Fiona Paxton’s love affair with jewelry came about as an experiment. Her love of textures and her unique ability and commitment in blending seemingly opposite materials grew out of her training as a textile designer at London’s Royal College of Art, and her experience working as a textile designer for fashion houses and studios. Fiona became a driving force behind the fashion scenes, having worked in New York, London and Bangkok, she consulted for various fashion companies such as Armani, Chloe, Moschino and Michiko Koshino.
The inspiration for her jewelry line came about when she could not find anything in the marketplace that she wanted to wear for herself, and so she approached scaling her textile visions onto jewelry after working them onto scarves.
On what inspires her - “For me it is always about the mix of texture and materials”. A long time lover of Art-Deco and modern contemporary architecture, and her background in textiles gives her a unique position in the jewelry world. One of Paxton’s ambitions was to redesign the accessories of a modern global traveler, a goal she has ostensibly achieved with the best stores in the world and the hottest celebrities sporting her designs from Rihanna to Kate Moss.
“I love finding things on holiday or on my travels and reworking them into something modern that is not derivative, I really think that’s what people want to wear, it also makes those pieces timeless which is what jewelry is about”.
On her muses she cites Bjork for her fearless ability to mix elements to create something utterly new and fresh through her music and her visual language. “I also love the way she embraces sculptural forms in her look – I suppose architectural and sculptural forms are often considered masculine – however I think they can be incredibly feminine”.
Paxton has worked tirelessly with Indian artisans since the launch of her line in 2008; this adds for her a traditional and wearable facet to her products which would otherwise remain abstract creations. “My relationship with the artisans who produce my work is incredibly important to me and I love the process of combining my very contemporary inspirations with their skills and traditions”.
Fiona's pieces have also been featured far and wide in the press, including The New York Times, The London Times, The Daily Telegraph, Stella Magazine, Grazia, Vogue in the UK, Germany and Japan.
