Svetlana Kossman was born in Petrov Val, a small suburb of Volgograd, Russia. When she was still very young she and her family moved to an even smaller town deep in the taiga of Siberia. At the age of 12 she returned to Volgograd where she lived, studied, and worked until she immigrated to the United States in 2003. She chose to attend university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania because of the Art Institute there, into which she enrolled in the Graphic Design program and, in 2009, she graduated with honors and received the highest award possible, The Employers Choice Award. While still completing her studies, Svetlana worked for a local company, Eat N Park, as a graphic design intern. Within a year’s time she was hired on full-time as the very first non-intern graphic designer, which, in turn, spawned the creation of the very first graphic design department at Eat N Park.

Over the next 3 years, Svetlana continued working as a graphic designer, and in her spare time she created art for charity events. She worked with knitting, crocheting, macramé, cross-stitching, claying, painting, even glass blowing. It was not until 2014 that beading, or, rather, the use of beads as a medium to create art, came to her attention. Her husband was working with her son, showing him a simple beading method he had picked up as a child at summer camp. The process interested Svetlana, and she began to experiment with beads and different techniques. Beading, which came naturally to her, eventually led to the development of her own, unique style which is recognized on a global scale.

Svetlana’s love of beads, beading, and just simply making exquisite works of functional, wearable art has led her to continue her work with charities (submitting pieces to be auctioned off with the proceeds being donated to worthwhile causes), and she has been recognized repeatedly in regional and international competitions with pieces like Guardians of the Treasure, Halcyon, Shapito, and many others. Svetlana currently resides in the Pittsburgh area, where she continues to create beautiful jewelry and holds seminars online, with attendees from around the world, on beading.

A true artist is not who is inspired, but one who inspires others.

~ Salvador Dalí

The purpose of Bead Panache, LLC is to create one-of-a-kind collectable pieces of wearable art. Each individual piece is hand-crafted using only high quality materials sourced from all over the world. Our reputation is build on the uniqueness of each design and artistic, masterful craftsmanship.