Carol Korte received her B.S. in 1990 and her M.S. in Biology in 1991, both from Northern Illinois University, and moved to State College, Pennsylvania in 1992, where she currently resides. Carol was always involved in arts and crafts of all kinds, and in 2004, as a stay-at-home mom with four young children, she began learning jewelry-making techniques. She soon found the art of chainmaille, creating chains by weaving individual rings together, and was immediately hooked. She opened Korte Jewelry Designs in 2014.

In 2017, Carol discovered chasing and repousse, an ancient forming and sculpting process using small tools and a hammer, and she never looked back. She was lucky to study with two of the top chasing experts in the world, Liza Nechamkin and Davide Bigazzi, and is constantly looking for opportunities to learn more. She says, “I love the process of bringing an image within the metal to the surface. This is a laborious technique, with thousands upon thousands of hammer strikes for each image, but each piece is truly a labor of love.”

Carol is very inspired by the work of ancient jewelry artists, where some of the fine detail achieved nearly 5000 years ago is very difficult to duplicate, even today. Some of the techniques with which they worked, including granulation, chasing and repousse, and chainmaking have nearly become lost arts. The goal of Carol’s work is to help share the knowledge of these incredible skills and to do a small part to keep these traditional arts alive. Each of her pieces is entirely handmade in sterling silver, often using silver that has been recycled in her studio, and often including gold and/or diamond accents. Carol strives to incorporate these ancient techniques with unique, contemporary design to create jewelry for individuals seeking understated elegance and timeless fashion.