Karla Witukiewicz’s story is anything but conventional. Raised on a Clydesdale horse farm in western Michigan by a German-Polish father and a Sicilian mother, she grew up learning how to build, fix, and improvise. With an architect grandfather and a woodshop teacher dad, she inherited not only discipline but also a love for design and mechanisms—qualities that would later define her fine jewelry brand, kWIT.
“Want a barn? Build one. Livestock getting out? Create new handles. Horses need shoes? Make them yourself,” Witukiewicz recalls. That mix of resourcefulness and creativity became her blueprint for jewelry making.
Karla Witukiewicz calls her three-part Heart Throb ring ($4,385) a puzzle that uses 14k gold and diamonds to form a singular piece of jewelry.
Although her parents nudged her toward business school instead of art, fate intervened when she took a metal sculpture class at Western Michigan University in 1993. There, she learned the technical skills that would eventually anchor her jewelry career. By day she worked at a Michigan advertising agency, rising to senior account executive, but by night she crafted jewelry under her first brand, V’ta Jewelry.
When she lost her advertising job in 1999, Witukiewicz went all in, setting up a jewelry studio in her parents’ garage before moving to Chicago and later New York City. Each city shaped her trajectory—from custom bridal collaborations to Diamond District experience, CAD modeling, and diamond cutting. Along the way, she experimented with side projects like ReJeweled, which reimagined clients’ heirlooms, and Karleigh Frank, a goth-deco line.
The 14k gold Spark Pinky Square signet ring ($3,995), shown here in bond green, is available in several different colors and with whatever letter the client chooses.
A cancer diagnosis in 2012 forced her to step back, but by 2016 she returned with kWIT, a brand that blends playfulness with impeccable craftsmanship. Customers can personalize designs ranging from bold letter rings to pet pendants, with standout creations like the Mood Orb rings famously worn by Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in And Just Like That….
Signature pieces, like the three-part Heart Throb ring (a puzzle crafted in gold and diamonds), the customizable Spark Pinky Square signet, and the Fringe Flapper necklace, embody her philosophy: jewelry as a medium for self-expression and engineering ingenuity.
kWIT’s Fringe Flapper necklace ($4,995) in 14k gold with diamonds
“I created a palette with kWIT that let customers design for themselves,” she says. “Seeing people go wild with that foundation has been its own adventure.”
From a horse farm to Manhattan’s Diamond District, Karla Witukiewicz’s journey shows how resilience and imagination can redefine fine jewelry for a generation that craves both individuality and craft.
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