Stocked at Dover Street Market Singapore, Patcharavipa's fine jewellery creations evoke a sense of wonder — and that’s exactly what drew the Thai designer to her craft at only 13 years old.

Patcharavipa Bodiratnangkura&rsquo;s&nbsp;very first collection consisted of enamel rings and cotton candy earrings, revealing her flair for sculpting jewellery from unexpected materials. None of that has been lost; using locally-sourced gemstones and rare materials (think coconut shells and Siam gold), the Central Saint Martins alumnus&nbsp;now designs elegant jewellery pieces for her eponymous label that redefine luxury for the modern age. She tells us more about her design philosophy in our&nbsp;exclusive interview below.

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What first drew you to jewellery designing?

I was fascinated by the sparkles of the gemstones that I looked at when I was younger. I was really curious about how they worked, because these were natural materials that came from the mine.&nbsp;

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Why do you place so much importance on natural materials in your designs?

I think it&rsquo;s good for the Earth. It&rsquo;s sort of like borrowing from nature. Using natural materials also makes each piece different, so everyone can own a piece that&rsquo;s uniquely theirs. In future, though, I want to explore using recycled materials &mdash; recycled gold and plastic. It&rsquo;s interesting.

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Your Spring/Summer 2018 collection, Gingko Metrics, was inspired by a trip to Japan. Can you tell us more about that?

When I went to Happoen Garden in Japan, I picked up a dry gingko leaf. I found the shape to be very unique; it looked alive and at the same time it was completely dry. The linear texture of the leaf was very beautiful and imperfect. For the collection, we used an&nbsp;Oshibana&nbsp;(Japanese art of flower pressing) technique to imprint the leaf&rsquo;s pattern onto gold.

What are some other intriguing places that you&rsquo;ve been to or that you would like to see?

The Grand Canyon in America was very nice. I would also like to visit South Africa.&nbsp;

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Your jewellery pieces can take months or even years to complete. With the effort involved, do you consider your handcrafted creations as art?

No, I would never call them art because the pieces are practical and we wear them instead of just showing them. Instead, I call them objects. They do have a little bit of sculpture and fashion in them, but they&rsquo;re too consistent to call art.

"Luxury can be defined by intimacy, personality and the time spent on the creation. Personally, I don’t think luxury has as much to do with materials than it does with those things."

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Who are some designers or artists that you admire?

I really like Richard Serra, who is an American sculptor, and Azzedine Ala&iuml;a, who is a big influence as well.&nbsp;

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What is your favourite jewellery item to wear and why?&nbsp; 

I&rsquo;m very used to my hoop earrings. They are very comfortable and they easily go from day to night. You also feel a bit down to earth wearing hoops, I think.&nbsp;

Diamond in the Rough: Interview with Patcharavipa, fine jewellery designer

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