Philippa Kunisch lives in north London,
with her whippet, Moth. Philippa is part Scottish, Moth is from Yorkshire.
She bought this lamp from a flea market in America.
She bought a lot of the hand blown glasses and decanters in her kitchen in Italy, some in Venice, source of the Murano glass beads in her longer necklaces.
The spare bedroom.
Studio workbench with natural light from french windows opening on to the garden.
Philippa trained in theatre design at St. Martins. The first time I met her she reminded me of a Valkyrie, beautiful, forthright and commanding.
Ivory animals from Burma were used in a jewellery collection in 2007.
Porcelain sake cups from Hong Kong, vessels used to hold and sort small beads.
Main bedroom.
Living room.
Philippa has been making and selling her jewellery for almost twenty years. The yellow necklace is composed entirely of hand made glass beads and stones including Venetian style beads bought from an Egyptian glass blower in Rome. The blue necklace is of agate stones from India and China, dyed to an extraordinary vivid colour .
Moth in the ‘Cruella’ necklace, of Swarovski’s finest crystal ‘fancy’ stones.
Chandelier-drop necklaces in Philippa’s classic shape, a knotted pendant, strung with vintage silver trade beads from Himalayan and Tibetan necklaces.
Web sites aren’t really the right place for me & my things, Philippa says. People need to see it feel & touch it, try it on & see if it is right for them, for something as personal as this. And for tiny companies it is very time consuming to run a decent web site – I prefer to spend my time designing & making, rather than sitting behind a computer editing… I make the prototype, and then the assistants can produce it from there, all made in London.
Richard II, King of England from 1377-1399, in an engraving by George Vertue hanging in the bathroom.
The bathroom, the third looking glass with paper eyes cut from a magazine photograph of Paloma Picasso.
Workbench with Quattrocento Painting in Florence poster and photograph of Clark Gable, a celebrity pin-up made for a hotel foyer and bought in an Islington junk shop.
Tools.
Moth in the yellow bead ‘Sweetie’ necklace. Emma Kitchener-Fellowes (married to Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey) is a fan and Emma Watson wears one of Philippa’s necklaces playing a young Hermione in Harry Potter.
Philippa’s jewellery has been sold in Liberty’s, the General Trading Company and specialist shops in New York and all over America, Florence, Paris, Milan and Japan.
She shows annually at an artisan event in Florence in May, and biannually at The Box during Paris Fashion Week, in March and September/October. Her next show is on September 26th.
All images copyright bibleofbritishtaste / Phlippa Kunisch.
Some time ago, I saw one of your pieces in Christopher 19, in the Greenwich area in NYC. It was one of your Cruella series, in beautiful red crystal shards, a stunning necklace.
When I was able to return with my daughter, it had been sold. The store owner was able to give me your name, so I am making contact. My daughter loves the style, and I would like to correspond to learn more about what I can have you make for her. If you are willing to discuss, email me at the email address I provided, and we can go from there. She is a headdress creator, to give you a sense of her style, and is on Etsy as AviatrixCouture. She and her fiance’ attend a lot of NYC events, and I think one of your necklaces would be a great addition.
I have just been given the most interesting necklace, designed by you. It is a delight – thank you.