Fierce LDN: Culietta

Looking towards the finer details in fashion design and indeed life, this weeklong feature Planet Notion will be examining accessory designs from London and all its intricate, infinite possibilities. Firstly we talk to Julia Bias, the jewellery designer behind Culietta, a brand which re-tells forgotten vintage jewellery creating bespoke, beautiful leg tassels, chain garters, body harnesses and shoe jewellery to adorn the body:

PlanetNotion: Accessories are so important in the completion of an outfit and allow for a lot of true, meaningful self-expression. Can you describe your aesthetic or design ethos?

Julia Bias: It mostly centres around creating something around a beautiful piece of chain I’ve picked up, or a part of the body I’ve never seen decorated before, or that has been decorated in some lost way that I decide to dredge up and learn about. Design and art is a funny business because you hide yourself away for months creating something you love and at the end just hope to God that everyone else does too! I think my design ethos really springs up through what I get for chain each collection. And my own personal style, which is pretty tomboy and tough.

PN: What made you become an accessory designer rather than apparel?

JB: I originally studied sculpture, the jewellery I made was intended as a stopgap between me moving to London and finding a place to settle down and create sculpture, in the end I loved Culietta so much I ended up sticking with it and still loving it. I think most of my pieces still have a sculptural feel to them and personally I think that creating accessories has more of a sculptural process than creating apparel.

PN: There is something timeless about Jewellery that other clothing items don’t share (with the ethos of passing on to loved ones and from generation to generation) is that an element included in your design process, recreating vintage jewellery?

JB: Very much so, although the pieces I tend to work on are lost, forgotten or broken chains that have ended up being pretty much useless to anyone but me, so there is certainly an element of, ‘well look what we have here, lets make it wearable and loved for another couple of generations’ which I like.

PN: The intricacy of jewellery and its possibilities for fantastical design is immense, is there anything in particular you are trying to express through your designs?

JB: Just myself, which sounds terribly egotistical, but I think as a designer unless you are trying to push yourself across through your work then its almost pointless, we don’t get paid very much in this industry so you may as well create whatever you want or there would be no gain whatsoever! Each collection has a theme of course but that tends to come through while making the pieces rather than setting out with a particular them in mind, if I do, it invariably changes.

PN: Can you describe you’re technical process in producing jewellery?

JB: Yes, it’s very un-technical! I work with the chain, and the body and try and marry the two. As a jewellery designer I’m pretty un-skilled, in the technical sense. My casting skills were learned as a sculptor, as were most of my design aesthetics. Which, I think is why my jewellery is quite different.

PN: Detail is very important in accessory design and its beauty, is that something you enjoy in you’re design creation?

JB: Yes, detail is what shows you that you’ve bought something that someone has put a lot of thought into creating. For my work the detail is in the way its put together, things like elasticized metal bands for the tops of the leg pieces to make them comfortable and hardwearing. I like problem solving with my jewellery, which is good as some of it can be a bit of a bitch to figure out how you could wear it when I first come up with an idea!

PN: What can we expect to see from you in the future?

JB: Harder, better, faster, stronger! Hopefully just more, I’m hoping I don’t run out of body parts to decorate!

PN: Who would you ideally like to see wearing you’re designs?

JB: Daphne Guinness! Anyone who loves the designs its always flattering when someone invests in your work, whoever they are.

PN: What’s your favourite piece from you’re current collection and can you explain why?

JB: The chain headpieces, they were really time consuming to make but they just look so ethereal on, otherworldly. The collar clips are another favourite because they completely transform a whole outfit.

PN: How do you translate your vision into a realised garment?

JB: I tend to just start working with the chain that I have collected, to see how it would fit to the body, working out the best ways to utilize its full potential my ‘vision’ comes to life through the making process.

- Kathryn Duncan