The Rise and Rise of Pichulik

WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo

When she launched her jewellery range in 2012, fine arts graduate Katherine-Mary Pichulik immediately hit the right design notes.

The fashion magazines loved her range; tennis greats, the Williams sisters bought her pieces, superstar Solange Knowles wore them on the cover of ELLE magazine, and most importantly, the customers loved it. A new South African design success story was written. Fast forward almost three years later and the excitement about her creations hasn’t slowed down one bit. We caught up with her to chat about some of her latest creative endeavours.

She recently collaborated with former ELLE editor Jackie Burger and photographer Kristin-Lee Moolman for the opening of Jackie’s new venture, Salon 58. Pichulik created seven pairs of once-off earrings for seven women, including singer Lindiwe Suttle, and Jackie herself. She interviewed each of the women in order to create pieces specific to each of them, before Kristin took the portraits, which were exhibited at the Salon 58 opening.

“I was so excited to be working with Kristin on this project because like me, she is interested in who people are, rather than just shooting them in a classically beautiful style,” says Katherine. “I also design my jewellery to illuminate the wearer’s innate beauty, so it was great to be able to honour the beauty of these women.”

A few weeks after the Salon 58 opening, at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Joburg, young designer Eleni Labrou of AKEDO presented a range in collaboration with Pichulik. “I really love the way Eleni is looking at the contemporary African aesthetic for that range. She went beyond the surface, she looked at the lines of the garments and played with the negative and the positive,” explains Katherine-Mary.

Perhaps one of the most interesting and unexpected creations to come out of the Pichulik studio is a rope sculpture she presented at the recent GUILD international design fair held in Cape Town. Considering that she trades primarily in wearable accessories, we asked her if the sculpture was a nod to her training as a fine artist.

“The piece was inspired by West African masquerade, which is used in performance, in the invocation of spirits and in spiritual ceremonies where there is no difference between ornamentation and art.”

All we can say is, we’re big fans.

View more of this talented designer’s work at pichulik.com.