Collection: “I want to be the Fabergé of the locket world,” she says. “The lockets out there, they’re very traditional-looking. This is about a piece of art that’s wearable.” And, indeed, although her pendants have an Old-World air, they’re also bold, with a slight downtown vibe. “You can easily wear them with a pair of jeans,” says Kaufman, whose keepsakes are crafted from a mix of rose, yellow and white gold and accented with precious stones. Themes include Japanese cranes in flight, inspired by a carved box from the Edo period, and geometric patterns taken from a church floor in Venice. Kaufman credits her father for her long-standing locket love and, specifically, an old Native American version — bought at a Florida flea market 20 years ago — that she inherited from him.

Stats: Retail prices for the limited edition collection start at $65,000. In November, Kaufman will launch a second line of smaller 18-karat yellow gold lockets, priced from $18,000 to $22,000 at retail.

Novel Notions: New Jewelry Designers

WWD on August 31, 2009

Kim Kaufman Designs

Backstory: By launching her first jewelry collection for spring, Kim Kaufman has finally gone back to her artistic roots. The Miami native, who’s now based in Rye, N.Y., received her MFA in sculpture from Maryland Institute College of Art in 1994. After graduation, though, she opted for the corporate world — “I had to make money after school,” she explains — working at firms such as Young & Rubicam and Fitz & Co. By 2000, however, Kaufman had become a full-time mother. “I didn’t have that creative outlet,” she says. “And I thought this [collection] would be a great way to do sculpture on a small scale — one that’s conducive to having children and living in the suburbs.”