The Quality Makers: Jennie Yoon of Kinn Studio

How did your personal journey lead to Kinn Studio?

I had a different beginning post college. I got myself into HR, thinking that it’s the most needed role in any company, regardless of what stage of life you're in. I took that very safe route, and along the way I got to work for MySpace. While doing exit interviews, people told me that they were starting their own company, which was an idea so foreign to me. Mind you, this was over 10 years ago, so there's no e-commerce and Instagram was just starting. I actually ended up in Hong Kong for about six months, where I met the founder of Casetify: a phone case company. I learned anything and everything that it takes to be part of building a startup – what e-com life was like, what it takes to grow a business and eventually I just wanted something for myself. 

The tragic story that happened was that my parents’ house got broken into. The intention of Kinn Studio always was, and continues to be, to help replace some of the pieces that they lost. There was this wonderful manufacturer who brought me under their wing and taught me everything there is to know about gold. I started wearing pieces I designed on my own, and eventually my friends and family started asking for some pieces as well. Fast forward six years and here we are. 

Tell me more about the importance of heirloom jewelry. 

I remember my mom showing me my grandma's jewelry, telling me: this is going to be yours. That’s the moment I realized the importance of storytelling – there’s so much history to these pieces and every family has some. In my own culture, gold is exchanged during moments of celebration: when a baby is born, they’ll get a gold ID bracelet with their name engraved on it, or during a marriage, the in-laws exchange gold. The intention behind fine jewelry, or even just jewelry in general, was so intentional before this whole world of fast fashion came about. I realized that I unfortunately can’t replace the pieces my family lost, but I can try my best to remember them, which is something very much integrated into the Kinn brand and story. A lot of the pieces are named after people that I know. This is a new chapter of jewelry, where pieces can be passed down from family members today, to the next generation. 

We just celebrated Korean American Day. I gave my 4-year-old daughter a Korean name, but nobody calls her that. So I decided to make it into a nameplate necklace, of her name and of my name, as a way to show that I’m proud of my culture and what we bring to the table: how I process things, how I think, all our stories. When I immigrated in middle school, I still had my legal name, and I was always embarrassed when my teachers would call me by my Korean name – not only because of their mispronunciation but because I just wanted to be Jennie. I suppressed my culture so much in my younger days. I wasn't proud of who I was, how I looked, or the fact that I could speak another language. I couldn't even speak English when I got here. But now, 30-something-year old me gave my daughter a Korean name and I'm trying to teach her Korean as well. I named the necklace after her, it’s called Dear Kaia ($480), and it's my love letter to her.

Is the brand a merging of your Korean and American identity? How did your Heritage Collection come about? 

The funny thing is that I didn’t even officially launch the Heritage Collection until later on. I designed the name necklace, but I also made one in Korean. I started wearing it and people started asking me about it. The amount of people that were able to connect to this piece because they had a similar story, was so insane that I had to share this opportunity with the world, for others to wear their cultures and their languages proudly. So we launched it, pretty quietly actually, and a lot of people just gravitated towards it. It has organically become our key differentiator. Hearing the stories of my customers really made me think: maybe there's an opportunity for expansion here. Each piece is individually made, so any characters you want, we would get made. Right now we have Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai and English, but I’m planning on branching our languages out even more. 

Tell me about your design and creation process. Are you basing your designs off the heirloom pieces that your family lost? 

I do sketch the designs myself and funnily enough, I was just telling my team how much I miss drawing. When we initially started, I really wanted to replace the pieces that we lost, but I realized that some of the pieces they had were very old and chunky. The heavier the piece is, the more expensive it is. But I really wanted to make more affordable jewelry. I realized I can just be inspired by the heirloom pieces, as a starting point. I used to go to estate sales and just buy beautiful pieces that caught my eye. The more people complimented me on them, the more I started doing Vintage Drops. The first drop literally sold out within the first four hours and that really gave me a pulse to understand what the customers are looking for. It was so different from what we were already selling, and so I started making vintage-inspired collections, with a modern twist.

What do you hope that people will take away from your brand?

I want people to remember that it doesn't have to be big milestones or goals that you hit in order for you to celebrate. There are many, little moments that you should be celebrating in life. It could be as small as ‘just because’ or ‘I ran a marathon’ or ‘I got a promotion.’ It doesn't have to be birthdays, anniversaries, or weddings in order for you to buy a piece of jewelry. I believe all those moments should be cherished, to celebrate you, whenever you get the chance. 

The story behind each one of our pieces is what makes us unique. From a material perspective, we only use 14k Solid Gold and we also use recycled gold whenever we can. The majority of our pieces are made right here in LA, they’re not mass produced. So, I want people to know the intentionality behind our pieces.

What are your dreams for the future and growth of Kinn Studio?

I just want to keep growing. We get so much love from our community and that’s what keeps us going, so I can only imagine it’ll go up from here. I do have ideas to expand, to have a flagship store. We do have a long term pop up that's in the works right now, for our LA folks, but I really want to create more in-person experiences. We've been digital for the last six years, and especially after COVID, I’m so ready to see people in real life. 

Buy your own heirloom jewelry here.