Latino-Owned and Handmade: The Story Behind Kawami Jewelry

Every Kawami piece starts with a name that means something. Kawami comes from a journey: Macaw to Wacam to Wakam to Kawam to Kawami, named after the bright, loud, unmistakable bird that inspired our very first design. That bird is still our inspiration today, and it's still kind of the whole personality of the brand: colorful, bold, impossible to ignore.

Kawami is a Latino-owned, Chicago-based brand, and that's not just a detail on an About page somewhere, it's baked into how we design and create. The color choices, the beadwork, the threading, the way a pair of earrings is built to be noticed rather than blend in, all of it comes from a specific point of view. We're not trying to make jewelry that looks like everyone else's, we make wearable art.

Being Chicago-based matters too. You can actually see and hold our pieces in person, not just online, at locations like 6311 Arts and Andersonville Galleria, two spots where local makers get real shelf space instead of just an Instagram feed. If you're local, that's the best way to see the colors and detail up close before you buy.

Small, independent, Latino-owned brands like ours live or die on people actually finding us, so if you've read this far, you're already part of how that happens. Every order, every share, every person who walks into Andersonville Galleria and picks up a pair, that's what keeps something like Kawami growing instead of disappearing into a sea of mass-produced jewelry.

Want to see where it all started? Check out our full collection, or come see us in person at one of our locations.