Story

Aloha!

My name is Nicole Grosskreutz, I am the silver smith and lapidary artist behind Big Island Gems, previously known as “Gypsea Spell”. Big Island Gems was established in 2015 and initially was intended to be a creative outlet for me while I was going to school in Hawai’i to become a registered nurse.

Being a shy person by nature I had always gravitated toward art as a way to express myself through ways other than words. On my journey to find this creative outlet I was scrolling through Instagram when I stumbled upon a friend’s page that made awesome gemstone keychains wrapped in hemp twine. I remembered as a young girl making string “friendship” bracelets at the beach with my friends and decided to watch YouTube videos on how to tie different knots with hemp twine.

Big Island Gems started out as a hobby wrapping gemstones and sea glass in hemp and making them into necklaces, and keychains for my friends and family. As I watched different videos on YouTube of making jewelry and accessories out of hemp I stumbled upon a metalsmithing tutorial and instantly I was hooked. After watching what felt like hundreds of metalsmith videos, I was so excited that I bought a metalsmith starter kit and taught myself how to be a metalsmith through all the wonderful videos on YouTube.

Mind you, during this time I was a full-time college student whose source of income was from my parents (love you guys!). In high school, I started my own online business selling beaded masks and bracelets on Etsy. Being familiar with this website I decided to put some of my jewelry pieces on an Etsy shop promoted my jewelry line on Instagram and Facebook.

Fast forward to 2018, I was working out of a tiny studio apartment all while still going to school for nursing and driving for Uber. If I wasn’t studying nursing or driving Uber to make money just to spend it all on new jewelry tools, I was working hard to perfect my craft and learn new techniques to create beautiful pieces that I’m proud to share with the world.

Today my jewelry is hand cut, sawed, soldered and polished in my studio located on our farm on the Big Island of Hawai’i where I live with my new husband, our 3 dogs, goats, horses, sheep, cats, chickens, and turkeys. Every day I learn and grow more as a metalsmith and business owner and I am grateful for everyone that has supported me through this journey into the world of metalsmithing.