing Kuukivi signature back for wedding necklaces...Especially with a wedding dress with low back, small pearls each individually handwrapped and connected to any wedding necklace design, it will give a classic look. Ofcourse just 4 blue sapphire beads just around the clasp takes care of that little"something blue" ...

unfortunately there wasn't enough time there to find professional photographer to get this pictured so just blogging it with pictures taken from my tiny digital camera.

Kuukivi wedding designs will be unveiled end of March....

Back on blogging

2008-02-05T23:03:00.000-08:00

sorry about the looong break. Moved back to California, took some time to set up everything including internet, survived yet another attack of flu and finally all ready to go....Flight with a toddler was quite an experience but little Manu was a great trooper..just wanted to play and not sleep:)

Had a good trunk show today, first one after returning. One of my friends arranged it and it was fun meeting new customers, watching reactions. It was good testing ground for new designs and the one drop career women collection that I am gettign geared up to release next month. Thank you Savita.

I think I can add a few new designs to the website this week but need to get the rest photographed soon. For eg: This is the first design that got sold today and a potential order for another one of these in Sterling Silver in summer from the same customer. When she tried out the necklace, it just looked beautiful, gorgeous all rolled into one on her.

But the picture shows one of the stones not in proper place and chain not exactly how it shoudl be and hence not on the website yet. While I was thinking of sticking to 2 layers max in a necklace, customers today told me they really like this design and would like to see more of these.....I love to hear feedback like that. Same customer wanted custom designed earrings to go with the necklace. We designed on the spot together and I think they will go perfect with this gorgeous necklace.

A perfect "Fusion" design

2008-01-17T02:56:00.000-08:00

While Kuukivi has designs that are appealing for different generations and different categories of women, this particular design has stolen hearts of 3 different generations and three different categories in two different continents.

(a) Teenage girls loved the simple yet modern look of the design. I had parents buying it for their daughter's graduation party last summer.

(b) 30+ career women working in different industries loved the same design for its simple beauty and elegance. This is a design that you can wear to office easily and for an outing...all it needs is a change of dress (maybe) :)

(c) 70+ year old grandmoms loved the design for the link chain with the blue chalcedony hanging and the Pearls that are connecting the link chain to the Sterling Silver chain. I just sold one a couple of weeks ago for a grandmom here in Finland for a wedding (her grandson's wedding ofcourse).

3 generations, 3 different careers, 2 different continents - now that's what I call a perfect "recipe" or the perfect "Fusion" design.

Another really cool thing I noticed the other day...recently I sold four different necklaces - Sininen, a very unique necklace that I can't reproduce (Neelamani), Chakra(shown on the left and Quartzy all in a single family to three different generations:) Sininen was for the grandmom (mentioned above), Neelamani was for a young career woman, Chakra and Quartzy are for two sisters who are in a generation between the other two.

Although this is the response I hoped for with my designs, to actually experience it is something amazing altogether. These type of responses is what keeps my inspiration growing.....Thank you everyone.

Felicity Huffman to Kuukivi

2008-01-16T05:57:00.001-08:00

Yesterday recieved a card from Felicity Huffman with a lovely handwritten note.

"Thank you so much for the stunning earrings and necklace - the coral roses are so feminine and beautiful. I will wear tehm and feel lovely" -- Felicity Huffman

The necklace set name was Gopika with coral roses and Rose Quartz drops hanging from a rectangle coin pearl.

Thank you for the thought and wonderful gesture Felcity. That was a very pleasant surprise. Its always awesome to hear from happy customers:)

Kuukivi in "Mywares.com"

2008-01-10T04:50:00.000-08:00

I am excited to announce that Mywares.com has chosen Kuukivi to feature in their exclusive online product showcase of women-made products. Mywares.com is geared to provide exposure to small companies such as Kuukivi to wholesale buyers.

Sandra and Stephanie, founders of Mywares pick and review products from around the world and provide them with exposure to wholesale buyers. Especially for people like us who can't afford to go to a lot of tradeshows yet Mywares.com is an awesome venue and the wholesale buyers get to pick products they might otherwise miss.

I am hoping 2008 will prove to be a good starting point for wholesale side of business for Kuukivi..

getting ready to move, flu..

2008-01-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

The new year didn't exactly start off with a positive note. Our baby boy had flu and is still recovering and for the past couple of days, I have been down with flu. Same old symptoms but worried about getting ear infection. Never heard of them till I came to US and never experienced firsthand till I came to Finland but hoping i don't have to go through it again.

Also moving back to US date is coming up..its less than 2 weeks:) We should be back in San Jose,CA on 20th. yay!!

Happy New Year 2008

2008-01-01T11:00:00.001-08:00

We wish everyone a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and a warm welcome to 2008. Hope this year brings a little more peace and happiness in everyone's life and a few more sales for us:). In a couple of weeks, we will back home in California and looking forward for it. Haven't scheduled any trunk shows yet as our soon to be 2yr old son will be going through a jetlag phase and mom can in no way be out of line-of-sight till he gets used to the place again.

Hoping to still keep the schedule to launch the Bridal jewelry and one-drop career collection towards end of March just in time for Spring...along with more beautiful anklets to choose for all those beautiful skirts in the wardrobe..

Post Christmas offer from Kuukivi

2007-12-26T04:03:00.000-08:00

Christmas is the time you think of buying for everyone else in your life. Now that Christmas is over, its time to buy something for yourself and we would love to help with our offer of "Free Shipping on all orders above $99" till Jan15.

Pamper yourself with one of the many unique designs or get ready for Spring with a cool anklet to match your spring closet.

Visit to Santa's Clause village these holidays

2007-12-20T04:43:00.000-08:00

just one (well 1.5) more working days and its holidays!!!! My dear hubby is also taking off the 3 or so working days next week before New Years so we can take the whole 10-11 days and visit relatives around the country. His sister and brother live in Northern part of Finland and I haven't visited that parts of the land ever.

There is a place in Northern Finland (known as Lapland) called Rovaniemi and is believed to be where Santa Clause along with Mrs Santa Clause and elves live. If time permits, this seems to be the place to visit even if it is just after Christmas.

Closer to home, couldnt' get another time with the photostudio to reshoot the jewelry so all those 30+ new designs have to wait till next year for me to come back to US and get them photographed. That's a bummer but trying not to let that get me down in the holidays.

Design inspired and dedicated to the two friends in my life..

2007-12-13T03:53:00.000-08:00

We three have been together for almost 10 years now. here's the three of us at the trunk show hosted by paddy (as we call her) in September.

We always had a blast and giggle like crazy eating tons of hot sauce in a thai restaurant or sipping a margarita and eating chips at chevys:) These two have been my bestest (is that a word?) friends and we went through a lot together. even with me half way around the world for a year now, we are always upto date on what's going on with each others lives (well, for most part anyway)...Thanks to the internet...

Although I decided to retire my earlier design of Opals with 3 big circles and 3 small circles within in the pendant and opals hanging from them, I still wanted to work with the circles. So, i decided to simplify the pendant (cut off two smaller circles in it) and use it. It left me with 3 big circles and one small circle that's holding all the three circles. Whatever it is that's holding us together, those 3 circles reminded me of us three going through thick and thin in the last 10 years!!. The result of it is this design in two different variations and 2 different colors of each variation. On the right is one variation with Opals and Blue Topaz with a blue topaz hanging from the small circle in the center. The other color variation was with dark maroon garnet briolettes (in place of opals) and Vesuvonite drops(in place of blue topaz).

The other variation is just simple Marquees (on the left) with a roundelle and Bali spacers in the small center circle. The other color variation of this is with Carnelian marquees.

Here's to Us girls....and all the best friends around the world.......may we enjoy the fruits of friendship until the end.

holiday mood

2007-12-13T03:39:00.000-08:00

I am in holiday mood already and its another 10 days away!!. In Finland, Santa doesn't come in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. He comes home in the evening before the kids sleep and for some reason dads or uncles are always missing when Santa comes:) and give the gifts in person to everyone!!.

Usually in the trunk shows, I always have a problem of displaying the earring especially. For the open studio at home, I tried something new. Not sure if I will be able to do it for other trunk shows but here, it worked out good. Since our backyard is full of trees that are dormant for the winter, I cut a couple of small branches and put them in pinfrogs (that i use for my Ikebana arrangements) and hang the earrings in their sleeves. Not sure if you can see it clearly from the picture but it was like a nice earring tree - all naturale:)

Here's one of the designs that is not on the website because of photography screwup but became quite popular in Finland. Five Smokey quartz marquees handwrapped. The center one is in a Sterling silver Rhombus connected to the chain with a smokey quartz roundelle. I have the same design with Carnelian marquees as well but this one has got more attention than the other one.

Blogging for D4A

2007-12-09T13:30:00.001-08:00

As I mentioned a while ago, Kuukivi and I became partners with Designers4Africa to support raise funds for different non-profit organizations. Recently, I offered/volunteered to start a blog for D4A and write about different projects going on with the different non-profits that we work with. Its been an experience just reading on different thing happening in that great continent of Africa.

I am excited about the opportunity to join D4A and really happy to be able to do more than just donate my creations. I am trying to help a little with D4A website too but writing that blog is becoming a passion. The first time I saw the video on "Invisible Children" it made me think of how fortunate most of us are to be able to sleep comfortably in our beds and homes while there are children who walk miles into a town to just sleep in a hospital because they are afraid of getting abducted if they stayed home!. Today I read about a particular district in Congo where women and girls (probably people in general) are giong into a forest just to sleep because they are afraid of gettign violently raped in front of their family members!.

I feel very fortunate indeed to be able to put the few skills I have to good use. I will be posting a few more here too as we get close to any fundraising events.

Wintery show

2007-12-05T03:34:00.000-08:00

This year it does look like real Winter in Finland. Last year, even for Christmas there wasn't enough snow and it felt like almost everyone was a bit worried about global warming (espcially after watching Al Gore's documentary) and so I guess we should be happy its definitely going to be a white Christmas here. Lookign out from my studio window, i see all the trees covered with white and about 5-6 inches of snow everywhere on the ground. Just started doing some Bridal designs after getting inspiration from designing for a friend here for a winter wedding.

This weekend is Open Studio show and sale in Tampere and excited about it. Making a few pieces that got sold and are popular. Serving Gloggi (a hot drink made with currant juice and spices), gingerbread cookies, homemade muffins and coffee (did I ever mention my other passion is cooking and cook twice a day almost everyday?). Apparanty Gloggi is also made with wine or fruit gloggi is served with Vodka in evenings but not for this show ofcourse:) Its a traditional holiday drink (I think even in Sweden) and tastes yummy especially (the fruit one, haven't tasted the alcohol version of it) when its nice and warm in your hands while its snowing and negative temperatures outside.

Worked a bit more on the Designers4Africa blog y'day and added a few pictures from the annual fundraiser for "Drop in the bucket", one of the non-profits D4A supports. And ofcourse, haven't taken the pictures to the photostudio yet for rework yet.

irony of dependency

2007-11-28T10:36:00.001-08:00

I know all of us depend on someone for something every day but things don't go a smooth everytime:) With the good success of getting good pictures taken of the jewelry, last week I dropped off a fresh batch of pieces to be photographed with not so good success this time. I couldn't put any of the images online for variety of reasons. Maroon color stones look black, pendants not placed properly (I take sample pictures and give them on a cd for reference too).

One necklace I forgot to send the picture of came out that made me think whether I shoudl cry or laugh. On the left is the picture that I took (somehow missed putting it on the Cd for them). A beautiful lariat with 9 different stone drops in it with a hook and clasp at the back for easy wearing. When I put it in the Tampere kivi messut, people really liked it and admired itand I couldnt' wait to put it on the website.

But here is how it came out in the picture(on the right). I am not kidding. Two pieces are seperated and put side by side. Now, how anyone in the world is supposed to think this is a necklace and buy it from the website is beyond me. I got very frustrated. After taking a week's time, this is how I get them back. They offered to redo it again but well, didnt' get a chance to go and drop them off and have a show this weekend so can't afford to leave them there....so, new designs on the website have to wait..

Free Shipping till Dec15

2007-11-26T13:02:00.001-08:00

In holiday spirit, Kuukivi is offering Free shipping on all orders above $100 till Dec15. and Most orders can and will be shipping within 24-48hrs.

Happy shopping

Two trunk shows in Tampere

2007-11-26T03:49:00.000-08:00

Two new trunk shows coming up in the next two weeks. One in Hervanta, Tampere on Dec2nd and the other one would be a Open Studio show at my studio on Dec9th. Decided to have the shows here on Sunday afternoons and have to see how they go.

During the Tampere Kivi Messut show 10 days ago, I got asked for two things repeatedly. (a) for even simpler earrings to wear to office. So, decided to create "single stone" series with just one Pearl or a Moonstone or a Amethyst drop handwrapped and present them for the first time during these shows.

(b) Men's jewelry - A few men came and complemented the jewelry and asked if I have anything for men as they like the style and colors. hmmm.. I have never thought of men's jewelry before (coming from South India, men do wear jewelry but only chains around the neck or a 'tiger's toe' on a chain.) I promised them I will think about it and probably offer next year. Putting my creative mind into gear to think about it in the background but leave it there till atleast after holidays to even experiment with designs.

Waiting on pictures from the photo studio to include them into the website and will be offering FREE SHIPPING for the first 2 weeks of December.

until nextweek...

2007-11-20T02:54:00.001-08:00

Had an exhausting 3 day show in Tampere. The culture here is soo different from US its unbelievable. eg: People expect to see any jewelry above 20Euros to be in a glass box and jewelry boxes with open glass tops and NOT the way we usually have trunk shows and craft shows in US. One customer asked how can I prove that they are real stones and I have no idea how to prove them except askign them to take it to someone who knows about stones.

Good thing was a couple of people who has extensive knowledge about stones came by to look and complimented (unfortunately not when the customer was asking about the stones) that I use very good quality stones and worth the price. Well, it pays to shop with the reputed stores. Thanks Taj company which is where I bought most of the stones and Kamal trading where I buy almost all the chains and components.

Taking a break this week. Ofcourse will be shipping out the orders but no more new designs and no getting the designs photographed either. Got an appt withe the studio for early next week and so the website will be updated then including adding prices in Euros with VAT included. Want to try out something else and see if that can be part of Kuukivi or not...yes, I know I am being very secretive but unless I know if I can even do it, didn't want to say anything.

New necklaces soon...

2007-11-15T03:08:00.000-08:00

I knew I should have gotten all the necklaces pictured before starting the website:) I thought I will do that in parallel but the way it went, I became a bit complacent and just concentrated on working the website. Some of the designs that I actually put as part of AccessoriesTheShow are still not on the website. A couple of them didn't come out good in the last photoshoot so they are still waiting. Last week I felt like nothing but designing and this week there are no available spots with the photo studio:( So, have to wait till next week to get them photographed and them post on the website.

I was looking through them last night while finishing up the designs I worked on last week (felt lazy to finish the necklace with clasps etc last week...) and really loved one with red natural corals bunched up into a flower on this delicate vermeil chain...and also realized that neither "Opals" - one of the reviewer-favorite designs nor its replacement/complement made it to the website. This time instead of just having it with opals, came up with 4 different colors in two different themes for almost the same center piece as "Opals" but less complicated.

Its snowing and -6C and cloudy here in Finland...brrrrr...but it gave perfect opportunity to design a wedding necklace for a friend here who is having a winter wedding in Feb and loves strong winters:) Want her to see it this weekend before I post it here but it has beautiful white moonstone briolettes and little balls of austrian crystals. its custom designed and so wont' make it to the website but will definitely get blogged..

Kuukivi and National Kidney Foundation of SoCal

2007-11-10T13:53:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the George and Ann Lopez hosted "A Dish and a Dance with the stars" including a silent auction to raise funds for the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California. Its hosted at CBS studio and is 21st Annual Great Chefs of Los Angeles.

Kuukivi donated this gorgeous Blackand White necklace for the silent auction with brushed Silver discs and rutilated Quartz drops handwrapped.

New Trendi review of Kuukivi - "far fetched gems"

2007-11-09T04:38:00.000-08:00

Kuukivi has been fortunate to be on the radar of Trendi:) Summer from Trendi blogged a few of the Kuukivi designs and I have to say, i love Summer's reviews. Her style of writing makes it interesting to read.

Mohini, the necklace on the left is one of my favorites and one design that always get sold first in every trunk show I have since the beginning of the company 9 months ago. Incidentally, this was the first piece that got reviewed when Trisha posted a review in Omiru.com.

and I am hoping these new anklets will pickup momentum so I can offer them as one of Kuukivi specialities continuously.

The other pieces that Summer picked are Intia-Silverflower, Anklets - Vesuvonite and Earrings - Free coral.

Thank you Summer and Thank you Trendi...you guys rock!

working on new designs, new blog for D4A ...

2007-11-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

Tampere fair is coming close so started working on new designs..a lot of simple designs that would be perfect for holiday gifts:) First time after starting Kuukivi, I am working with Swarovski and Austrian crystals. I had a decent collection of beautiful Swarovski briolettes and Austrian crystals in various pendant shapes. These would be perfect for the 'Simple Pleasures" . I hope I will have enough time to get them photographed before the show.

Now that Kuukivi and I are with Designers4Africa, decided to go an extra mile than just donate 4 pieces of jewelry for auctions to raise money for the non-profit organizations. I contacted a couple of amazing jewelry designers Nicole (www.nicolekidd.com) and Shama (www.shamadesignerscollection.com)and both of them loved to join D4A.

I also offered to start a blog and help with blogging for D4A and April responded saying I am now the official blogger for D4A. hahahaha...well, today started a new blog for D4A (http://designers4africablog.blogspot.com). check it out. Added a heartwarming story by April how she met Jolly Okot and the softer side of her. Planning on interviewing/talkign with a few amazing people who are working directly or indirectly with D4A thru non-profit organizations in the next few days...

Kuukivi partners with Designers4Africa

2007-11-02T03:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago or so got an email from April of Designers4Africa asking if Kuukivi would like to work with the organization in raising funds for a few non-profit organization. To start with, it needs a minimum of 4 pieces to be donated for auctions for non-profit organizations. Well, we believe in using balancing the business aspect of Kuukivi with giving back to the community as much as possible and have been participating in a few different charity events since the inception so ofcourse I said 'Yes'. I also offered to do more than just donate 4 pieces a year. For starters, I will try to recruit more designers for the organization and as April said in an email last night, I will start being an "official blogger" for D4A. watch out for my blogs there:)

I think its a great idea for designers to work together in helping the non-profit organizations. Apart from sending out a few items for auction for different charities like "Life Rolls On" foundation for Spinal Cord injury and participating in the month long event of raising funds for OCRF (Ovarian Cancer Research Fund), Kuukivi also pledged 1% of all its profits to non-profit organzations. The first one to work with is Little Twinkle started by Sruti Patnaik from San Jose, CA and her mom doing most of the 'behind the scenes' work in India. Its amazing how much work went into creating new schools in the utmost rural areas of India for children to get basic education and special projects for those kids who are very talented but can't afford to go to higher studies. I have known this organization for a few years and mostly my contribution has been to provide a check to Sruti and usually it went into getting new toys/sweets for the kids during the holiday trip she used to make to India. I am hoping I can do more thru Kuukivi for this one too.

Kuukivi in "Susan's Passion for Jewelry" Designer showcase

2007-11-02T03:52:00.001-07:00

After a review on Kuukivi by Susan Dorling, Kuukivi got invited to be in her new SPJ designer show case. I really liked Susan's style of approach and her articles as the fashion editor at Bella Online so ofcourse I was thrilled to accept the opportunity. SPJ went live on Wednesday and the site is very well done. She opened up spots for marketing opportunities for designers who want to showcase their products. Contact Susan for more details.

Holiday pricing for all new designs in the collection...

2007-10-31T05:31:00.000-07:00

This is the season everyone gives discounts/sales etc etc. Well, instead of taking the regular approach of discounts which almost always have a short time limit, decided to try something new. All the 'new' designs in the collections are priced at what we call "holiday pricing". Holiday pricing is 20% less than normal/regular pricing applied flat for all the 'new designs' that are in the collection now and the new designs that will come thru December 2007. But unlike normal discounts, these prices stay the same at the holiday prices till they are retired or sold out giving you more opportunities to buy.

New website, New collection.....

2007-10-31T05:26:00.001-07:00

just got the site alive....finally....after 3-4 weeks of intense hard work. almost reminded me of the startup companies I worked before Kuukivi, working till 3-6am and go about usual day with 2-3 hrs of nap. But...its here....

(a) New and improved website with high quality pictures to show accurate colors and more pictures per design

(b) New collection includes luxurious and truly "one of each" designs including 'intia collection' with Sterling Silver and 22kgold plated pendants from India. Two new collections are also introduced.
The 'just for fun' series have 'something different' - Hoop necklaces with a few drops handwrapped, just pendants that can be added to any chain or pendants+earring sets etc.
The new Anklet collection includes chains specially brought from India for anklets and gorgeous drops/beads handwrapped to them. The length of the anklets is longer than regular ones you see around here and wrap around your ankle really well.

(c) If you are still not sure what to buy for some of your tough loved ones, we now have gift certificates via Paypal.

yay!! any comments/feedback is appreciated too ofcourse..

"just for fun" collection

2007-10-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

Have been really crazy this week with the work on new website. Uploaded it to testing server and ofcourse a few links failed, a few descriptions look wrong and a couple have wrong links!.

Hoping to still launch it mid next week. Along with the new website there are lot of new goodies to look out for. One of them is "just for fun" collection. They have the feel of Kuukivi designs for sure but chains etc are not the regular kind. There might be a few pendant+earring sets, a few hoop chains like this one here. A simple hoop chain with a seablue Chaceldony drop handwrapped with 2 Apatite roundelles.

introducing a few pendants

2007-10-19T00:14:00.000-07:00

As part of holiday collection, I thought I will introduce the items that I have been thinking for a while. A few simple pendants that you can hook to any chain that one might already have. It has a small clasp to just hook to a chain. This one here is a 18mm Cherry Quartz briolette with a bali spacer and a flower cap and pearls hanging at the top.

Ofcourse there will be an option to buy with a chain too and add a few more pendants to wear a different pendant a day (hey! we change the tops we wear don't we)

black and gold

2007-10-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

One of the striking combination is Black and Gold and if you combine such a gorgeous brushed gold drop, with a thin long black spinel, it turns out just yummy. The brushed gold drop is a vermeil drop with hole from top to bottom so I can use it as a center pendant. A Spinel drop at the bottom and a few spinel faceted beads on either side makes the whole pendant simple yet elegant.

coming soon with the holiday collection...

introducing anklets this holiday season

2007-10-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

while I am workign away with images and website, thought I will share a few pictures here. During my recent trip to India, bought some beautiful anklets and added touch of beads to make it fun and beautiful. Anklets in India are a little longer than the ones we normally see and they drape around the ankles regally. Here's one of them with garnets handwrapped.

another new design

2007-10-16T03:47:00.000-07:00

Seems like grey is The color for this year and the Tourmulated and Rutilated Quartz seems to be the hot stone of this season!. I don't remember seeing these in abundance till the last gemshow in San Mateo. Ofcourse I fell in love with them and bought some. I also found some long (18mm) slender drops in Black Spinel. Well, the combination is simple but just gorgeous.

finally pictures I can start posting here and on website soon

2007-10-10T13:01:00.001-07:00

Look at this picture.. I made this a couple of months ago but didn't even post it on website because no matter how many times I tried, the pictures I took didn't do justice to the colors on the necklace and so just kept it in my vault.

This morning I dropped off a bunch of necklaces et.al at the studio (www.tammerkuva.fi) and they sent me a sample picture this evening and I just love the way the colors came out and this is a low res picture too. can't wait to get all the pictures and work on teh website this weekend. Although this morning I realized that I do not have quite a few of the current collection to get the pictures taken. so, I need to work on making some of the favorite designs and get the pictures taken next week.

jewelry photography

2007-10-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

Got a new tent, got a new Canon SLR camera....but apparantly it also needs really powerful flash lights to get good pictures...and I was trying with good old halogen lamps:) I am soo ready to give up on photographing them myself till I take some classes on how to take the pictures. How does everyone take pictures? When I take, either they come up with yellowish background or bluish blackground. Yes, I have to tinkering with the White Balance feature but can't get it right. So, finally decided to take an appt with a studio and get the pictures taken. So, after almost a week of shutting myself in my studio, came out and do some real work...like create another piece with vermeil drop and black spinel beads in gold filled chain...if only i can take good pic and put it here:) hopefully by weekend I will have good pics to start sharing here...

Current plan is to release the holiday gift collection by end of october. crossing fingers for that...

holiday collection is on the way...

2007-10-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

I should have probably keep updating the website with the new designs but kept thinking of changing the website a little before putting more designs. Have been learning more about photographing jewelry. Ordered some light tent et.al and waiting for them to come this week. Hopefully in the next 3-4 weeks i will have everything ready.

have been designing/making some pendants (yes just pendants) with a hook that can be attached to any chain. They make great gifts too for this holidays. got some beautiful tourmulated quartz and rutilated quartz and is the first time i have a few designs in vermeil. And ofcourse bracelet and anklet collection will come online along with these items. stay tuned...

BellaOnline article on Ovarian Cancer and Kuukivi mention

2007-09-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Bellaonline had an article today on Ovarian Cancer awareness by their FashionJewelry Editor Susan and Kuukivi is mentioned along with a picture of Opals design . It was a nice article and I learnt something that I didn't know before. Thank you Susan.

As you know, Kuukivi is part of SheFinds OCRF fundraising and will donate 20% of proceedings of Opals design for the whole month of September. The Opals design is run in SheFinds blog for OCRF last friday

Kuukivi in Brad Cooper Gallery

2007-09-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

Kuukivi designs are now in Brad Cooper Gallery in Tampa, Florida. One of the designs presented there is not even on Kuukivi website yet. Its called Peacock and has Apatite and Iolite drops hanging from SS chains along with Amethyst, Apatite and Iolite beads.

I am really excited and looking forward for seeing Kuukivi designs in more galleries around the world.

Swagtime, Emmy bag and kuukivi

2007-09-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

here's what Swaggirl said about Kuukivi in Swagtime "Everybody Wins at Emmy Awards" Nominee gift basket

"And of course, always wear my Kuukivi jewelry. Each nominee received a specially designed necklace or barcelet & earrings (no two are the same) handcrafted by Sheela, whose inspiration comes from nature and combines Indian, American and a European style for her global looks. Keep an eye out for the soon to be launched Kuukivi Holiday collection."

Sakura is another design that went to one of the lucky winners of the bag:) Sakura in Japanese mean Cherry blossoms. The center piece on this beautiful necklace has Ruby and Vesonite faceted roundelles with a Citrine drop at either end. At the center is a white coin Pearl with a chain hanging with Citrine drops and a couple of Ruby roundelles.

One of a kind necklace for Emmy bag

2007-09-18T03:19:00.001-07:00

thought I will post a few pictures of the beautiful pieces that went with the celebrities yesterday through the "Everybody wins at Emmy awards" Nominee gift bags. If anyone spots them, I would love to hear about it.

This one is actually a one of a kind necklace and cannot even be reproduced. The Pendant came from India and is a 22k gold plated with Onyx and white stones. Its complemented with Black Onyx drops and beads on either side of a rollo chain.

Ofcourse another one is what they used for the bag picture, Aamani in the previous posting. A few other favorites included are Mohini , Opals and Sitara

Kuukivi in the Emmy bag picture

2007-09-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

Its only 3 more days for Emmy Awards.....Just recieved this picture of all the goodies that are going to be in the "Everybody Wins at Emmy Awards" Nominee gift bag. Lot of exciting goodies indeed. Can you find the one and only Kuukivi necklace in the lot? Want a clue? Its the only necklace in the picture:) and just behind the Emmy Award. Ok OK enough bragging about it. The necklace they chose to picture is Aamani which I thought is awesome and perfect as it has Moonstones (Kuukivi in Finnish translates to Moonstone).

For better viewing, here is Aamani. Its a gold filled necklace with Moonstones handwrapped alternating with Ruby and Vesonite roundelles.

Back in Finland jetlagged

2007-09-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

Never used to get jetlagged but this time its hitting me too. Couldn't stop myself from falling asleep at 8pm but woke up in 3hrs and now I am wide awake and wondering if I would sleep again at all tonight. Oh well, there's tons of wrk to do anyway.

Last week in Bay area was tons of fun. Had a trunk show at a girlfriend's house, just a few friends and neighbors dropping by. Had a few sales and lot of fun with girls trying out the jewelry. And last week was also the time Kuukivi sent out 40+ individual unique designs for the 2007 "Everybody Wins at Emmy Awards" nominee gift bags. A few designs were common between the celebrity bags and press bags and the rest are all unique. Also included a card in each box with the name of the necklace and the materials/stones used in that necklace and signed them. Looking forward to seeing some of Kuukivi designs everywhere:)

Decided to postpone unveiling the bracelet and anklet collection and combine it with the holiday gift collection next month. Just updated the website removing some of the items that I can no longer make (unique pendants, hard to find stones etc) or want to retire that design. Working on making some design changes to the website before featuring the holiday collection to make it easier to navigate.

SheFinds, OCRF and Kuukivi

2007-09-03T22:11:00.000-07:00

I know I blogged it earlier but now the time is here. This event is through the month of September. Kuukivi is one of the designs featured in SheFinds to support OCRF . 20% of all proceeds from online sales of Kuukivi's Opals for the entire month of September will be donated to OCRF. Its for a very good cause People.....Come and order some:)

Here's the picture of Opals for you to see too...I am hoping to generate a decent amount to donate to OCRF.

show is over and real work begins again

2007-08-30T21:58:00.001-07:00

Well, i will just say that it has been a tremendous learning experience for me attending this show. Most of the handmade jewelry companies were disappointed at the poor foot traffic (and speculated if its poor marketing or bad economy or bad summer sales or...). Met some amazing people who shared their insights and provided tips about setting up booths, marketing and what to watch out for etc.

It also gave me time to think (always helps getting out of the usual environment to think out of the box) about the strategies I have been following and what needs changing/improvement. Definitely some things will change in the next few weeks and I will share them here as I am making them but tomorrow - packaging the boxes for Nominee gift bags for "Everybody wins at Emmy" program and ship them out.

first day at the show

2007-08-27T21:26:00.000-07:00

well, acc. to the fellow vendors, this is the slowest show they have seen in the last few years. and I am learning a lot about setting up in these shows. Admittedly, this year Kuukivi's booth is not the sexiest or cutest, its just functional. There are some awesome displaying techniques to see here and I am quite sure it makes a difference in attracting customers and presenting the products. Kuukivi didn't do as good as I hoped for and hope tomorrow is a better day

Introducing "Holiday collection 2007" at AccessoriesTheShow

2007-08-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

Apart from debuting anklets and bracelets, Kuukivi will also show for the first time, the 2007 holiday collection. it includes about a dozen or so special necklaces each equipped with a special pendant from India. Thought I will post one here (as I was taking pictures of them today) just for fun. I loved the turquoisedrops cascading.

A few of them (like this one) I have 2-3 pieces of each but the rest are truly one of a kind and ofcourse set in Kuukivi designer style.

Kuukivi Necklaces Featured Exclusively in '07 "Everybody Wins at the Emmys®" Nominee Gift Bags

2007-08-21T03:56:00.000-07:00

The big news I have been waiting to share for a while:)

Kuukivi, will be among the select group of companies providing products for the 2007 "Everybody Wins at the Emmy Awards" Nominee Gift Bags. Kuukivi's necklaces were selected exclusively for the gift bags, which will be handed out to the non-winning nominees in the major categories of the Emmy Awards on September 16th, 2007.

Yah!!!! I am soo excited about this opportunity. And instead of usual one design for every gift bag, Kuukivi is going to include a different design for each gift bag which makes each gift bag unique as far as Kuukivi products are concerned.

The Press release just got out today so thought its time to update everyone via blog too....Between this and the AccessoriesTheShow thats coming up in less than a week, its a bit frantic but is too exciting to feel tired now:)

First day at the International Fair

2007-08-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

ooh! 8hrs of standing and smiling:) It was quite a learning experience understanding the differences in markets between US and Scandinavian (atleast Finnish market anyway). The culture (atleast in Finland) is slightly different from good old US. Here, most of the boutiques (and I mean most of them) do not carry jewelry and the few that carry are low-cost beaded (big wooden beads etc) jewelry. And these are quite top of the range boutiques. Most of the people who stopped by admired the designs and gave quite a few compliments which is always a good thing.

Met a couple of Fashion professionals, US folks, residing in Helsinki and workign in FinnFashion...

More tomorrow..

Tomorrow - International fashion show, today - not ready

2007-08-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, its time to go to Helsinki and set up the booth for the international Fashion show. Its 11:30pm and I am still working on putting price tags and worrying if this is how prices are tagged on jewelry for a show! this is the first one for Kuukivi and not exactly sure what to expect and didn't find a wealth of info even on internet. But atleast have (I think) good display pieces and hoping that the actual jewelry will make up for any other mistakes.

A few more things to do before turning in but thought of sharing not just happiness but anxiety as well:) well, wish us goodluck!

how can one not get inspired...

2007-08-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

with a light drizzle and an eye pleasing Sunset with bright orange light right outside the window where I sit and work. Ofcourse it made me get up and go out of the house for a few minutes to completely immerse in the view but when I came back to the desk, its still there:)

Interview on BellaOnline

2007-08-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Susan Dorling, BellaOnline's fashion editor posted an interview of me last week. With the move to new house, I didn't have online access for a couple of days and didn't see it till late friday here.

Susan also modified the Kuukivi article a bit and added some pics of Kuukivi designs. Thanks Susan:)

I am still too tired from the move and working on some last minute pieces before the two shows start. I did take a picture of an awesome sunset from my studio window that I will download in the next few hours and post it

New studio atlast

2007-08-12T05:08:00.001-07:00

Sorry for a couple of weeks of total silence. Kuukivi demanded 24hr attention for a while and then it was time for us to move into a new house so frantically packing till last second and trying to finish opening up boxes at the new place. Ofcourse neither of them are completely done but atleast enought to start working again.

I am excited about the new house as I now have a studio to work in. Nice spacious studio with large windows overlooking forest and backyard. Its nice to have seperate space just for work instead of using up the dinner table like i did for the past year. As soon as I can locate the camera, I will post a picture of the studio..

More news to follow in a little while..

Kuukivi in Helsinki International Fashion Show in August

2007-07-31T02:11:00.000-07:00

Yes..before the reality hit me about the two shows being only a week apart at two different parts of the world, I already signed up for both of them:) The International Fashion show is in Helsinki and is the leading Fashion show of Finland and this year its on August 19 & 20. Helsinki is only 2hrs away from Tampere where we are residing so it would have been a shame not to use such a great opportunity. This will give Kuukivi an opportunity to learn about Finland and Scandinavian (if not entire Europe) market and trends.

Its going to be quite a month for Kuukivi.

Kuukivi profiled in FashionCEO

2007-07-30T05:45:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Kuukivi (and I) became a member of FashionCEO . After reading about Kuukivi in Fashion CEO's chat board, Susan Osborne asked if they could profile Kuukivi for their new section "Indie Inspiration" which runs for 2 weeks. It just came out today. You can see a brief glimpse of it at the bottom of this page but I think the full profile is open for only members.

This is the first time I let a picture of me come out:)

World is small indeed

2007-07-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

The other day I joined SheFinds in Yahoo Groups and posted about Kuukivi and some passes available for the Las Vegas show. A little later I recieved an email from Katja Presnal. She complimented Kuukivi and said she found Finnish influences in some of Kuukivi designs ( Sininen for example) and also posted a review for Kuukivi in her blog. Thank you Katja.

Katja is Finnish mom living in US and has an awesome Kids clothing company called Skimbaco . I love the collection she has. Skimbaco has kids room furniture and deco too. The other cool thing is even moms can shop a little for themselves too while finding something for the kids:)

I come to the other side of the world to Finland to meet someone online who is from Finland but is in US:) Internet indeed makes the world quite small.

Kuukivi selected to participate in AccessoriesTheShow in Las Vegas

2007-07-23T04:48:00.000-07:00

I am soo excited to reveal the news. Kuukivi is going to exhibit at the Las Vegas AccessoriesTheShow , one of the biggest fashion events especially focusing on Accessories. Its staged alongside Moda Las Vegas and attended by quite a few international buyers as well.

Kuukivi will be booth # 530. We are going to debut Anklets and Bracelets at the show and also planning on launching a very limited exclusive "Intia" line with beautiful chains and pendants acquired during my recent trip there. This will be the first of the series of exclusive lines Kuukivi is planning on for different parts of the world. In the next few weeks I will post more details about Kuukivi's plans for the show.

i still have some buyer passes left. If you are buyer/boutique owner and would like to visit the show (and hopefully stopby at Kuukivi), please email me at sheela@kuukivi.com and I can mail the pass to you.

Kuukivi and Life Rolls On Foundation

2007-07-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

Almost forgot today is July 22nd. Today is the "Night By the Ocean (Dinner and Silent Auction)" by Life Rolls On Foundation and Kuukivi has contributed to the silent auction. Life Rolls on Foundation helps people affected by spinal cord injury (SCI) and this is their annual fund raising event. Kuukivi is honored to be able to contribute to the fundraising for this great cause.

I will blog tomorrow to reveal what the item is (after the event happened) although not sure if I will ever know who is the winning bidder.

Kuukivi in BellaOnline

2007-07-18T05:06:00.000-07:00

Like I said the trip to India wasn't bad at all:) While i was away on the trip, Susan Dorling (Bella Online's fashion jewelry editor) posted a front page featured article on Kuukivi. Thank you for the awesome article Susan. I couldn't check my email and hence couldn't provide her with permission to use the images from Kuukivi website in time but she promised to include them as time permits. Some of her comments:

"There is a symmetry and fluid motion in all the pieces in this collection. A love of color is evident and lends a vivaciousness to all designs."

Talking about Kuukivi design " Sitara ", she said "Complex and fascinating, this piece epitomizes elegance and is one of the many highlights of the Kuukivi brand."

"Think flowing natural designs that celebrate the beauty of gemstones and reflect the passion the artist has for her beautiful homeland of India and the global community that has become her home"

Back to blogging

2007-07-18T04:47:00.000-07:00

Had a great trip to India but glad to be home again. Even though Bangalore is a big city, the place we chose to stay had very crappy internet connection and ofcourse no internet connection in Kanyakumari (chosen on purpose) so forced to just enjoy the trip, family and nature. It was an astounding experience looking at Mysore Palace with its beautiful architecture inside and ofcourse watching 3 oceans at the same time in the same place in Kanyakumari is an unforgettable experience. But everytime I go to India, I get a bit of culture shock to see how much it changes. All that said and done, glad to be back and be online (what did we ever do before the internet days I wonder).

While I was away on the trip Damaris@maniatv sent an email saying they aired episodes on ManiaTV with Kuukivi jewelry on their beautiful model Megan all week. He sent me movie files of the footage but are way too big to include in the blog. If I get some still pictures from him, i will be sure to post them here.

In Intia for the next 2.5weeks

2007-06-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

We are off to India (Intia in Finnish) for the next 2.5 weeks...visiting family, sightseeing, to find some rare gems for kuukivi etc etc etc. One highlight of the trip would be the visit to Kanyakumari. Its the southernmost tip of the country and a meeting point for 3 oceans and I hear you can see the seperation of the three oceans as they are in different colors (or shades of blue maybe?) I am excited and will try to take good pics. Kanyakumari is also known for most stunning Sun rises and Sunsets...definitely a inspiration point for color combinations:) Taking enough stuff to work there and booked a cottage on the beach to take it all in....

I am sure by now you can tell how excited I am (and its first trip to India for hubby and my little boy too...

I am sure I will blog a bit from there (habits die hard) and hopefully share some good pics

Mania TV, OCRF and Kuukivi

2007-06-26T10:15:00.000-07:00

We were driving to countryside last thursday (it was a long weekend in Finland called mid summer festival where everyone leaves the city and go to countryside/summer cabins and spend time with friends and family) and around 11:30 in the night it's bright enough to sit and read a book and I see the most beautiful Sun out in sky thinking if setting down for the day is even an option. The intensity was less so you can actuallly see a big red ball...so beautiful..how can anyone not get inspired to come up with new designs seeing that...but I digress.

Damaris (Stylist@ManiaTV) contacted Kuukivi a few weeks ago and with very nice things to say about the designs (Thank you Damaris). He recieved some of Kuukivi pieces last week and promised to send me a schedule of the shows (atleast the first few) when they are going to appear on ManiaTV and I promise to post it here. I am excited and can't wait to see them. They are Kuukivi's first celebreties:)

On another note, Kuukivi is contributing to OCRF (Ovarian Cancer Research Fund) by creating a design that will up for sale Sept1 and donating 20% of all the sales of that design. I am honored to be able to do this for the worthy cause. Will post more details as they come. This opportunity came through 'SheFinds.com'.

Kuukivi in Trendi.com

2007-06-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

Another cool review of Kuukivi designs in Trendi.com!!!. Love the review and ofcourse have a few words to say about the designs she picked too. The asymmetrical one - Hearty Pink came out when one of my friends asked me to make one for her college going daughter in cool colors:) I love the simple toggle in the front with a nice pretty pink Chalcedony drop hanging and added blue especially to go with any jeans (My favorite color of jeans is always blue so..)

Bhanu in Sanskrit means Sun. Imagine if you will, the very early Sunrise when almost everything is grey with a few specks of pinks and yellows flowing through and that's the Bhanu here. Ofcourse what other stones can create a more beautiful grey cascade than Iolites and Labradorites?

Thanks Jenny

TheGreatAuction done

2007-06-10T10:29:00.001-07:00

I am quite pleased to see the final bid of $150 for Kuukivi gift voucher on the KQED-KTEH auction. I didn't get to see it till today as I escaped to mid-Finland for the weekend to visit family and just hangout in a nice summery days...well, did that but also got bit by scores of mosquitoes and have small bumps all over my shoulders and ankles as I refused to wear anything but skirts and sleeveless tops in the short summer we have here:) Just came back and sitting in the balcony overlooking the big lake with small boats still sailing (you can sit outside and read a book till atleast midnight if not later for the next 2-3 months!!) with nothing but quiet and peace to work.

Congratulations to the highest bidder and looking forward to see the selection.

Kuukivi in SF Indie Fashion and more..

2007-06-07T13:07:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Kuukivi's Korali got featured in SF Indie Fashion . Ofcourse I didn't see it till this morning (its already night here when its day in SF). Its so exciting. Korali and its cousin Sininen have been stealing hearts across the world. Loved the review and thank you Lorraine for your kind words.

Kuukivi contributed a pair of earrings for the IndieFixx's "Fruits of Summer contest" along with 12 other Indie designers. Just Sign up for Indie Fixx mailing list before July16 to enter the random draw.

Meanwhile, the GreatAuction for KQED-KTEH is still going. It ends On Friday June07. There are a lot of great items there including ofcourse Kuukivi Gift Voucher for $200 worth of any jewelry from Kuukivi website. If you are in Bay area (especially), do go to the site and bid on stuff you might enjoy. Its for a great cause.

Kuukivi in Finland

2007-06-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

Its been an interesting week here in Finland. Left a few pieces of Kuukivi jewelry in a boutique here in Finland for its customers to see and feel and give feedback on style etc. The feedback was positive although women who came to the boutique felt they are for people who are a bit younger at heart:) but will definitely be looking at Kuukivi for the holiday season. Kuukivi just missed the biggest event of summer in Finland - graduation. Its amazing how big even high school graduation is here. Big parties with extended family from all over the country attending the party! and men in suits and women shopping just for this occasion.

O Pals, Mohini Orange and Sininen are favorites here. Its exciting to do market analysis in a new city/country with different culture and even more exciting to find out that the basic designs that are popular here are almost the same ones from US..

weekly blog?

2007-05-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

its turning out to be a weekly blog! Its been quite a week. Last thursday marked our first wedding anniversary:) and my dearest hubby got me this beautiful quartz inclusion pendant set in Silver and I made a two level necklace with the top level with the inclusion pendant as a choker. I am waiting for a little Sunshine here to take picture of it.

Kuukivi donated $200 gift Voucher for the KQED-KTEH TheGreatAuction . I used to listen to NPR everyday when I was in Bay area and had long commutes. Its my way of giving back to them a bit. The winning bidder gets to select any jewelry from Kuukivi website upto worth $200. The bid is supposed to be online sometime today. I hope the bidding goes well. Check out the auction site and Kuukivi should be under Apparel and Fashion.

Kuukivi in NEET magazine . Check the last page for it and ofcourse it is "O Pals" design.

jewelry to complement bag or vice versa?

2007-05-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

Didn't realize its been more than a week since the last blog. Been a bit busy trying to do a bit of marketing for a change and give designing a rest. Marketing aside, while reading Freddy&Ma blog, occurred to me...

lot of women do like matching shoes with the dress or bag to match the ensemble and yeah ofcourse a little thought always goes into what to wear as jewelry for any given dress but i don't think much thought is given to what jewelry to wear with what bag or vice versa. well, i thought it would be a fun thing to do to see and match up with some adorable bags that are out there and see which Kuukivi design matches that.

The first one I will pick is one of my favorite Freddy&Ma bag with such cool colors

and it made me think of Taimi, and it made me think of this Kuukivi necklace Taimi

Kuukivi in FashionTrends

2007-05-10T00:16:00.000-07:00

I am excited about Kuukivi's "O Pals" design getting featured in FashionTrends.com Daily yesterday

When I saw the multilink chain in an online store (Finedings), I knew I wanted to work with that chain. It looked wild and fascinating and had this urge to tame it a bit. Next thing i know, I added delicate chain and chose Opals not only for the color but well, it suited the "O" link chains and ofcourse the name 'O Pals' followed.

still waiting for spring..

2007-05-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

Its May and not yet warm enough for the likes of me in Tampere but I can see the signs for spring everywhere. Teenages walking in cute little skirts with a "I don't feel cold at all" look on their face, new leaves turning up on the bare trees.

During my last visit to Bay area in March, went and bought cute tops, skirts and dresses from Forever 21 thinking there is no way I will find such cotton cuties in Finland. But what do you know...for the past month or so, all i see are cotton tops although I am not a big fan of the skirts here so there..

while browsing, came across yet another fashion show that happened very recently Lakme Fashion week in India (http://lakmeindiafashionweek.indiatimes.com/). Amazing designers that probably not part of the mainstream of world fashion yet. One of my favorites is of Geisha designs by Paras and Sahlini.

And thus it starts...

2007-05-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

This is my very first blog both as Kuukivi and as an individual. Since a good friend gave me the idea of blogging for Kuukivi, I have been itching to start it and here it is...

Knowing what an Instant messenger junkie I am (have atleast 3 of them signed in at all times), I am glad I waited to start blogging till the Fall'07 collection is done and posted on website. Yeah, there are a few designs that need photographing to finish it completely but..

well, changed the website a bit too. Almost all the designs are a fusion of styles and cultures with a bit of Indian touch (can't help it really me being an Indian and all) into everyone. The names of the designs are from across the world too (I just name them whatever the final design reminds me of) so thought why not let the website have fusion theme too. So, for Gold-filled collection, named it Sona (Sona is Hindi word for Gold, there is no word for Gold-filled really) and for the Silver collection, named it Hopea (Hopea is Finnish word for Silver). well, they just seem to fit with the other English names like Kuukivi casual:)

oh! ofcourse the company name itself, Kuukivi, is a Finnish word for Moonstone.