Chloe was born and raised in Beijing, China, where two things captured her heart early on: science and doodling. Her childhood notebooks were filled with sketches of imaginary interior designs and whimsical fairytale characters—often drawn on the back of her science homework.

Coming from a working-class Asian family, art was never seen as a viable career path. So, she pursued a practical route: earning a graduate degree in STEM and building a career as a software engineer in the financial industry. For the past decade, Chloe lived in New York City, where she designed high-throughput data pipelines by day. But by night, she found herself drawn to creative spaces—attending art workshops, wandering through craft fairs, and dreaming of a different life.

Eventually, that quiet pull toward creativity led her to silversmithing, which started as just one of her many hobbies—alongside soap making, glass blowing, ceramics, scuba diving, and playing the violin. But metalwork was different. It became a vital outlet for expression, a way to reclaim her imagination after long days in the corporate world.