[Images via Jihee Chun]
Jewelry can most certainly have a soul, and tell a personal, if not haunting story, which Jihee Chun Jewelry achieves in one fell swoop. With an interesting mix of eclectic elements, artfully arranged to look elegant and merely feel appropriate together, Chun shows that she can create a punky yet clean aesthetic, but also, primarily through her cuff link designs, execute the utmost of precise, fine detailing and shapes. She defines her designs into three lines: Fine Jewelry, Costume Jewelry, and Art Jewelry with men’s cuff links and the crack ring series being her signatures. Her unique approach to jewelry is to ignore trends and rather follow her gut instincts as well as conscious and unconscious inspirations, a goal that has kept her eponymous label away from a cookie-cutter jewelry look.
“Aware, but not influenced by fashion trends, I source my inspiration internally which offers a unique vantage point in the trend-driven fashion Industry,” explains the designer. “Every jewelry piece I create is enclosed by my strong and complicated thoughts and emotions. I desire to have my personal collection encompass a diverse range of such primordial feelings as desperate desire, ambivalence, agony, frustration, joy, and hope. I aim to emphasize the full spectrum of these emotional feelings through pieces heavily worked with techniques such as textures, sensational colors and non-traditional materials to bring balance to otherwise distorted shapes and thicker lines.”
With a background in Fine Art, History, and Literature, Korean native Jihee Chun came to New York City to follow her passion for the art, studying in the Jewelry Design program at F.I.T. in 2010 and immediately launching her own label upon graduation. Throughout her studies, she interned and apprenticed at Rent the Runway, Fragments, and Subversive Jewelry, gaining the knowledge and experience on all ends of the industry to take the first step of branching out on her own.
Cuff links start at about $300; contact Jiheechunjewelry@gmail.comfor additional pricing and sales information.
Check out Jihee Chun Jewelry at the brand’s Tumblr page for additional photos of her designs.
