Meet Brvtvs

This self-taught jewelry designer has a way with a blowtorch.

You know how high-school girls are—they’re so into soldering. No? Well, California-born Manhattan-resident Caroline Ventura was. “My dad was in the movie business, so he would have to fix all of the circuitry on his video equipment when it broke,” she explains. “I would go play on his workbench when I was little and watch him solder. And then I taught myself how to use the iron and blowtorch.”

Caroline has now carved out a niche making the sort of classic, delicate jewelry designs you can wear (and get compliments on) every day, and it turns out her father’s movie making career encouraged her entree into the jewelry world in more ways than one. “I went to Rome with my dad the summer before I started sixth grade—he was filming a movie and lived in Italy for almost a year. I found it really cool that this modern city existed alongside all of these completely ancient things,” she says. “The craftsmanship and the amount of pride people took in their work back then—I think it’s really important. With my pieces, I want to get across that they’re made for someone, that they’re special.”

The name for her line comes from her affection for the capital of the Roman Empire and also the first styles she made: creative takes on friendship bracelets that incorporated weaving techniques used by samurais. “I was making friendship bracelets, so, as a joke, I named my company after someone who is one of the worst friends in history.”

Caroline’s first creation for Of a Kind was such a hit that she’s made it a partner in crime. It’s a rad gold bracelet—get it now!