JOURNAL

It’s August.Remember January? Did you choose a word this year? Maybe you wrote it down somewhere. Maybe you told a friend. Maybe you chose a piece of jewelry to carry it. Maybe, for a while, you could feel it shaping the way you moved through your days. Where is it now? If you can still feel it, that’s amazing. I’d...

I have always saved words. Fortunes from cookies. Notes tucked into drawers. Lines from books copied onto scraps of paper. Words written on my hand so I would not forget them before the day was over. Some stayed with me for an afternoon. Others followed me for years. I have worn words on shirts. I have tattooed meaningful things onto...

There are certain times when I stop and review my life : my birthday, the start of a new year, the anniversary of my business. These dates feel like markers. They make me think about where I am, where I thought I would be, and what might come next. This week marks 19 years since I started Christina Kober Designs....

Some mornings, getting dressed is easy. Other mornings, it feels like you have absolutely nothing to wear. You stand in front of a closet full of clothes, somehow sure none of them are right. Nothing feels like you. Every outfit feels like you're trying too hard or not trying enough. Some mornings, my mind is already racing before my feet...

Every July, I find myself looking for two kinds of light. Fireworks. And fireflies. One asks you to look up. The other asks you to slow down. Fireworks get everyone's attention. They are loud on purpose. Timed, announced, watched by a crowd that gathers just to see them. And then they're gone. A few seconds of color across the sky,...

My career in jewelry didn't start because I wanted to make jewelry. It started because of my dad. He owned a jewelry supply store in Atlanta. We sold tools, equipment, and materials to jewelers, but the real work was helping people—giving them the knowledge they needed to use those tools, create the piece, build the business. Working alongside him, I...

On June 12, 2023, my life changed forever. My dad passed away from dementia. I want to talk about grief today — but differently.

After my dad passed, I felt completely untethered. This man, who had always been my anchor, who seemed to have all the answers, was gone. The world felt heavier, and I wasn't sure how to move forward without him. About a week later, I was sitting in Atlanta traffic, lost in thought, when I noticed a prism of light reflecting...

When you choose a word, it feels like you know what you're signing up for. You read the definition. You feel the pull. You think — yes, that's it. That's what I'm working on. And you are right. You are working on it.But the word knows more than you do.

Words are funny things. They're small. Commonplace. We move through hundreds of them every day without pausing to feel what they carry. But they can hold so much power. They're like tiny vessels carrying oceans of emotion, memories, and experiences. They can comfort, inspire, motivate, and at times, transform us.

When I was little, I would scour the Sears catalog, circling and dog-earing every page that had something I hoped to receive from Santa or my parents. I loved flipping through the pages and imagining playing with each toy. But somewhere between that and growing up, it began to feel like doing that was gluttonous. It's not. It's communication.

In Conversation (em)powered words Christina Kober on language, legacy, and what it means to live with a word that is truly yours. What is (em)powered words? (em)powered words is a space for women who feel something shifting. Not loudly. Not all at once. More like a low, quiet awareness that the version of yourself you've been living in has started...

I want to clear something up.   (em)powered words is not a word-of-the-year practice. I want to say that directly, because "word of the year" is everywhere — and what I'm building is something different.   A word belongs to your life, not to a calendar. It starts when you need it. It ends when you've grown through it. Sometimes...

  There are moments when something starts to shift within you. Not loudly. Not all at once. Almost beneath the surface. You feel it in small ways at first. A thought you can’t ignore. A tension that keeps returning. A sense that the version of you you’ve been living no longer fits. (em)powered words is a space for women who...

An honest breakdown of 14k gold, gold fill, sterling silver, and gold plating; durability, wear, and how to choose confidently.

I spent a long time believing something about me needed fixing. Not in a dramatic way.More in a low, constant hum beneath everything I did. If I could explain myself better.If I could soften the edges.If I could anticipate what was expected.If I could be easier to understand, easier to be around.

It All Began With a Fortune Cookie It began long before I ever made jewelry. When I was a child, my parents and I had a favorite place to eat—what I affectionately called the fortune cookie restaurant. I remember playing with the owner’s daughter, sneaking candies into the Buddha statue’s mouth, rubbing his belly for luck, and savoring the moment...

Choosing a word is one thing. Living with it is another. My word is untamed, and I’ve been carrying it with me quite literally. I made myself a ring with the word stamped into it so I can see it throughout the day. I can also feel it on my finger, the weight of it. That physical reminder helps me pause,...