Kit Kuhn’s profession was always handcrafted

The Morning News Tribune, Wednesday, May 30, 1990, page 6
By Mary Williams

Kuhn has known what he wanted to do with his life since he was a middle school student. But it took the young master jeweler another fifteen years to figure out that Gig Harbor was where he wanted to do it. Kuhn, the proprietor of a small jewelry store featuring handcrafted one-of-a-kind jewelry and boxes upstairs over W-B. Scott Restaurant, traveled much of the world learning his craft before a visit to Gig Harbor convinced him that this was where he wanted to open up shop and make his permanent home.
As a teenager growing up in Denver, Colo., Kuhn took a jewelry making class at his middle school, and from then on was hooked. Dedicated to his newly learned craft, he spent his high school years taking every class he could find in jewelry making, and working as an apprentice at local jewelry stores. He asked for tools for every birthday or Christmas present so that he could build his own workshop at home. “I’m using the buffer today that I was given in eighth grade,” he said.

Convinced of his choice of careers. Kuhn dedicated his education to improving his metal working skills. At one point he was taking classes at three different high schools, and once the high school class offerings in his field had been exhausted, he moved on to the community college offerings.

In addition to working in jewelry, Kuhn found that he enjoyed making boxes, many with fine filagree type work. As his skill developed, he began entering his work in shows and contests. One very delicate box won him a Portfolio Scholarship to California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. Calif. There he continued to work on both jewelry and showpiece boxes. He takes particular pride in the metal work he has done making items like carriages or boxes because of the challenge they present. It was this need for the challenge that took him to Stockholm, Sweden, where he worked for seven months. It was there Kuhn learned many of the original methods of handcrafting one-of-a-kind pieces.

Kuhn’s next stop was Thunder & Seas, a professional Goldsmithing school in Depoe Bay, Ore. He stayed there for a couple of years before deciding to move on. Kuhn considers one of the highlights of his education to have been a period where he worked in Denver at a small, one- person, store. There he learned how to operate a store, make many of his own tools, and found that he really enjoyed the one-on-one contact with the customers. “I learned how to run a one man shop, and learned a lot of short cuts that save me time, but doesn’t effect the quality of what I do,” he commented. Quality and pride in workmanship are very important to him.

“I want to do things that have meaning,” he said, adding “I love making something out of nothing, taking a hunk of metal and making something really nice.”

The main feature of Kuhn’s work is that it is handcrafted. Unlike mass produced items sold in most jewelry stores, his work is one of a kind- Kuhn is eager to explain that most jewelry today is wax-casted That is that the prototype is fashioned from wax, and then molded with clay. The heat of molding causes the wax to melt, forming a mold that can be used over and over to make identical pieces.

Making his pieces by hand enables Kuhn to use more than one metal in a particular piece. He finds his biggest market is for items produced using two tones like rose and yellow gold, or gold and silver. “This is rarely available commercially, because it has to be hand done,” he explained. Like many other artisans and craftsmen, Kuhn has gone through many a “starving artist” period. In order to bring regular paychecks coming in, he has worked in a steel factory, put in over ten years waiting tables, and at one point boxed and crated 40,000 chickens in a three day period. It’s not too surprising then, that when Kuhn decided to settle down, he didn’t look for a traditional position.

“I had decided I wanted to be on the West Coast-northern California, Oregon, or Washington,” Kuhn said, “and I knew I needed to settle down because you can’t build a reputation if you’re continually moving.”So, when a cousin in Portland said that if she ever was able to retire she’d like to live in Gig Harbor, I decided to check it out. I love how Gig Harbor is close to a big city, yet tucked away.”
While in the area, Kuhn found an ad for a family looking for someone to care for their children three days a week- They were willing to provide him with workshop space in their garage, so an alliance was formed- Through a combination of marketing his work at local stores, bazaars and craft shows, and putting out a flyer, Kuhn was able to make $5,000 during the Christmas period alone. After about a year, he was able to open his business “on a shoestring.”

That shoestring doesn’t appear to be coming untied however. Kuhn’s shop has been open for about a year and a half, and during that time he has been able to triple -his inventory and install new cases to display his beautiful wares.

He has also found time to become active in the community, working with Lions Club, the Gig Harbor Merchant’s Association, and the Art League. A project that Kahn would like to get started is working with the local school district to offer more jewelry making in their art program.