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Our Journey: The Artbeads Story - A Passion for Beads & Crafts

Swarovski Authorized Distribution Partner

Thank you for visiting Artbeads.com. As one of the Web's leading suppliers of beads and jewelry supplies and host to one of the world's largest community of beaders, we value each of our customers and want you to feel special every time you spend time shopping with us or exploring our vast array of beads, findings, and learning resources.

Who is Artbeads.com? We are a family-run business that started in our home over 23 years ago in the year of our daughter's birth, 2000. I have always been fascinated with the business of business, and even at a young age was developing opportunities that ranged from selling vegetables that I raised myself to constructing the city's most popular haunted house for Halloween. Being raised by a family of university art professors, however, I also developed a fine appreciation of design and have always been attached to the artisan community. Cynthia, who has been equally involved in the management of Artbeads, has always been passionate about the customer relationship since working in a high-end fashion store in her home country of New Caledonia. It was this very passion that inspired her to build what is now the Artbeads Design Studio, a place where our community of beaders can gather, learn, and inspire others to do the same. So how did a New York-born me find a New Caledonia catch like Cynthia? In Tokyo, of course. Cynthia was there learning the language so that she could better serve her Japanese clientele, while I was there working in the financial industry. After six years in the big city, though, we wanted to find a place to settle down and raise a family, and Washington State seemed the best place to eventually call home.

How did it all start? On a sunny weekend at a craft show in the bucolic town of Port Gamble, Washington, Cynthia's attention began to turn toward handmade jewelry and I was fortunate enough to meet lampwork artist and educator Larry Brickman, who in a one-day lampworking session reignited my enthusiasm for working warm glass. One thing led to another, and within a short period of time Artbeads was born. Starting off small, we procured our initial inventory of beads at auction on eBay. Our first order was, well, from my mom, but shortly thereafter the volume of orders quickly grew and we began to expand beyond the garage and into the room that was supposed to be our daughter's. It was time to dedicate ourselves fully to building this business.

At Artbeads.com, WE LOVE BEADS. I have worked with glass ever since I was a kid growing up in Alaska, and Cynthia has been an avid jewelry maker ever since I started giving her lampwork beads in lieu of flowers. This passion for beads exists to this day. Even on vacation, we are always on the lookout for beads. You have to love what you're doing for a company to be successful, and we're always coming up with new ways to keep our passion alive. We have scoured the world, from Venice to Thailand, to find new and innovative products, and it is our desire to continue providing our customers with the best possible products and service that includes everything from the online experience to the presentation of beads carefully wrapped in our trademark purple tissue paper.

We hope that you enjoy spending time with us.

Devin and Cynthia Kimura
DevinCynthia