Meet the Maker

Niko Nimba

Owner/Operator

I'm Nikolette, affectionately known as Niko. I've been making and selling jewelry since I was in high school when hemp necklaces were the big trend. Over the years my style has evolved, but art has always been a passion in my life. I began my journey with electroforming in 2017. Creating gives me purpose and my goal is to bring those creations to others who will enjoy them as much as I do. 

I grew up in Montana, and I didn't realize how much it was a part of me until I spent a decade traveling the country. I learned that I am absolutely not a city girl, and I enjoy the simple pleasures of being in nature and small town lifestyles. Officially I've lived in five states as an adult--Hawaii, California, North Carolina, Georgia, and of course Montana. While a big part of my heart is in those places, I returned to my origins in 2018 and attended trade school at Flathead Valley Community College for Welding Fabrication. When I joined the workforce after college I found a new passion for modern blacksmithing as well. My goal was and is to utilize that skill set for art. Unfortunately, I've had chronic health complications that have kept me away from my welding career. The silver lining is that being home since mid 2022, I've finally been able to give my jewelry business the time and energy it deserves. I've shifted my focus from welding/blacksmithing full time, to getting my jewelry out into the world. In the future I hope to learn more traditional metalsmithing methods and integrate all of those skills into larger scale projects with various metals. 

Outside of my jewelry and welding careers, I enjoy other hobbies such as playing music, painting, whitewater sports, and acrobatics. If you'd like to follow along on my journey through life and art, you can follow my social media accounts @nikonimba on instagram, facebook, tiktok, & youtube.

 

 

Andrew Bouschor

Collaborator

Andrew is a close family friend and fellow electroformer. He is passionate about rockhounding and will partake in any opportunity to go into the woods and dig for crystals across Montana and the Northern Rockies. After finding and cleaning the crystals, he also does his own lapidary work cutting raw stones into cabochons for pendants and rings. His various skill sets come together in an incredible way when he can not only make the finished jewelry product, but also source the stones locally and work them into usable material. Think farm-to-table, but for your jewelry!