Kara Yoo fondly remembers her sister Rina teaching her how to make wire wrap jewelry with beads, wire, and pliers back in high school in the early 2000s. “I would look through magazines and try to recreate chandelier earrings and things that I saw in Banana Republic ads,” she says. But it wasn’t until she interviewed Canadian jewelry brand founders for a business class while at university that she decided to really lean into her love for making things. 🌟 After graduation Kara did a two-year jewelry metal-smithing program in Vancouver. “I realized, well, if I want to do this for a living, I should probably learn how to make more intricate pieces because there’s only so much you can do just with wire and pliers,” she says. “That was kind of the beginning of everything.” 💡 Today, her namesake brand @karayoo is known for refined, on-trend pieces made to last using recycled metals and responsibly sourced stones. “I make a lot of things that I like to wear myself,” Kara says, and she’s not alone. Her brand has been gaining popularity especially thanks to dangling rice pearl bow earrings worn by influencers, like @alyssainthecity, and celebs, like Katy Perry, alike. “You know what? We actually weren’t even going to do bows for that collection,” she says. “Honestly, we just kind of, on a whim, we made one and then we decided, ‘Oh, this is really different from what we normally do.’ So we thought, ‘Let’s just try it.’” 🌸