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By Jaime Kautsky
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Kenneth Brown created all of his own jewelry, from start to finish.
Photo courtesy of the Brown family
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Kenneth "Kenny" Brown recovered quickly when the woman he just met seemed puzzled by the unfinished ring on his finger.
"Oh, I'm a jeweler!" he explained, nodding to his finger. "I'm making this."
That's the first memory the woman – his wife, Anna – has of her husband, who passed away in November 2006 at the age of 43. And it's one that perfectly captures Brown's commitment to and passion for his craft.
"Kenny loved jewelry, and he wanted to create wearable art," Anna Brown says. "He wore pieces before they were even done, just to make sure they fit, that they were something people would actually wear."
She remembers her husband, a GIA Graduate Gemologist diploma and Jewelry Design certificate holder, as a "fun-loving, spiritual man" who loved to laugh, surf and play with model trains in the backyard with the couple's 5-year-old son, Ryder.
Many of Brown's designs were inspired by nature, Anna Brown says. A hike, sailing trip, or surfing session in his native San Diego or adopted home of Hawaii often resulted in a design he had "seen" in trees, rocks or the ocean.
His ability to create a piece of jewelry from start to finish was one he didn't take for granted. "Kenny was very appreciative of all he had," she says. "Creating jewelry was a natural talent for him – he had done it since he was in grade school. He knew he had a gift, and that it was something special."
Brown, an award-winning designer and owner of Kenneth Brown Jewelry Designs, Inc., was also grateful for his time at GIA, where he studied at the Institute's Santa Monica and Carlsbad campuses, his wife says. So when he passed away, Brown's family knew an in-kind gift donation in his name would be an appropriate way to honor his lifelong passion.
Four of Brown's designs, including a pendant, ring and earrings in 18K yellow gold set with Tahitian pearls, and an 18K yellow gold and platinum brooch with a tanzanite, ruby and diamond, were gifted to the GIA Museum's Permanent Collection.
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"Pearls were his passion," says Anna Brown of her husband's jewelry. These pieces – including the award-winning earrings that belonged to Anna – were donated to the GIA Museum.
Photo by Robert Weldon
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The family also donated a pair of 14K white and yellow gold, diamond-accented cufflinks designed by jeweler Pierre Touraine and finished by Brown, who met Touraine's widow, Velma, in Hawaii. He completed many of Touraine's unfinished pieces, including a pair of diamond-studded stirrups that are also part of the Museum's Permanent Collection.
Kimberly Vagner, In-Kind Gifts project manager for GIA, says the donation is a celebration of Brown's life and love of jewelry.
"We are so appreciative that Anna has entrusted us with her husband's jewelry," she says. "This gift will help keep Ken's memory alive, and will ensure that generations of students and the public will be able to enjoy and experience his work."
Anna Brown says her husband, who helped set up a support group for parents after their son was born with a heart condition, would have wanted to give back to others in this way.
"He just loved the jewelry trade, and graduating from GIA was huge for him. I know having his pieces here would mean a lot to him," she smiles. "He would've done it eventually, anyway."
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