Alice Ciciolini
I was born in London, and grew up in the same house all my childhood. My Mum & Dad bought it in 1970 and both lived there for the rest of their lives. I grew up surrounded by books, experimental gardening and love.
2) How did you get into jewelry? does your interest in jewelry come from?
Through my friend and mentor Simon Fraser, course director MA jewelry at Central St Martins, who helped me to see that jewelry was a place you could still create a hybrid identity creatively -‐ part fashion, part craft, part industrial design, it was certainly not as formulaic a place to inhabit as fashion at that point. And through working very briefly for Andrew Grima in the late nineties; untrained formally, his immense creativity taught me to understand that there many ways to be a jeweler, and to be brave.
-‐ do you remember the moment you knew this was what you wanted to do?
I was originally very inspired by a jewelry box I saw at the Mehrangir Fort Museum in Jodhpur. The caption stated, rather enigmatically, that the box would have contained all the items needed to perform solah shringar. This lead me on a journey through Indian cultural practice from the legendary Kapila Vatsyayan to Usha Balakrishnan, via all sorts of wonderful stories of the lives of regal women! Basically, the solah shringar is an adornment ritual, of sixteen stages, and includes both literal objects (rings, bracelets, necklaces), but also layers of sensory experience – scent, sound, tactility – and methods of building those layers, bathing rituals and so on. I felt this was powerfully evocative. I wouldn’t say I had even scratched the surface of it will take me, but I have my whole career! So far, it’s encapsulated by the delicate sound of metal or rubies against handcarved ebony in rings, earrings and pendants, which have movement built in to the piece. I also looked at creating pendants that can be taken apart to be used on different parts of the body – to basically pull together in one piece some of the many kinds of jewelry a woman might need. Its got a way to go, but I’m always thinking about how to keep developing that thought!
-‐ do you have any formal education in jewelry, gemology, etc.?
MA jewelry, Central St Martins
3) When did you start your brand? how did you do it?
I started my brand directly from Central St Martins in 2009; I sold my first piece to Peter Ting, creative director of homeware for Asprey, directly from the stand. I think from there, I built on the interest and support of a group of people I had first met as a curator, principally Janice Blackburn, the extraordinary curator and collector, without whose support I probably wouldn’t be here today; Valery Demure, whose generosity of spirit and willingness to champion the unusual out of nothing more than respect, is a rare and valuable thing; and stylist and art director Alix Duvernoy, whose creative eye and willingness to experiment is rare these days. Between them, and my agents Touba, they have given me opportunities to show my work, talked about it to the right people and opened doors to stockists who have been able to take my brand to the next level.
-‐ what is the hardest part?
Doing it alone
-‐ was it a success from day one?
The shop window is always designed to put the best face forward. I have been extremely fortunate, and am still here 6 years later. The next 6 will prove the answer to your question!
4) How will describe your style?
-‐ what do you hope people get out of your designs?
-‐ have your style changed since you started out?
-‐ what will the future bring for your designs?
My ‘style’ is really about collaboration and juxtaposition, about craftsmanship and heritage, and colour. I also take quite a curatorial approach to my work; there’s a lot of narrative behind the collections. So I hope people will buy into those stories, behind the design, behind the people who made them, behind the techniques and heritage of the craftsmanship – and add their own stories to the gems as they become part of their lives. I think the crafts techniques might change, but the principals of my practice and the approach to creating the work will remain the same.
That approach is based on the concept of slow luxury, celebrating the beauty of ancient mastercraft and privileging artisanship alongside fine materials. To sustain a business in this industry though, I will have focus this year on continuing to refine how we articulate the vision, and on taking the brand into new markets. In a world of fast luxury, it is hard to express the value of alternative choices to a wide audience but I am extremely passionate about finding a way to do that. I also regularly remind myself that TS Eliot worked as an editor for Faber for his entire career and still managed to be one of the most important 20th century poets that Britain produced.
Two mottos:
Small is beautiful.
&
Good things come to those who wait.
5) How does a typical day look?
-‐ what do you do besides jewelry?
-‐ are you based?
-‐ do you travel a lot?
An average day involves connecting with the many people who I collaborate with, from my Head of Studio, Gabrielle Harris, to the mastercraftsmen in Jaipur and London who make my work. I try to do as much email as I can in the morning and then use my evenings after the children are asleep to write, and to reflect on the day and the future.
I also still curate, working with other designers and artists as a creative commissioner, as well as now collaborating with other designers and businesses as a design professional. All of those interactions feed my thinking and direction in a really crucial way. As a curator I relished working with professionals at the top of their game, for what I can learn, from their energy and from the constant degree of surprise and challenge involved with working with great thinkers.
I am based in London, and having two small children means I travel less than I did before, and when I do its closer to home. I’m about to visit Antwerp for the first time which I’m really excited about, particularly since it’s the home of both Dries Van Noten and the Museum Van Bonigen, both huge inspirations.
6) Who are you inspired by?
-‐ idols in the jewelry world?
-‐ other people that inspires you?
-‐ things that inspires you?
-‐ jewelry designers/brands that inspire you?
Andrew Grima (as above), Verdura, Boivin, Belperron. From today, Melanie Georgacoupolous, one of the nicest, most focused and talented people in jewelry; Judith Clark, for me the world’s most experimental and inspiring design curator; Anna Talens and Katie Horwich, two artists I hope to collaborate with in the future; Blythe House, the V&A archive, a building that holds one of the world’s finest applied arts collections and presents it in a refined and inspiring way, whispers of the stories these objects contain seem to echo around the space. The World of Interiors and 1st Dibs are religious for me, beyond fashion to the appreciation of fine craftsmanship. Frieze Masters and Masterpiece, two of my annual pilgrimages on the London festival schedule. The New Craftsman and Mallet of Bond Street, two institutions that in their own way have taken on the herculean task of reminding people why the immaculately handmade is so hugely valuable – culturally as well as aesthetically.
7) What is your favorite piece that you have made?
-‐ why is it your favorite piece?
-‐ what are your favorite materials?
The Silk Route pendant: partly because it was the first piece I made in Jaipur, and partly because it encapsulated so many of the ideas that interest me – the cultural nuance of pattern, juxtaposition of colour and form, and the fact that it can be taken apart and worn in many different ways, allowing the wearer to make more or less of a statement according to mood. I love to work with carved wood and stone, 22ct gold, enamel and richly coloured semi-‐precious stones (fire opal, yellow sapphire, peridot, pink tourmaline, almandine garnet, chrome tourmaline, azure opal)
8) What jewelry are you are always wearing?
-‐ do you always wear a specific ring, specific earrings, etc.?
-‐ why do you always wear these things?
My wedding ring, for obvious reasons, and a twisted gold split ring, which reminds me that functionality can also be beautiful and vice versa.
9) Who would you love to see wearing your jewelry?
-‐ any celebrities you would love to see wearing your jewelry?
The day that any one of Tilda Swinton, Michelle Yeoh, Cate Blanchett, Nandita Das, Lupita Nyong’o, Salma Hayek, Kristen Scott Thomas or Nicole Kidman arrive at the Oscars wearing one of my pieces will be a good day.
10) What do you dream about getting for Christmas?
-‐ what is your biggest wish?
-‐ any wild wishes?
A piece of vintage Grima – biggest and wildest.
11) What jewelry trends are you seeing at the moment?
-‐ trends in styles?
-‐ trends in materials?
-‐ any other predictions for the future?
I think that jewelry is polarizing in to branded, global, mass luxury ( women are happy to wear for life an engagement ring with Tiffany branded on the outside of the band), and mastercrafted individual pieces that are the result of passionate commitment from maker and designer. To be a “brand” now is to have access to connections and vast resources – financial and personal: you have to be the complete package. But equally, the age of brand is weakening at the first movers end of the industry as people tire of the closed circuit that is brand-‐advertising-‐media-‐ retail-‐commercial. Li Edlekoort recently called the end of fashion and the era of clothes; it may be that fine jewelry’s flirtation with fashion will be brief.
12) Finally, any advice for younger artists and designers?
-‐ what is the biggest lesson you have learned?
Business is the balance of your voice and philosophy with the identification of people who share it. Stay true to the former for as long as you can manage to find enough of the latter.
