Sometimes artistic inspiration comes from the most unexpected places. Ann Kathryn, creator of AnnKat designs, is a metalsmith and lapidary artist who makes unique statement jewelry and other custom pieces, but draws ideas for her work from “otherworldly guides.” 

    “My work is very soulful and intuitive,” she says. “Often, I will meditate and dream about jewelry designs, and the dreams will then inform the pieces.” Case in point, a recent pendant she made featuring a thoughtful face surrounded by a star and studs came to Ann Kathryn in a dream. “I remember her face coming to me very distinctly in a dream, and I felt like I had to make that piece look exactly how I’d seen it,” she says.

    At the same time, however, she hopes her jewelry feels timeless and ancient. “I want people who see my work to feel like they’ve stumbled on an ancient, mysterious artifact for the first time or an undiscovered place—like how the explorers of Mayan ruins must have felt when they first discovered those spaces,” she explains. “So, I guess perhaps another inspiration behind my work is trying to recreate this feeling in customers.”

    Seeing jewelry’s soulful and otherworldly possibilities, Ann Kathryn is particularly interested in helping clients with “memorial pieces,” her favorite creative outlet, because it supports clients after they’ve experienced an incredible personal loss. 

    “I know you could say, ‘it’s just jewelry,’ but whenever I help clients take their loved ones’ jewelry and help them repurpose it, I feel as though I am supporting them in their current chapter and helping them move on from their loss.” Together, she and her clients brainstorm new opportunities for their loved ones’ fine jewelry, taking into account what the person who had passed might have wanted, along with how the new piece could function in the client’s new phase of life. In some cases, a ring might take on a new life as a bangle or a pendant might become a hairpin or brooch. 

    “It’s very sentimental and intimate work, melting down the clients’ precious metals and reshaping them into different forms,” she says, “because I get to learn about the clients and their loved ones and what these pieces meant to both of them.” Simultaneously, there is a practicality to reusing the pieces in this way. The gold market right now is very tough, she explains, so clients only have to pay her for her labor and not the metals themselves, helping the clients not only move on from their loss but save money in the process. “So, it’s a win, win for them, and for me too, because I feel like I was chosen to help them through their new phase of life.” 

    Most of the custom creation requests Ann Kathryn gets now are for this kind of upcycling or repurposing jewelry once owned by those who have passed. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. “Throughout my work—both in helping with these requests and making pieces I dream up on my own—I really do believe my artistic inspiration comes from somewhere beyond this world,” she says.

    Next month, in November, Ann Kathryn will be showing at the John Burroughs School’s Unique Boutique, and anyone wanting to work with her on custom jewelry can visit her studio at The Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles.