NC Made: By hand, by heart: Raleigh jeweler builds brand from scratch
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- After 15 years working out of her home, Kenda Kistenmacher has a studio to call her own.
Kenda Kist Jewelry quietly set up shop on Johnson Street, just off Glenwood South, holding its grand opening last week. For Kistenmacher, the move marks a milestone in a dream she has been chasing since she was 14 years old, growing up in Iowa.
"When I made my first necklace for myself, I loved the way it made me feel," she said. "I felt empowered. I felt like I had something different. And it translated to friends wanting those pieces."
Today, the brand is known for handmade designs featuring signature hammer work in sterling silver and 14-karat gold-filled forms. Those pieces are now carried in 80 stores nationwide, including several major retailers -- all of them made by hand, entirely in Raleigh.
"What we do is very unique," Kistenmacher said. "Because we literally make everything right here."
She describes her style as "classic with a twist." But alongside the ready-to-wear line, Kenda Kist Jewelry has built a growing reputation for something more personal: custom pieces crafted from heirlooms.
That work falls largely to Kistenmacher's husband, Marty Markel, a goldsmith who works out of the studio's back workshop. The couple met in college, where both studied metal design at East Carolina University.
On a recent afternoon, Markel was transforming a client's family history into something new, using a stone from the client's grandfather's Masonic ring and diamonds from the grandmother's ring to create a new engagement ring.
"So there's a lot of her grandparents' -- we'll say aura or energy -- in the new piece," Markel said.
The studio's sign out front reads: Every piece tells a story.
Kistenmacher and Markel have also become mentors to the next generation of makers. NC State University freshman Isabel Schupp has been learning jewelry-making at the studio since she was a ninth grader at Broughton High School, following in the footsteps of her older sister Maggie, who also worked there before leaving to study metal design at Appalachian State University.
"Since bringing those girls on, it's changed the purpose of my life," Kistenmacher said.
Kenda Kist Jewelry is at 741 W. Johnson St. in Raleigh.
