The Zurich-based, Thai-American self-taught jewellery designer, Pacharee-Sophie Rogers, aged 41, personally goes by way of lots of of pure pearls with their distinct curves, bumps and indentations to search out dissimilar but matching items for her designs impressed by pure varieties. Her Bangkok-based goldsmiths fastidiously sculpt Siam gold and different valuable metals, whereas her stone-cutters have outlined progressive strategies to chop and current gems, akin to free-form slicing to boost their inherent traits. I sit down along with her to debate her choice for tough, irregular stones and the way she designs in a fashion that respects their origins, shapes, textures and colours.

How did you arrive at this calling? How and when did you change into concerned about jewellery, and when do you know you wished to be a jewellery designer?

I didn’t have any intention to enter the jewellery world initially. I’d say it was my interior calling and true ardour that had been hiding inside me since I grew up seeing and listening to magnificent tales about pearls and gems. To be sincere, up till right now, I by no means thought, “I need to be a jewellery designer.” It got here naturally to me. I simply do it instinctively and I like what I provide you with. It’s at all times so satisfying to see how a lot men and women around the globe adore my creations.

Why did you initially reject the thought of working in jewellery by pursuing a profession in advertising and promoting, then create your personal trend model, earlier than ending up in jewellery?

My father was a famend gemologist and gems dealer coping with the world’s rarest pearls and gems from all around the globe, so I grew up with pretty sparkly pebbles round me. Recollections of my father telling the gorgeous tales of uncommon gems and pearls nonetheless resonate. Nevertheless it’s a type of issues the place the grass is at all times greener on the opposite aspect. I didn’t need something to do with it and went on to find my very own path in advertising and promoting. I used to be in promoting for 15 years till we moved to Zurich, Switzerland, and I obtained pregnant and wished to start out one thing by myself. I even began off with a clothes assortment and simply wished to finish the look with jewellery, not desiring to promote them really. However as quickly as we launched the primary Instagram feed with our pearl earrings, it was an enormous hit.

Describe to me your design language and philosophy. What are your sources of inspiration?

Nostalgic and filled with respect for pure shapes and varieties. Plenty of my design comes from childhood recollections of the issues I noticed my father do, the story of every gemstone and pearl, and this ensuing within the respect I’ve for his or her origin, form and colour, and I design round that.

What’s your strategy in direction of the supplies that you simply use?

I supply my very own supplies and, till right now, I nonetheless pair the pearls and gems by myself in some designs. I really feel the pairing decision-making is so private, and I need my purchasers to really feel it.

What new progressive strategies do you incorporate in your jewellery making?

I work with goldsmiths and cutters that noticed me as a little bit lady, so that they utterly perceive my imaginative and prescient and the strategies I need to begin introducing. I’m very happy with the hand-sculpted strategies and sure sorts of settings we provide you with.

How do you differentiate your self from different jewellery manufacturers?

I don’t suppose it was ever about aiming to do one thing totally different from the get-go. I used to be fortunate that what I do stands out from the remainder of the pearl-led jewellery manufacturers and jewellery manufacturers typically. I believe it’s rooted in the truth that I’m not a standard jewelry-trained designer, so my items are the expression of somebody who sees jewellery and supplies otherwise. I’d say I base a whole lot of my choices on myself as a wearer. I put on my items time and again till I’m so positive of the little particulars and the match. Most designers concentrate on ornamenting the items and the way they appear, which is superb, however I’m extra in regards to the feeling of the items on. Maybe it’s my limitation that enables my items to face out.