Jacquie Aiche on LA’s booming jewellery scene

By Ian Thorley

They call her the Crystal Queen. And with good reason. LA jeweller Jacquie Aiche is leading a revival of crystal jewellery with her twinkling pieces that tap into the healing and energising properties of gemstones. Taking inspiration from her Egyptian and American heritage, Aiche entered the jewellery world in 2007 with the founding of her eponymous brand and quickly appeared stacked and layered on the likes of Rihanna, Katy Perry and Bella and Gigi Hadid.

Today, Aiche continues to delight her devoted ‘JA tribe’ with ornate rocks in a bevy of lust-worthy styles, from body jewellery, including waist chains, anklets and finger bracelets, to charms, hoops and pendants. Here, she speaks to Something About Rocks about her inspirations, signature styles and why Los Angeles is the new creative hotspot for jewellery design.

What was your journey into jewellery making?

Jewellery found me. I was the rebel of my family and I had to support myself. I was working in retail, and while I was there, there was no fun in jewellery for me. It was all traditional: Cartier and Chanel necklaces, Tiffany Link bracelets. I was always drawn to more mystical pieces. My father is Egyptian, so growing up, my grandmother was always adorned in gold coins and little totems and all different types of talismans. So, I started to make some fun stuff for myself. And when I was in the shop, clients were asking, “what are you wearing? What is that necklace?” And I would just sell the pieces off my body.

I was anonymous for many years. I’m usually a behind-the-scenes kind of girl so nobody really knew it was me until clients were coming in like, “we want to meet this designer. We love her pieces.” So, I finally had to come clean and let them know that it was me. And slowly but surely the jewellery just took over, and I came back home. It was about 2008 when I closed my shop.

Where was your shop?

On Sunset Plaza.

And what were you selling there?

Clothing. So they were coming in for clothing, but they were leaving with jewellery. I started making my jewellery, I would say around 1988 to 1989.

You’ve been doing it a long time.

A long time. In 2007, I became Jacquie Aiche. And it’s been 15 years since. Initially, I was stranding, wire wrapping and making all the pieces myself. But in 2007, I started making casted pieces. I have worked with the same man since day one. He’s from Afghanistan, and he’s a third generation jeweller. His grandfather and uncle actually taught him how to make jewellery.

So, he’s based in Los Angeles?

He’s here. In Los Angeles, Downtown. He has about 10 people that work under him.

Wow. So it’s quite a big operation. Is everything bespoke or do you have collections?

No, I have collections. Mostly diamonds and gold and a variety of gemstones and minerals. They are all pretty much all one-of-a-kind pieces. And then I have the diamond and gold pieces that are just traditional. You can order them anytime. I like the fact that it’s one-of-a-kind as each piece has its own story. And especially with our pieces, with the healing properties of the crystals and the gemstones or the birds for protection, everything has a meaning to it.

There was a band called Gene Loves Jezebel, and they used to use that symbol.

The Thunderbird?

That’s it. 

It’s one of my favourite symbols. My father said it’s like the Egyptian Eagle that they have. He thinks it looks like the Eagle, but the Thunderbird actually comes from the native Americans. My mom’s from Texas and her mother’s side has native American heritage. She was always adorned in big turquoise pieces and big belt buckles, big, huge cuffs. So I melanged the two sides and the two cultures and created something new.

So, it’s an amalgamation of the two? That’s really cool. What’s your signature look?

It depends on which girl. Because I come from retail and I was dressing women for 15 years, it was more about having the woman feel uniquely beautiful. And, even though she was coming in for her outfits, she still didn’t feel as special as she did when she wore the necklace that I would make for her. And that’s why I dress all ages. So my signature look, I guess, would be the body jewels. I’m known as the Crystal Queen.

Is it primarily women that buy from you or do you sell to men as well?

Between 2018-19, I had a lot of men come through. It was more made to order. They would be upset. “How come you’re making all this beautiful stuff for women?” “Where’s the men’s collection,” they would ask. And slowly but surely I started to create a collection for men and it took off and now we sell at MatchesFashion and Net-A-Porter. I even started doing photoshoots with men. In 2019, we launched our first photoshoot for the men’s collection.

So what are these?

That is a scarab made out of labradorite. An Egyptian scarab, which is a form of life and rebirth.

Oh, what is this?

That is actually a chrysocolla curvature. My boyfriend has this one. He wears it every day.

Does he?

All the boys wear them. They’re so nice and stacked. 

So what is the grey? Is that a pearl?

That is hematite.

And what are the Bungalow Diaries?

We do it every year. It’s basically the year compiled into a magazine. We source some of our favourite girls and supporters and do little articles on them.

Okay, cool. You got Rihanna.

Yeah. We’re a tribe here. A tribe of women supporting women and men.

This is wonderful, isn’t it? So, this is the men’s collection?

Crystal Chimes.

Where did you shoot all of this?

Here in Los Angeles. In the Hills. I’m born and raised. So we’ve used pretty much everything within what? 300 miles. How many miles away is Palm Springs? Probably 200 miles. We usually shoot there once a year in the desert. 

It is so lovely out there. It’s a different feeling. So you’re going to couture in Vegas?

We are. Come and visit us. It gets a little busy out there.

After Paris. Los Angeles seems to be the big place for jewellery right now. Why do you think that is?

There’s a lot of creative girls out here. And we all have our own niche and love what we do.

What is so different about the LA jewellery scene to Paris, for example?

I just feel that we are a little bit cooler. When you wear our jewellery, there’s a feeling about it. I always say, I don’t sell jewellery, I sell energy.

What you offer is something very unique. I’ve not seen anything quite like this. They’re really stunning pieces.

For me, it’s always been about the layering.

And so, when you do couture, do you bring out new collections?

Pretty much.

So, where do you start with the collection?

Well, I’ll bring in our pieces that we keep throughout the years, which are our staples, and then I’ll always bring in a new story that I’ve created throughout the year. And then I’ll hit on that one story and offer it to you in all different colours and shapes. So, you have it in, say, opal, or turquoise. These will be shown during couture. We were doing a few of them here and there, but during COVID, when everybody was gone, I would basically sneak into the office and I would put together all the different colours and the beads. And that was where I was really getting creative. And then they took a whole life of their own. Honestly, it was a good time for me.

It was a good time.

I enjoyed it because I walked to work every single day. There was nobody on the streets.

Yeah. I had time to just sit and think.

For introverts, it was really nice.

Like this? Discover more about LA’s jewellery design stars