Ann Koczela is my name – AK Designs is my dream
When I was a little girl, my dad was a carpenter and he always had a lot of fun scraps for me to play with and make stuff.
As I grew older and attended school, I started to enjoy drawing and painting.
After high school, I went on to become a hairdresser and took my creativity and ideas into my work.
Years later I decided to volunteer for 8 years using my painting skills on one of the largest moving art projects in the nation. I painted and helped design the BERKSHIRE CAROUSEL. This reignited my creativity. Needing to satisfy this yearning, I decided to design and paint jewelry from the industrial materials I remembered from my childhood. These materials, such as Copper and Aluminum made it easy to use. They are light in weight for my pieces and never tarnish. I age the copper prior to my finish product and both materials are hand hammered. I then hand-select each stone, shell or whatever crosses my mind to use. I then paint my designs, sometimes using metal flakes, swarovski crystals, gold or silver leaf and create a finished piece.
