Philippa Kunisch trained in Theatre Design at Central St Martin’s, College of Art & Design in London, graduating in 1994.

During her art college years she spent a couple of months every summer working on archaeological digs in Pompeii, Italy & Miletus, Turkey, tracing frescoes & drawing shards of vase paintings for documentation.

Other projects included painting, portraits & illustration. 

After graduating from college, she spent the next 10 years working extensively in the theatre, designing sets & costumes for productions across London & regularly at the Edinburgh Festival. She even formed her own Theatre Company with a friend, the highlight of which was a production at the National Theatre in Damascus, in Syria. Other productions were in London & at the Edinburgh Festival.

 

In 1996 Philippa started a small ‘private project’, in which she taught herself to make simple pieces of jewellery, thus developing her very own & unique style of making jewellery, using wire & beads. The work was only ever intended to satisfy her inner magpie, as well as exploring ways of ‘making’ things…..

This little ‘project’, on the back of a hand-full of beads, rapidly turned into a small business enterprise, with her first customers being some of London’s trendiest boutiques, followed by a long list of some of the best shops & boutiques in London & all over the United States & Japan. There have also been select outlets in Europe, including an annual artisanal event in a palazzo garden in Florence, where Philippa has been exhibiting for the last 25 years.

Her jewellery has also featured in a few films & TV programmes…