Vally Kontidis was born in Athens, Greece in 1964. She created her first designs during her high school years, deciding to take up the craft then and there.

She received her first lessons in jewelry from sculptress Janin Bayet and jeweler Nikos Nafpliotis.

Kontidis received her BA degree (First Class honours) in Jewelry Design from Middlesex University in London.

Kontidis later stayed in the United States, completing a two-year program at Montgomery College of Art in Maryland in Silversmithing and Enameling alongside master Korean silversmith Comelia O. Kim. Kontidis has attended various seminars on a diverse range of jewelry techniques.

These include kum boo and photoetching, glyptography with renowned Master gem engraver Mr. Nick Kielty Lambrinidis in Athens, spectacle frame design at the Arrowmont School of Arts in Tennessee, “bench tricks” with Alan Revere at the Revere Academy of Jewelry in San Francisco.

After establishing her workshop in Athens, Kontidis combined professional jewelry work with the teaching of the Jewelry Craft at the Athens Municipality Art Workshop and other guild institutions.

Alongside other fellow designers, Kontidis founded the JAW (Jewelry Art Workers) art collective, which creates art jewelry concepts and organizes jewelry exhibitions throughout Greece with the aim of showcasing the diversity of jewelry design and craftmanship.