Meet The Winner Amy Genz of Seoul Identity

Meet the winner from the Tool Talk Thursday Giveaway:  Amy Genz

Amy was kind enough to send me some photos of her ceramic pendants that she makes for her website Seoul Identity.

This is a very special kind of place.  I asked Amy to tell us about hereself and her website:

"Once, in high school, I made a mug in ceramics class. That was the end of my involvement with clay… until about four years ago. It was then I was inspired by my children to create something that incorporated their birth culture into our daily life. Having taken Korean language classes, our daughter learned to write her name in Korean (Hangul). She began to write her birth name in Hangul on her drawings and school work. It is beautiful. Seoul Identity was born.

Seoul Identity is my way of sharing that beauty with adoptees and their loved ones. I imprint my pendants with translations of about 50 words in Korean and Chinese. Words like Mom, Dad, Grandma and Aunt are most popular with the adoptive families who have purchased from my website. My favorite ones to make are the pendants with Korean names in Hangul. And I am excited to be adding new designs with cultural symbols. I hope these pieces of wearable art give adoptees a connection to their birth county and to a part of themselves.

Seoul Identity is also an avenue for giving. By donating a portion of website sales my customers and I are able to support a number of non-profits serving children.

I had always made jewelry, stringing beads to make gifts for my family and friends. So when I was looking for a way to share culture jewelry came to mind first. I knew to get beads with inscriptions like I wanted that I would need to make them. But, other than that high school class I had no experience working with clay and I had never used a kiln before. Luckily I found the Bead-of-Clay group and got advice on clay, glazes and kilns. I am still on the learning curve and feel fortunate to have a resource with such a wealth of information – Thank You