Katey Jenkins and Jill Koellhoffer are two local artists who have combined their talents to produce original jewelry designs. Working out of their home studio in Vail, CO they create necklaces of precious and semi-precious stones, pearls or ancient glass beads.

Jill became fascinated with beads at a young age and went on to manage a bead shop on Connecticut where she was able to expand her talents. She then attended the University of Vermont where she graduated with a degree in Fine Art and has travelled as far as Thailand in search of beads, before ending up in Vail, CO.

Katey and Jill take great pride in their color combinations and are extremely selective in their choice of stones. They travel to international gem shows to hand pick their materials. Close attention is paid to the spacing of the stones and the play of color and light. The stones used can be sapphires, emeralds, rubies or lesser known semi-precious apatite, fluorite, kyanite moonstone and opal.

Their necklaces can be delicately simple, worn with jeans and a t-shirt or elegant enough for a ball gown.