For Nicole Akong, designing jewelry is a relatively new pursuit—the fulfil-
strangers alike, she decided to take a leap of faith and officially
ment of a dream to spend her life making beautiful things.
launched her own jewelry label at the start of 2010.
Born and raised in the West Indies, Nicole’s early academic
Akong London is a young couture jewelry house with one
achievements were always underpinned by a rogue creative streak.
clear ethos—to make stand-out, statement jewelry with univer-
By age 7, she already held distinctions in dance and music. Aged
sal high-fashion appeal. Nicole’s work features everything from
10, she learnt to use her mother’s sewing machine and would
semi-precious gemstones, glass and crystal, to feathers, fur, velvet
spend all her free time creating entire collections of Barbie clothes.
and lashings of gold and silver chains; but it is only after rounds
She wrote a novel at 16 and at 18, left home to go to university in
of merciless editing and fastidious construction that her signature
Miami and graduated with a degree in Fine Art in 1999. From there,
look emerges. Since the launch of the label, it has attracted the at-
she moved to London where she immediately fell in love with the
tention of fashion insiders everywhere and is set to become a cult
city’s vibrant culture, and spent the next eight years building a
favorite among style hunters in the know.
successful career in the city by day and DJing by night. In 2008, she took her first jewelry-making course and it proved a perfect outlet to channel her abundance of creative energy. With her jewelry attracting the attention of friends, colleagues and
INK Staff is, you guessed it, the INK Staff.
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