Physique of Work: Anissa Kermiche on her Provocative New Jewelry
You may know Anissa Kermiche for her butt vases and breasty jugs but she creates more than just cheeky objects. As her new Deflowered jewellery collection shows, Kermiche’s designs are also meant to provoke.
The year 2020 – while we were all bumming around in our pyjamas and feeling sorry for ourselves – jewellery designer Anissa Kermiche was busy firing up the kiln for a unique jug modelled on a female torso, hand on hips, bosom out. Kermiche just wanted something fun and functional for her living room. What she didn’t expect was for friends, family and buyers to clamour for the piece, so much so that she expanded her business into ceramic design, which now has an entire category including vases, candle holders, mirrors, lamps and even furniture.
What’s so endearing about Kermiche is that she’s managed to find the perfect balance between cheek and style: all at the same time, she’s striking a chord with her largely female audience, reimagining the female form for the female gaze and throwing a bunch of clever puns while she’s doing it. Love Handles and Jugs Jug? It’s pure genius. Her designs caught the eyes of leading fashion retailer Net-a-Porter, which has stocked Kermiche’s jewellery since 2016 and her homeware since 2020.
“Anissa has a true appreciation for art and design, and her collections spark conversation as both standalone sculptures and functional pieces,” says Net-a-Porter market director Libby Page. “Her work is an ode to imperfections and insecurities, dismantling conventional beauty standards while bringing a playful accent to your home or outfit.”
Kermiche’s new collection, Deflowered, sees the designer returning to jewellery with her first attempt at florals – and with its imaginary blooms it’s unlike anything you’ve seen before. We catch hold of the London-based designer to learn more about her vision, her mission and latest creations.
Were you always interested in design and art?
I was always crafty, I loved beading bracelets and selling them to my mother’s friends, but my family was very academic and so growing up I felt this was the path I’d follow, too.
From an engineering background you went to jewellery school. You also mentioned in an interview that you spent the first three decades of your life repressed, and in an industry dominated by men.
I believe that during my time as an engineer, I repressed my femininity to try and fit in with the male-dominated world around me. When I changed career I unleashed the floodgates of my femininity, which defines my designs today.
When did you decide it was the right time to create your own brand?
It wasn’t the “right” time – if I’d done that I’d still have been an engineer – but I knew I had to follow my passion. After studying at Central Saint Martens and working in Hatton Garden [London’s traditional jewellery quarter], I started my own brand in 2016.
Did the success of your ceramics collection change your design approach and language, even on the jewellery side?
Both sides have their own disciplines and I enjoy the challenge of working in different mediums. It also suits my personality to one moment be designing delicate gold earrings, and the next a ceramic vase that’s half my own height.
Does art still inspire you today?
Art is essential to my practice, and I find myself looking to different artists as I embark on new collections. For example, my latest collection, Deflowered, was influenced by the oil painting La Leçon de Botanique by Leonor Fini.
Do you consider yourself a jeweller, a homeware designer or both?
For me they’re two sides of the same coin, I like to think of ceramics as jewellery for the home. A single bold piece can lift a room, much as a well-placed stud can highlight a cheekbone.
Has the female body always been a key motif in your work – and what is it about it that inspires you?
The female body is infinitely inspiring – look at the history of art! I see my pieces as a personal celebration; I only make the things that make me smile.
Did you always create your designs to provoke conversations around femininity or was this something that happened afterwards?
A woman’s body is always political and in that sense I’ve chosen a provocative subject. I try through my work to support causes and start conversations. Like this year for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I made a special piece – the Solidarity Necklace – which encouraged women to check themselves for breast cancer, with a portion of profits going to Breast Cancer Now.
Your work is very playful. Is this intentional?
Work hard, play hard.
Floral jewellery has existed forever, but you have a different interpretation and take on it.
I’ve always found floral jewellery beautiful and dreamed of designing it, but I was put off by all the big houses that had gone before me. I knew I had to do it in my own way, using flowers as a metaphorical look at femininity – we invented new flowers that suggest body parts rather than being too literal, so they’re nothing you’d find in either a biology or anatomy textbook.
Have you always loved a good pun and do you have a favourite name you’ve given your creations?
Puns are essential … sometimes we start with the name and then design the product. It’s an office game: who comes up with the best name. I’m happy with our Bottom of My Heart candle, a verbal and visual pun. You can’t do better than that.
What are you working on next?
Tableware: plates, a tea set, serving dishes – I can’t wait!
Source: Prestige Online