Poppy, the designer and brand owner of up and coming jewellery brand Poppy Rocks, definitely rocks: I just finished interviewing her and I don’t know where to begin! She is truly one of these amazing persons you meet once in a lifetime: fresh, brilliant, adventurous, bristling with life, incredibly intelligent and intensely beautiful, and seemingly completely unaware of the impact she makes on people, not to mention the perfect interviewee: she answered almost all my questions before I even had the time to ask them. I am still breathless.
How did Poppy Rocks start?
I was working in London as a PA for a company that made computer games. I started making jewellery in the evenings at that time, and then I decided to leave my job in London and go travelling. I lived in Guatemala for a little while: I was running a marina and a colleague taught me new jewellery techniques; and the more I travelled the more I met people, craftsmen, who showed me more methods: I learnt how to work on different types of materials, stones, wood. When I left Guatemala I continued travelling on my own, and I kept making jewels. Everywhere I felt this need to do jewellery, and I would trade either lessons in jewellery or some of the jewels I made for breakfast or lunch. At some point I arrived in Mexico in a small mining town and discovered new materials, in every new place I found resource to make new jewels. When I came back after travelling for a few years I started thinking about maybe setting up a company that would reflect my love of travel and fashion: the Princes Trust gave me £3000 funding, and Poppy Rocks was born.
It looks like you discovered your vocation by chance. Did you ever go to a design school?
Yes I did. When I finished high school I was given an unconditional offer to study at the London college of Fashion in the first ever Accessories degree. At the time it was a big thing, thousands of applicants but only 16 places on the degree. It was huge; we had visiting tutors Philip Treacy... But I left after two terms. I was miserable. Initially I had wanted to study women’s design but I was coming from an arts school and didn’t have a fashion background: when I went for the interview, people asked me where I got the bag I had, when I told them they directed me to an accessories class. It was not really what I wanted at the time. But also, when I came to London I was 18, I had always lived in the countryside, I had romantic notions of arts school but the design school in London was so... focused. There was no place for indecision and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, I was so young. One day I talked to my tutor and she told me maybe I was too young to specialize just yet, and maybe I should do something more general or creative, so she helped me transfer to this arts school in Bath where I could go back to sculpture and writing and it was a liberation: I could play around and explore, and it helped me find myself as an artist.
So you were lost for a moment but now you are doing incredibly well, aren’t you?
Well... yes. And you know, it’s a blessing to be able to get up in the morning and do something that you want to do. But it takes courage too, to leave the security of a regular job and do what you’re dreaming of. You know, I lived in Thailand for some time, I worked as a diver there. A friend, Mu, was making jewellery from coconuts. He taught me to skin dive for shells and I would sell them to him when I found them. I would sit and watch for hours how they made the jewellery from such simple things.
Out of curiosity, you look so young and you’ve gone such a long way, how old are you?
I’m 31. I remember. Your 20’s are a nightmare. You have to figure out who you are, what you want to do with your life. Travelling is really good to help you find yourself. It makes you fearless. What I love about travelling is that you don’t rely on anything anymore. At home your entourage defines who you are. When you’re away you can start afresh, it gives you a really good sense of yourself: nobody is here to remind you that ‘you’re like that’. You totally rely on who you are day after day. It teaches you to be self-sufficient.
Are there jewellery designers or artists who influenced you?
I don’t think anyone directly influenced my work, but I was brought up around writers and artists, and my mother was amazing at educating us in the arts. I went to my first exhibition when I was 8, it was a David Hockney exhibition and there was this room where he had created a magic forest. I sat on a giant mushroom staring at these paintings for hours. I remember that was the first time I realised how art could move you in an emotional way. I was awestruck.
In terms of artists, I love Frida Kahlo: her sense of colour is something I can relate to. I love Kandinski for the freedom expressed in his paintings and Giacometti for the movement and freedom of his sculptures.
Solange Azagry Partridge is an amazing jewellery designer; Marni are doing fantastic jewellery at the moment; but I don’t really look at other jewellers because I feel you end up comparing your work with theirs and it’s very negative.
What else inspires you?
Music plays a huge part in my life. I played flute for a long time. Now I always listen to music when I’m working in the studio. I listen to everything: African music, South American, classic, pop, it all depends on my mood. I collected a lot of it when I was travelling, I even have a CD of jungle noises from Guatemala. When I was staying there I woke up without a clock at 5 am with the song of cicadas. I am more creative near nature. It’s where I have my best creative ideas: that’s why I love my studio in the countryside, if I want to go out I could go for a walk without seeing anyone. It gives you time to think, to see life and colours, to let your thoughts go off ... or whatever happens. In a city you’re bombarded with noises and images. You don’t have the time to let your mind wander.
Workwise, what was your best and worst experience?
Best? Roman Abramovich’s daughter’s birthday a month ago. We had to make bracelets for 350 guests. They were invitations, so the guests had to wear them to get in, and each single girl’s bracelet was a one-off. It was also brilliant when Sophie of Wessex wore one of our necklaces.
But I think the true highlight is our board at the studio: we have a huge board on which we pin all the postcards we receive from customers, people saying they’re in love with the bracelet or ring they have received from their husband, from their father...
Worst experience. It’s the financial side of Poppy Rocks. It’s having to be both creative and a business woman. I took a few wrong turns. Last year the brand was really taking off and I took five months off to find new suppliers. I went to a lot of places from India to Mexico, and just stopped making jewellery. When I came back I was in debt. And all my friends were married, in a couple, having a career, having babies, and I couldn’t help thinking ‘I must be mad.’ The business relied solely on me, which I realised was dangerous, so I’ve restructured it now.
Was it hard to learn to delegate?
To delegate no. It’s hard to face up your weak points, it’s hard to ask for help on the bits you can’t do. You have to risk things, so I risked beginning to pay people. I hired a girl to coordinate all the administrative part of the company and two girls who I am training in design. Poppy Rocks is up against so many big companies with huge financial backing. I have started with £3,000 and every penny I made has gone back into the business. It’s gone from one bag of stones to a studio full of displays. And it is brilliant, but truly, trying to organize a creative mind is a potential nightmare.
How would you describe your jewellery?
My jewellery?... You should probably ask someone else, it’s hard to describe your own designs.
My jewels are all about colour and movement; it’s about capturing something special. It’s very much inspired by the sea, the coral reefs, watery colours. It’s not static at all. I’m not sure I would be able to define what I do. Don’t quote me on that because it’s a bit naf [sorry Poppy, I love it] but when you make a jewel, you put a lot of love into it: you’re creating something special, and you want to capture that love, that something special... (smiling) I’m a bit of a hippie.
My jewellery comes alive when you wear it: it moves on the body, the colours of stones change in the light, there are so many intricate details that work only when worn...
I wouldn’t say that the aim of Poppy Rocks is to be fashionable: I don’t want a piece of the fashion world. I love and understand fashion but I am very much about finding my own style and sticking to it.
If you go out, what do you choose first, your jewels or your outfit?
Clothes first, jewellery second. Jewellery is an extension of sharing who you are. It’s like fashion, it’s a way of expressing yourself: I put on a blue necklace when I feel in a blue mood. I think in terms of outfits you should always have fun, you should never be too serious. Jewellery can achieve to make you beautiful: you love a piece, you wear it, you feel stunning, you look stunning. It’s always a question of confidence.
And it’s also about wearing a little piece of art...
If you could get any jewel in the world what would it be?
My grandmother’s aquamarine ring. But it’s going to my aunt. It was given to my grandmother when she was living in India. When I was a kid she would let me sit in her room and open her big jewellery box. It was full of rubies and pearls, and every piece had a story. Some came from Kasmir, some from India or from Burma. It was all from an era when men used to give women jewellery a lot more, and when instead of putting your money in a bank, you would invest it in a jewel when you had money, and then sell the jewel six months later when you ran out of money. In this box she even had a piece from Tutankhamon’s tomb: her sister’s boyfriend was in the expedition who discovered the tomb. Her aquamarine ring is really special: it looks like the ocean. It feels right to be able to tell customers where a stone comes from.
You can go to any supermarket and buy earrings for £5, and maybe it will last you a few months, but there is no soul to it, no idea of where it came from, no story. People like their jewels to have a story. It’s a backlash against mass production. And you know, things are changing, lots of people are starting to collect jewellery again.
You don’t advertise. Is it an ethical choice?
We do work by word-of-mouth mostly. We’ve been approached by people who wanted us to advertise with them, but there are places where we shouldn’t be and where I don't want Poppy Rocks to be. I have no interest in becoming the next big trend and disappearing one year afterwards. I am not money orientated.
Poppy Rocks is a very organic business, it grew slowly, I learnt everything from scratch and still have a long way to go. I would love to learn to work on acrylic and resin. I am always looking for new suppliers. I travel to find special people. We are working with a generation of silversmiths at the moment, father and son. I would feel really bad about going to a factory and having them reproduce one bangle over and over again. Although we are talking about maybe doing one range in partnership: it would help us launch other sorts of accessories... I can’t tell you what, but they would be limited editions. [she did tell me what at the condition I wouldn't reveal anything in the interview: I can only say it will be very exciting, watch out for the designs that will come up in September]
If you could make a jewel for anyone, who would it be?
Dead or alive? If anyone it would be Frida Kahlo, some incredible necklace you could put around her hair. My alive person would be Nathalie Portman because she has so much grace about her.
To finish on a brighter note, what do you think will be the best moment of your life?
I have this mad dream: I told you I went all around the world. I saw so much poverty. There are so many villages in countries like India, where the inhabitants used to live from a special craft. Due to mass production many of these craftsmen are unable to compete with prices. Often they have to give up their craft, give up teaching their children this craft and move into cities to work in factories to manage to survive. Because of that they’re not passing on their skills to the next generation. In these countries poverty takes away craft, creativity and identity. It's our fault: we need to be more responsible for our demand. I would like to create a company that would focus on bringing fair trade to craftsmen: all the profit would go back into sustaining these crafts, by putting back money into these communities and finding a way to teach kids the skills they were not transmitted. Currently we employ craftsmen I have found on my travels, we pay them rates, set by them- you have to start somewhere. It helps me sleep at night to know that.
That’s a beautiful dream, and very generous. Is there something that would make you happy on a more personal level?
Buy an island. I used to live on the beach. When I sit on the beach on this island outside my house, I will know my life is perfect.
Thank you Poppy...
What am I doing in London? Someone please remind me ...
Alice & Astrid are hosting a Poppy Rocks event in their Notting Hill shop on 2 June. You can find the open invitation and RSVP on the facebook group. The event will take place from 4 to 8pm, 30 Artesian Road in London W2.
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