This post was updated June 11 at 10:03 p.m.

Lea Chinn is bringing fictional characters to life one bead at a time.

The fourth-year biochemistry student started Magnolia Street Crafts, named after the street she was born on, in May 2022. She said the inspiration behind her craft stems from wanting to create physical representations of the things she loves. As a reader herself, Chinn said she found her niche selling to other readers on Etsy. Currently, the artist has three main collections on her site inspired by fantasy series from Leigh Bardugo and Sarah J. Maas.

“For some people, it’s (fashion is) a form of armor,” Chinn said. “When I’m wearing something that’s related to something I love, I just feel a little bit better or more prepared for the day.”

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Chinn said she learned how to make jewelry only shortly before she opened her shop. She started making jewelry when she recreated a a pair of Greta Van Fleet earrings she had seen, which she said she wanted to wear to a concert. Chinn said she started crafting for her roommates and close friends, which turned into selling custom pieces. Eventually, she said she transitioned her business into selling pieces with specific styles based on popular interests among customers.

“When my roommate asked if she could have pieces inspired by things that she liked as well, that’s when I realized that there’s a group of people who would also like the same thing,” Chinn said.

For Chinn, discovering her style of jewelry is a process of trial and error. Futhermore, Chinn said she feels that her projects develop a life of their own. A common thread throughout most of her work is her chandelier structure, which involves ornamenting the pieces with intricate wires and beads, she said.

A supporter in her creative process, Chinn’s roommate Lauren Mungo, a fourth-year human biology and society student, said she has accompanied Chinn to the store to get materials. When she is familiar with the source material, Mungo said she occasionally helps Chinn discover the appropriate beads to visually represent characters and places. Futhermore, Chinn said she tends to associate characters with specific hues.

“Certain people have certain colors. … Inej (from ‘Six of Crows’) is always purple for me,” Chinn said. “That’s just something that other people have also somehow agreed with. I don’t know why we think that. So yeah, it’s definitely more of just a feeling sort of thing.”

Chinn said jewelry making has been a bonding activity between her and her friends, recalling a movie night in which they dove into the craft together. Anya Holbrook, a fourth-year molecular, cellular, and developmental biology student, said she took a jewelry making class in middle school, but Chinn reintroduced her to the hobby. Witnessing the growth of Magnolia Street Crafts, Holbrook said she is proud of Chinn and has enjoyed seeing her designs come to life.

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Fostering an online presence is another aspect of her small business, Chinn said, though she does not focus too much on content creation and budgets only one day per release to filming and posting her products. The process of fulfilling an online order typically spans weeks, she added, and everything is made to order. Though running her business may be stressful, she said it feels worth it when she receives positive feedback from her customers, especially those who say they are planning to wear the pieces for special occasions.

After graduation, Chinn said she is taking a gap year and plans to continue pursuing STEM. Over the next year, her goal is to release more jewelry collections and expand, she said. Chinn recently had a release for the “Shadow and Bone” Netflix series, and said she would like to release jewelry inspired by her favorite musicians in the future. Even though the artist has a stream of orders to fill, she stays true to her roots and still accepts custom orders so others can commemorate valuable memories through her jewelry, Chinn said.

“It’s a hobby that’s fun to make, but it’s also a form of expression,” Chinn said. “Sometimes when I’m complaining about filling orders to my friends, I always say, ‘Oh, but I wouldn’t change it.’… I feel like if it wasn’t jewelry, there’d be something else, but this is so far the thing that’s made me happiest.”