PICHULIK LOOKS EAST WITH THEIR NEW COLLECTION
This collection is forensic in nature. I was looking through my great-grandmother and family matriarch Leonora’s trousseau and came across a photograph of a Japanese woman. On the back she had written 'mother'. This led me to delve further into the aesthetic practices of Japan," says Katherine Mary Pichulik of the inspiration that sparked her fall/winter 2017 collection.
The intricate designs echo the fine details of ikebana and the colours – a palette of pearl, brass and patinaed brass – evoke pearls nestling in oyster shells and kelp against wet black diving suits. She explains "I looked to Japan's Ama pearl divers, women who have been free-diving for over 2 000 years, holding their breath for minutes at a time and relying on no more than a rope tying them to a buoy. What fascinated me most, though, was the sense of community that existed among the women when the Ama was at their peak. Photographs exist from the 1930s that show women on the beach, covered in sand, happy and smiling. The risk, difficulty and hard work as well as the rewards, which included being afforded a certain status in a culture where women were not allowed to be independent of their fathers and husbands, bound them together.
In addition, their bravery and intuition are the same two characteristics PICHULIK most values in women and many cultures, including the Japanese, associate the sea with women. Ama translates as “women of the sea”. The jewellery and collections, Pichulik says, is therefore designed for "graceful, idiosyncratic women who are connected to the ebb and flow of her inner tides.