Kate Ferrant Richbourg

Kate Richbourg was raised on a small farm in Gilroy, California. As a child, she would spend hours stringing beads and creating her own jewelry. It was a phase she never quite outgrew. After completing college, while trying to get excited about the transition to a corporate career, Kate saw a want ad for a bead store and lost no time in applying. Soon she was teaching classes and writing articles that were published regularly in magazines. During this time she took a basic metalworking class at a local community college that opened her eyes to the possibilities of what metalworking had to offer the jewelry designer. She began teaching herself more advanced techniques from books and through trial and error, and it was here that she first saw the need for a comprehensive book on the subject. Kate opened her own store, Beadissimo, in San Francisco in 2003, and then moved on to teach students around the globe via the internet as Director of Education for an online company specializing in jewelry tools, supplies, and instructional materials. Simple Soldering is her first book.