We’re beyond excited about teaming up with PJ Bijoux and together sharing our unique takes on handcrafted, one-of-a-kind wearable art. Meeting PK Bijoux was pure serendipity — and love at first-sight via a connection in London – when it tuned out that in the grand scheme of things we are actually neighbors, living and working just a few miles apart in SoCal!

Due to the pandemic, we were spending time in our Solana Beach studios instead of jetting about to source materials and inspiration. And PK, an avid wanderer, jetsetter and explorer, was in the same shoes. Instead of hunting treasures in London, Singapore or Paris, she was forced to shelter in place with the rest of us. What is an artist to do? Create! Luckily, Southern California is not a bad place to be confined, to bring imaginative minds together for a productive and mutually exhilarating tete-a-tete. So here we are, poised for an exciting new adventure!

There are so many uncanny parallels in our approach and way of looking at the world, but more of that later. First things first. PK Bijoux is the creation of a SoCal-based artist who lives for the adventure of living.  Like the best art, her work is intensely personal. She creates uniquely designed couture jewelry that celebrates the art of assemblage and the passion for found and carefully curated objects of beauty. PK is particularly fond of vintage finds like military war medals, marcasite crosses, or porcelain hotel room numbers. These elements are painstakingly “recycled” as new themes for handcrafted, one-of-a-kind art infused with a brilliant second life.

Her jewelry has been described as “the last thing you want to take off.” Her Necklaces, Earrings, Pins, Collars, Head Bling and Tiny Bags are just striking, highly collectable and one-of-a-kind. You will never see a piece repeated anywhere in any of the collections. We are thrilled to present six: The M. Antoinette Collection, featuring light yet baroque pieces, was inspired by the eponymous monarch. The Passion Collection captures the seduction of love with surprises that warm the heart. The Heroes Collection is an homage to heroic acts of yesteryear. The Saints Collection is centered around antique crosses as a symbol of hope and acceptance. The Rebels Collection skirts the edge of over-the-top and channels our rebellious spark. And the Runway Collection celebrates the excitement of international haute couture.

PK Bijoux herself, who looks like Louise Brooks and is of Cherokee ancestry, is a striking and fascinating persona with her short cropped black hair and avant-garde style, her little adopted pup Bunny never far from her side. Just like us, she has lived many lives and worn many hats, from commercial modeling to studying fresco restoration and marble sculpture in Italy to piloting planes and creating and deciphering H.dots and digital codes used in the technology behind video conferencing.

The long story of how PK Bijoux came about is much more colorful, but for now, here’s the short version. One day she had that pivotal aha moment. Just like when we sought to design and craft the perfect bag, just one bag, for ourselves, PK wanted to create a unique piece of jewelry to wear that perfectly expressed the je ne sais quoi she found lacking in the design of the pieces that she would find in the marketplace. And you certainly won’t encounter them anywhere else. It’s a mind-boggling and dramatic world showcasing a bounty of precious jewelry from Miriam Haskell and Hattie Carnegie torn apart (with utter respect) to find new life when brilliantly combined with other vintage finds like military war medals, marcasite crosses, porcelain hotel room numbers, or tiny handcrafted angel figurines. You might even encounter small animal skulls, shark teeth, and exotic feathers juxtaposed with hand-carved jade, antique tassels from the 1800s, and semi-precious stones.

PK’s wearable art creations are inspired by eras such as ancient Egypt, the Hapsburg dynasty, la Belle Époque and her own native American ancestry, and artists such as Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky and William de Kooning and designers such as John Galliano and Christian La Croix. Perfection is never sought but emotions are. As Diana Vreeland said: “The eye has to travel.” She creates for herself, first and foremost, but ultimately for women “who love high fashion, are extremely social and want unique pieces.” Each piece is an invitation to a conversation. Each piece tells a unique story. You will certainly be stopped in the street and get compliments. You will encounter deliberate small flaws and surprises in her work. They quite often just show up and she purposely does not address them. In American Indian cultures, tiny flaws or random diversions lead the bad spirits out of the piece.

You can see the parallels between PK Bijoux’s jewelry and Virgil James’ handbags. Each piece is handcrafted and singular, inspired by travels, moods, emotions, and the desire to create something absolutely exceptional that makes a strong statement about personal, idiosyncratic style that’s rarely an understatement.  We’re very excited for PK to get her talented hands on our clutches, cross bodies and more to imprint them with her unique take on over-the-top fabulous — a little rock ‘n’ roll glamour or biker chic rebellion here, a flash of Viennese baroque or Versace-vixen drama there. Stay tuned as this amazing new journey enfolds!