Katherine-Mary Pichulik, born in 1987 in Johannesburg, South Africa, is the founder and designer of PICHULIK – a bespoke range of bold accessories handmade in Cape Town, South Africa.
Katherine-Mary trained as an artist and pastry chef and fell into fashion out of a love for making things with her hands and an interest in ornamentation. “I came back from doing an internship at Art Review in London, and baking in a bakery in Brixton, UK. I travelled India and Spain and returned to Cape Town, broke and unsure of my purpose. Over the next six months I began bottling peppers, started a catering company at markets and making neckpieces at night”, says Katherine-Mary when explaining her journey to starting her business.
The company rose from humble beginnings. PICHULIK started with no seed capital and has bootlegged its expansion, growing exponentially in just 3 years. In those 3 years the brand has cultivated a loyal community of wearers which has led to a few accolades from the fashion industry. PICHULIK has been photographed in multiple, local (South African) and international magazines and is sold in 14 countries worldwide. In 2014, PICHULIK was awarded both Accessory Designer of the year by African Fashion international, as well as Business Woman Association of South Africa’s regional Emerging Entrepreneur of the year. 2015 began with the announcement of PICHULIK as finalist for Italian Vogue’s fashion talent scout. In 2016, the brand was voted one of the Top 10 jewelry designers to watch by Vogue Italia.
PICHULIK is bold jewelry for brave women made by other brave women
PICHULIK is committed to crafting and innovating high-end, quality handcrafted accessories that are covetable in global and local fashion markets that include bracelets, neckpieces, earrings and handbags.
Designed out of rope and found materials sourced across Africa, this ornamentation is inspired by brave women, the local craft community and the alchemy of re-imagining materials. With a sustainable, value-chain that values self-worth from its crafters to its buyers and the messages to its community – PICHULIK is BOLD jewelry for brave women made by other brave women. The PICHULIK team is made up of predominantly women (and two men!) who possess humour and sass, according to Katherine-Mary, “much like the women who wear our pieces”. PICHULIK champions authenticity and African heritage and uses the language of African craft and ornamentation to honour the bravery and beauty innate to all women, everywhere. Distilling the art of African storytelling and the sacredness of African ornamentation into desirable iconic accessories and valuable experiences.
PICHULIK is an award winning, internationally publicized luxury African brand that sets itself apart by offering a contemporary African aesthetic to a global market.
PICHULIK has become a well-loved and respected brand in a fairly short space of time. Aside from producing great product, Katherine-Mary attributes this to providing genuine brand experiences, engaging with their loyal customers in authentic ways and constantly engaging in new projects that push their creativity and audience. “Being kind as opposed to important, throwing aside any snobbish notions that exist in the fashion industry to favour engagement, dialogue and connections”, says Katherine-Mary of their success.
When asked of her vision for the brand, this is what Katherine-Mary’s had to say: “PICHULIK is a conduit to create a space for women to have dialogue around themes of self-worth, empowerment and self-acceptance. I hope to create more vehicles to really aggregate these wisdom circles both online and in actual organised events.”
All images: PICHULIK
