Taken from Issue 13 of Something About Rocks magazine, Kim Parker spoke to MISHO Designs founder Suhani Parekh for our Young Jewellers series – check it out below
Beyoncé. Rihanna. Zendaya. Kendall. Taylor. Many of the women who are photographed wearing MISHO Designs’ jewellery are so famous, they warrant being known by only their first names. And yet, says founder Suhani Parekh, the breakneck pace of the fashion industry (not to mention that of social media) doesn’t allow much time for reflection when a career-defining moment suddenly goes viral.
“It’s amazing when these things happen, especially for a young brand. I remember when Zendaya’s beauty campaign came out and suddenly there were images of her wearing our earrings plastered over every bus, billboard and in every airport. It was astonishing. But I’m not the kind of person who can sit for long and pat myself on the back. For me, it’s more about getting on and creating things that people actually want to wear, that I myself want to wear. That’s the real litmus test.”
It’s a philosophy that has ensured the equally rapid ascent of Parekh’s brand, despite jewellery design never being part of her life plan. After graduating from London’s Goldsmiths University in 2013, where she trained as a sculptor, Parekh began her career in the art world, working at contemporary spaces such as the Gagosian Gallery.
“I grew up in Mumbai in a family of architects but didn’t want to follow in their footsteps, so I thought I would be a sculptor. During my studies, I dabbled with making a few accessories for myself, using mixed media and silversmithing. Later, whenever I wore my pieces at art events like Frieze, I’d get lots of compliments, but I didn’t think about jewellery as a full-time job,” she says. A chance meeting with an editor at Vogue India in 2016 changed all that.
“She stopped me at an Architectural Digest event and asked me about my jewellery and about my brand. I didn’t have a brand, of course, but I realised then that my sculptural pieces would look better on a body than they would on a plinth, so asked her to give me three months to present her with a collection. I basically went off and reverse-engineered the idea for my brand from there,” Parekh reveals.
“Three months later, I went to the Vogue India offices with a collection of pieces ready to show their stylists. I came out of that meeting with an empty box, which I took as a good sign.”
So good, in fact, that when MISHO Designs officially launched in 2016, its geometric silhouettes and clean-cut lines, which were drawn from the work of Piet Mondrian and the Bauhaus movement, began appearing in glossy magazines all over the world.
By 2019, MISHO was stocked in Selfridges and Matches, and Rihanna had been photographed wearing the brand’s earrings in a cover shoot for Vogue Arabia.
“I like to think we occupied this great space that wasn’t being served by many design-led jewellery brands at the time,” Parekh muses, when asked about this early success. “Our pieces are big, bold and gold.
They make statements but are still sensibly priced because we work in bronze plated with gold – which also keeps the pieces comfortable, not heavy, and means that they last.”
Then the pandemic struck. “I’ve never been more stressed than in those first few months of 2020, when the world shut down,” recalls Parekh.
“Jewellery suddenly became much more visible because we were living our lives online, so the demand for our pieces remained high, and I simply couldn’t fulfil any orders.”
Despite her frustrations, lockdown yielded fresh design inspiration – this time for a pair of sinuous earrings which could hold a pair of iPod headphones. MISHO’s ‘Pebble Pod’ earrings became a viral sensation and an instant bestseller.
“They were all about form meeting function in an authentic and beautiful way. You didn’t have to sacrifice wearing a nice pair of earrings just because you needed to hop onto a Zoom call. Those earrings showed me that ideas really can come from anywhere,” Parekh says.
Post-lockdown, MISHO’s design aesthetic continued to evolve, with more volume and a sensual, organic quality that Parekh likens to that of “a Barbara Hepworth sculpture”.
By early 2023, the designer had begun making gold-plated body sculptures, including a cast of her own pregnant stomach which she wore to a gala hosted by the billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist, Nita Mukesh Ambani.
“I’d experimented with wire-based corsets when MISHO first launched as I didn’t yet have the budget or the technical know-how to make anything else. But for that glamourous party I thought it would be fun to do a 24k plated cast of my belly as a way of preserving the memory of being pregnant,” says Parekh.
Her gleaming body armour caught the attention of Beyoncé’s stylist, Shiona Turini, who commissioned MISHO to craft a gilded breast plate for the launch of the singer’s gold-inspired fragrance, Cé Lumière.
Parekh was similarly charged by Nicola Coughlan’s stylist, Amiée Croysdill, with crafting a custom corset for the actor to wear at London premiere of Bridgerton’s third season.
“Moments like those are just incredible,” recalls Parekh. “At the time, Nicola had the lead romantic role and was involved in talks about her body and women’s sexuality, so the collaboration felt really meaningful and important.”
Indeed, the feedback MISHO received was so favourable, Parekh hopes to open another Mumbai atelier devoted entirely to body adornment.
“By now, our craftsmen are all used to what they call my ‘crazy’ commissions and actually look forward to them,” she says. “Opening a dedicated atelier like this, and coming back to sculpture, would feel like a full circle moment for our brand, and another way to push our creative boundaries.”
At time of writing, the latest addition to MISHO’s portfolio is Jaipur, a collection of 16 one-off ‘occasion’ pieces that represent the label’s first foray into fine jewellery. Crafted with 18k SMO gold and precious stones sourced from Jaipur’s historic Johri Bazaar, the torque necklaces, floral pins and angular earrings represent a wearable tribute to India’s jewellery capital, prompted by the memory of a midnight stroll through its City Palace.
“Being in Jaipur, I had to use rubies, sapphires and emeralds, which I felt had to honour by setting them solid gold, rather than plate. The designs really dictated my materials, not the other way around,” Parekh explains. “People have asked me for years about creating a fine jewellery collection, but I never want to create more ‘stuff’ just for the sake of it. The timing has to be right, and it has to fulfil a need.”
More fine jewellery pieces will follow, she claims, but in more wearable, everyday silhouettes. “At the end of the day, MISHO is a design-led brand. It’s all about architecture for the body using sculptural materials, whether fine or costume, to tell a story. That’s at the heart of everything we do.”
Like this? Check out Issue 13 available now featuring four cover stars: Swizz Beatz, Slick Rick, Harriet Slater, and George Farmer.
Read more like this: Historic and royal jewels will be on display in London this summer: here’s how to see them, Dries Criel shines in the spotlight, or see the latest details emerge about Dua Lipa’s engagement ring
