KIALA KANZI The jewellery designer crafting complex simplicity

The jewellery designer crafting complex simplicity

Kiala Kanzi

Kiala Kanzi officially launched her eponymous jewellery brand in February 2019, but her love for crafting dates way back. “I’ve always been creative,” she says. “I started with tailoring, shoemaking and product design, and then I realised I was actually into small things.” Currently based in Barcelona, Kanzi has been building up her portfolio for the past three years, all the while studying jewellery and object design. And as her first pieces reveal, it’s obvious that despite her minimalist aesthetic, Kiala Kanzi is about offering the heirlooms of tomorrow.

This ambition stems from Kanzi’s memories of being fascinated by her grandmother’s gold jewellery as a child, which is when she realised the inherent power of the accessory. “It’s not something you need; it’s something you decide to wear because you want to.” So she’s now committed to translating stories into exquisite keepables. Whether it’s a pair of statement earrings, a signet ring or a chain necklace, there is always history behind the design, which relates back to her personal journey as a German-Cameroonian-Syrian designer. “So many things have been insensibly appropriated and commercialised,” she reflects. “It’s only natural that I want to express who I am and reclaim my identity through my work.” Which is why this fresh talent’s designs are made by hand and then lovingly gold-plated. “There’s a radiating element to the pieces, they bring a soothing light,” she says, adding that it’s important that her approach to design remains unforced and experimental: “you can just go with the flow and come up with a different shape as you’re creating the piece.” Her growing love for one-of-a-kind pieces has also led her to start developing a bespoke line, which has already caught the attention of British musician Jorja Smith, who’ll soon be seen wearing a Kiala Kanzi custom crown in her next music video. Speaking to Kianzi, it’s clear that her versatility pushes her to continuously test different directions and go beyond the simply pretty. “The names of my pieces are inspired by spirituality and the cosmos to reflect the idea of searching for meaning in life,” she reveals. This explains why she refers to her approach as “complex simplicity” because, despite the wearability of her jewellery, there are multiple beautiful facets to her brand. For example, each design comes accompanied by a poem exploring the messages behind it. As Kanzi says, “I don’t want to impose limits to what I can do.”