Kai Hill
She/Her
Durham, NC
Kai is a queer jeweler based in Durham, North Carolina, specializing in custom fine commitment jewelry. She strives to create adaptable, intuitive designs that blend rich, rustic texture with surprising technical elements and modern details.
Throughout queer history, subtle stylistic choices and everyday accessories have been used to signal belonging and identity. Whether covert or obvious, these elements of expression acted as a visual language that have morphed and changed over time. While my work mostly revolves around rings as symbols of commitment, I have been exploring this language through accessories such as the carabiner, the lapel pin, and the collar clip. These clothing elements each have different roles to play in the world of queer fashion, but they all symbolize resilience, resistance, and brave self expression.
website.com
How does your creative practice reflect your experience of living and making as a BIPOC and/or 2SLGBTQIA+ maker?
The couples I work with have shaped me in ways I can barely fathom. About a decade ago,I found myself working mostly with queer couples for engagement and wedding rings, and ended up designing other pieces for dapper outfits that felt deeply queer in origin. Collar chains and bars for a custom made suit, lapel pins for floral arrangements. It all was paving the way for gender euphoria in wedding ceremonies celebrating queer love and chosen family. I ended up coming out more visibly because of the examples of embodiment and authenticity that my clients set. My work is about queering fine jewelry. I want to break down the traditional understanding of what it means to Engage someone, what it means to marry, and what it means to build family. I am determined to bring fine jewelry to people who do not see themselves reflected in the wedding industry as it is and has been.
Sterling Silver 3" x 1" 2025What techniques, stories, or materials have been passed down to you, and how are you reimagining them in the present?
I grew up around makers. My father is a Cabinet Maker, and my mother worked with fibers of various types. I learned the slow, quiet patience behind a clean edge or a perfect corner, and the beauty of an antique tool passed down through the generations– a thimble, a wood plane. My own tool collection contains many tools from Goldsmiths before me, worn and shaped by decades of effort. I try to carry that same methodical care into my work, and give each step my full attention to make the end result something worth passing onward in its own right.
How does your work honor those who came before you while forging new pathways for the future?
I am deeply lucky to have multiple mentors with much wisdom to share. Between them, they have almost 100 years of experience. The world that they learned their skills in is much different than the one we find ourselves in today. Technology, the economy, even the social fabric itself are vastly different for a goldsmith now than they were 60 years ago. They have taught me the “old-school” techniques, and how to use what you have on hand while we slowly add in new technologies that are easier on the body. I am dedicated to passing on their knowledge, and have been teaching classes which focus on technique and problem solving. My hope is to contribute to the slowly growing interest in fine craft and spread the contagious joy that metalsmithing brings
Photographs Courtesy of the Artist