MY DESIGN: PEARL OCTOPUSSY

How would you describe your design? Maximal and whimsical. I love to work with different shapes and create sculptural objects. I would describe Pearl Octopussy as quite glamourous and at the same time edgy. It's colourful, sparkling and the pieces are normally quite over dimensional.

I've always been an “all or nothing” girl, and that shows through my designs as well. You either work it all the way - or you just don’t wear any jewellery at all.

When did you start getting interested in jewellery? I've always been obsessed with jewellery and especially oversized ones. I went to India a few years back and I remember I had to buy an extra suitcase to fit all of my jewels and accessories.

When I was on maternity at home with my son, I started to make my own pieces. I instantly fell in love with the process and the feeling of working so detailed with my hands. Suddenly I just couldn’t stop doing it.

It’s my own personal space where I get to create things I find beautiful - as well as it is really satisfying to make something real. To create an object in your hands. I guess there's a lot of therapy in that for me as well.

What type of people do you try to reach out to with your jewellery? In my main job as designer for FWSS, I think about our girl and customer all the time. She's really important to us. So, on this project I’m enjoying working more freely. I make the jewellery that I like, and luckily for me a lot of other girls like them too. They are special and I see my customer as a bit bolder who got a taste for the maximal. She likes to get dressed up and dares to be eccentric.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I get very inspired by making things. It can be something as simple as baking a bread or taking a nice photography, but I feel like I am not completed without the creating part in my life. I get inspired by everything in my life. My work, my friends, my family, eating good food, having honest conversations, travels, love, art, meeting new people.

It’s a circle where creating makes me inspired, and then I seek out for more inspiration - which I can take back and transform again through another creation. And then it just keeps on going. So, for me, keeping myself inspired is also about not stopping. Just keep going and keep making. Don't be too critical, don’t think too much, just make. You'll make ugly stuff, you'll make beautiful stuff. But I would rather make ugly stuff, than to not make anything at all.

Which designer would you hope to wear your brand one day? That’s a difficult question, there are a lot of designers I admire. But if I had to choose only one, it would have to be Dries Van Noten. I think he really masters the balance between maximal nostalgia and contemporary design. He has always been my favourite designer, so I have to stay loyal to him. I guess it’s a far fetch to hope for him to wear my earrings. But maybe I could make him a brooch.