Jem Junkies Is Making Space for Softness

Before I could take a seat, Kristy Ramsey was already making conversation.

She asked about my drive over and work. By the time our interview began inside Jem Junkies, the Black- and queer-owned grillz and tooth gem studio she co-founded with Kimberly “Kim” Randall, I felt less like a reporter and more like a guest in someone's living room.

That feeling, Ramsey explained later, is intentional.

“I always tell people, once they're done … you could just hang out if you want to, and watch TV and talk,” she said.

At Jem Junkies, comfort is treated as part of the service. Clients come in for custom grillz and tooth gems, but often stay for connection, reassurance, or simply the feeling of being somewhere they don’t have to explain themselves. For Ramsey and Randall, creating that kind of atmosphere matters just as much as the finished product.

“You don't know what they're going through in their personal lives,” Ramsey said. “Just to have company and feel like they can talk or say anything is really huge, and I think it’s greater than this business.”

The couple started Jem Junkies after attending Villain Arts Tattoo Festival, a Chicago tattoo convention, in 2025. After getting matching Morse code tattoos, they wandered over to a booth where an artist was placing crystals on people’s teeth.

Randall had seen tooth gems before, but these designs felt different—butterflies and intricate layouts she “had no idea were even possible” with tooth gems. On the ride home, the two started imagining what it would look like to create a space of their own.

Soon after, they trained with hygienists and grillz makers based in California and Arizona, began sourcing vendors, and launched their first pop-up at the Black Boy Art Show in Chicago.

“We had a crowd the entire time,” Randall said. “We just couldn’t handle it.”

But what stayed with them wasn’t only the demand. It was the way people approached the work itself.

“People invest in it and think about it,” Ramsey said.

Dental jewelry itself is not new. Tooth adornment has existed across cultures for centuries, while grillz became closely associated with hip-hop culture through the 1980s, ’90s, and early 2000s, popularized by artists such as Slick Rick, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Nelly, and Paul Wall. Tooth gems, meanwhile, surged during the pandemic-era rise of TikTok and Instagram, where beauty trends became increasingly visual, fast-moving, and highly shareable.

But Ramsey and Randall see Jem Junkies as existing outside the cycle of disposable trends. The pair describe the work less as a novelty and more as a form of personalization—a way for clients to mark achievements, experiment with style, or reclaim confidence in their smile.

During a three-hour beta grillz-making workshop on April 19, participants moved between tables comparing designs, asking questions about wax sculpting and open-face cuts, and debating whether to keep their pieces minimal or experimental. Midway through the afternoon, conversation paused briefly for a toast celebrating the couple’s recent engagement before clients drifted back toward design discussions and appointments.

For tooth gem requests, appointments often begin with conversation. Randall asks clients what kind of look they want: subtle or bold, minimal or highly visible. She walks them through placement and preparation before carefully bonding the gem to the tooth. Then comes the mirror check.

“Is this exactly what you want?” she asks. If the answer is no, she adjusts it.

Randall, a former college gymnast, approaches the work with the precision of someone used to chasing perfection. She admits she was initially nervous about starting the business, especially compared to Ramsey, who describes herself as a serial entrepreneur. But over time, she found herself drawn to the creative process and the reactions clients have when they finally see themselves in the mirror.

“The gratification of getting something right and making people happy because you got it right,” Randall said, “I really enjoy that.”

That care carries into grillz consultations too. Clients choose gems and designs collaboratively, often treating the pieces as markers of memory or achievement.

Ramsey recalled one client who ordered a custom grill after earning her PhD. One of the teeth was cut with the letters “PhD.”

“It becomes part of their story,” Ramsey said.

The pair also sees the work as connected to a broader cultural lineage. Grillz have long functioned as expressions of style, status, and identity within Black culture, evolving over decades into both luxury fashion and wearable art.

“We take sh*t and make them into gold,” Ramsey said. “That’s part of our culture.”

But the emotional dynamics of the space are just as important as the finished pieces. Ramsey says clients often open up during appointments, sometimes staying after services are done simply to continue talking.

For the duo, being LGBTQIA+-friendly isn’t a buzzword but a practice reflected in how they interact with clients.

“Just knowing we have that LGBTQ+ space in common makes it feel safer for them to come in, and really for anybody, but especially for people in our community,” Ramsey said.

That sense of care extends beyond aesthetics. In an industry filled with DIY kits and temporary vendors, Jem Junkies is careful about safety and transparency. Tooth gems are bonded using methods similar to those used for braces. As the practice has become more mainstream, some dental and orthodontic offices have begun offering the service or referring clients to trained artists. Ramsey and Randall avoid removals themselves, instead directing clients back to dental professionals.

Long term, the couple hopes to launch a nonprofit arm connected to the business that could help cover dental care for people who otherwise couldn’t afford it. The idea grew after multiple clients came in asking for grillz to cover missing teeth.

“What if they had the money to actually get a tooth,” Ramsey said, “and then get a grill to enhance their smile?”

For Ramsey and Randall, that possibility reflects what they've tried to build since opening Jem Junkies: a space where people leave feeling better than when they arrived.