Pippa's Design Journey

In thinking about the ways I design, I realise that in some ways I do it quite unconsciously. It can be a word, a feeling, a story; something I have seen: a photograph, a painting. I gather colours, shapes, forms, and textures, and compress them into a notebook over six months – photographs fill the storage of my phone.

Designing is about observation, looking at the wider world around us and finding the patterns, the shapes that please, fascinate, and charm; of finding what we long for, what we want to hold on to. Designing is a practice, one that I love.  

I am lucky enough to work in many countries, with many communities of crafts people. Twice a year, I have the joy of thinking of new collections with each of my partners. I do this in part because we need to create things that may feel fresh and new to our customers, but also because I love it.

I think about the people in the workshops of the different places where I work: their particular skills, the traditional techniques we can bring to life in new ways, the local gems we can use. In each country, I spend a great deal of time researching through museums, books, archives, and old collections; I delve into the past, and I also observe the present. I note what men and women are wearing, how they are wearing things, what feels essential, and seems to be a design that has a clear voice about the culture in which it is made. 

I travel to the places where I work and I sit in workshops. I have conversations with the makers, I search for stones in markets, with dealers and gem cutters. I arrive with an idea, but often it morphs into something new, or I stumble upon a new stone or cut, and the new collection unfolds through the materials. 

Nothing is really new, and I draw so much inspiration from the past – I am at heart, a nostalgist, I gravitate to the feeling of ancient art, of things made by human hands: worn, loved, and passed down through generations. Each wearer adds something to the energy of the piece. My hope is simply to recreate this feeling.