Pichulik

Founded by Katherine-Mary Pichulik in 2012, Pichulik is an ethical jewelry and accessories atelier based in Cape Town, working from a studio at 16a Buiten Street, just off Bree Street in the city's CBD. The brand's mission is to create "bold jewellery for brave women" — and rope is the medium the designer works most closely with. Pichulik discussed her choice of material with CNN, saying ropes once stood for restriction but, reimagined, "they are for liberation."

Every piece is made entirely by one artist, start to finish, drawing on a range of crafting and embellishing skills passed through the atelier's pan-African, all-women team. The brand employs women directly, collaborates with women designers, and outsources production to local women-owned businesses — a structure built to widen earning capacity within Cape Town's creative economy as much as to make jewelry. Pichulik is now led alongside Commercial Director Tracey Chiappini-Young, who has helped grow the label's reach without changing its core process.

Though her career began by chance — she grew up making pieces from her mother's broken costume jewellery — Pichulik launched her line intending to craft assemblages that were cross-continental, sourcing materials from across Africa and beyond. "They are the materialization, the metonym," she told CNN of the pieces. In the years since, the brand has grown into one of South Africa's most recognized names, featured in international editions of Vogue and WWD, and has since expanded into a contemporary ready-to-wear line built on natural fabrics and clean silhouettes.