Born in Denver, Colorado but raised in Rural Indiana, Kim spent her summers with her grandparents exploring the rocky mountains. She remembers quiet dialogues with the waterfalls and trees and it is these moments that deeply impacted Kim. Conversations with nature have greatly influenced her artistic expression. But Kim Nikolaev also has the mind of a scientist. Calm and rational, she approaches life like her father, who was CEO of a number of orthopedic companies that specialize in metallic hip and knee reconstruction. She also draws from her grandfather, though she never met him, who was a Ph.D. in metallurgy in Moscow. This scientific approach combined with her mother’s financial background heavily influenced Kim’s ability to rationalize the emotional and interpret them into form. Kim began her training at 16 apprenticing with a successful goldsmith. From there she trained as a Metal Smith and Fine Artist at the School of Art Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University, obtaining her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees and later certification from G.I.A. During her college years, she was influenced by historical Chicago architecture while working in the Antique Jewelry division of the original Marshall Fields department store in downtown Chicago. She developed her taste for luxury and high quality in the field of Advertising and Design where she directed a large corporate art and package design department. Her husband, Tom Bollinger, is an internationally recognized sculptor. He also
owns Bollinger Atelier which casts and fabricates sculptures for artists spanning the globe. Her studio is housed in this Atelier in Tempe, Arizona.