About Zina Kao Exclusives
Zina Kao Exclusives is contemporary jewelry for the modern woman - current, timeless, classically fashionable. We love clean lines and fine details like our signature hand brushed metals.
We specialize in wholesale to other retailers (store, web, catalog) for resale.
Sterling silver, 14kt goldfill chain and findings provide the best quality and value for our customers. Semi-precious and precious gemstones are our accents and color; our charms and pendants are specially selected sterling silver. We also cover our sterling silver charms and findings in a heavy 23kt gold.
Zina Kao Exclusives are handmade with pride in our Berkeley, California studio from domestic and imported components.
How It Started
Zina Kao Exclusives was started by Zina Kao and her husband Wayne Wonchoba.
In a misguided attempt to be frugal, Zina started making jewelry for herself. Soon stones, beads, metals, tools and jewelry of all kinds spilled from every container in Zina's craft room. Like all good hobbyists, the notion of saving money had long ago been abandoned.
I Believe In You
In due course, "making a few things for myself" expanded into making jewelry for family, then friends, then co-workers. When her jewelry making reached friends of friends of co-workers, Wayne felt Zina was ready to do more. In a show of confidence, he gave her a memorable Valentine's Day gift - her own domain name: www.zinakao.com.
Making it Happen
Zina Kao Exclusives has grown from that small Valentine's day gift to a thriving business with jewelry in hundreds stores and museums across the US. We hope you love your jewelry as much as we've loved making it!
