Kia Schwaninger is the high jewellery designer creating exceptional customisable pieces you’ll want to tell your friends about – but then again, with such accessible price points, you may prefer to keep her name to yourself…
Whisper the name ‘Kia Schwaninger’ selectively to your friends. She is the seasoned high jewellery designer creating customisable pieces that come with a pleasingly accessible price tag.
Words by: Juliet Herd
New York-based, Swiss-raised Kia has been on the smart set’s radar across the Pond for some time, designing one-off works of art for both friends and a loyal band of word-of-mouth clients. And now, under the brand name Kia Schwan, she’s produced her first collection, Colorhythms, a joyful and deeply personal celebration of some of her favourite influences and places, from Art Deco architecture to an old-world sweet shop.
The beauty of these exuberant pieces, handmade in New York City’s high jewellery workshops, is that they can be modified to create the perfect colour combination of gemstones and precious metals for each client.
The collection comprises the Disc suite of pendants, brooches, earrings, collar necklaces and rings, which work with arcs of saturated ice-cream-coloured stones to create geometric shapes that recall Bauhaus furniture and Art Deco storefronts. There are also the Abacus rings, available in two sizes, featuring stacks of “juicy” stone lozenges encased in precious metal, set with diamond accents.
The collection comprises the Disc suite of pendants, brooches, earrings, collar necklaces and rings, which work with arcs of saturated ice-cream-coloured stones to create geometric shapes that recall Bauhaus furniture and Art Deco storefronts. There are also the Abacus rings, available in two sizes, featuring stacks of “juicy” stone lozenges encased in precious metal, set with diamond accents.
While Kia has crafted such eye-catching Abacus combinations as carved chrysoprase, turquoise and malachite, paired with yellow sapphire cabochons and diamonds, and carved carnelian and tiger’s eye, paired with yellow sapphire cabochons and diamonds, the colour possibilities are endless.
“Clients come up with colourways I’ve never thought of, to match their personalities,” says the designer, who is talking to us on a flying visit to London to launch her debut collection. Low key and instantly likeable, she shows us her own ring, a deliciously tactile confection combining malachite, yellow sapphire cabochon and lapis lazuli. “I like to see how the stones interact with each other; they really need to make each other sing. Often, I put stones together but [realise] they don’t enhance each other.”
“Even after having worked with some of the world’s most renowned stones, I find a semi-translucent, juicy, lavender-coloured carved chalcedony just as alluring as a flawless diamond,” she continues. “I’m also simply in love with colour, from bright blue turquoise to fiery red spinel to a deep green malachite. In general, my pieces are happy colours and combinations.”
“I like to see how the stones interact with each other; they really need to make each other sing. My pieces are happy colours and combinations.”
Kia’s credentials are second to none. After graduating in jewellery design at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, she secured an apprenticeship at Tiffany & Co. in New York before winning a place at Richemont’s Creative Academy in Milan. This then led to an internship in Paris with Van Cleef & Arpels followed by a job there as junior designer. After three years, she was transferred to New York, where she led the brand’s customisation team, before moving in 2016 to Harry Winston as design director, overseeing the development of new high jewellery collections. “I learned a lot and was in charge of the design team for three-and-a-half years, but I was missing hands-on designing because I had no time; it was more directing,” she reflects.
It was the covid pandemic that propelled her to set up on her own. “I’d had my first son in 2019 and then the pandemic hit, and it felt like time for a change. I missed designing,” says Kia, who has two sons Arlo, five, and Cosmo, nearly three, with her Swiss businessman husband Michael. “I started making bead necklaces as a child and had talked about doing my own jewellery brand for ever – for about 20 years. It was always at the back of my mind, but [covid] gave me the final push to give it a try.”
In-between creating bespoke pieces for private clients, Kia, who does all her own drawings, started work on her debut collection, determined that customisation remained at the heart of it. “My whole career, I loved that aspect of jewellery, that you can create something that is unique to the person. I also love the fact that these pieces are not just something you buy off the shelf. They take a little more time and thought.”
Her influences are as varied as they are surprising. Born in New Orleans where her orthodontist father was a university lecturer, she recalls being captivated by colourful jazz posters in the family home. Although the family relocated to their native Lucerne in Switzerland when she was three, they returned each summer to the vibrant American city, an experience which left an indelible mark on this fledgling creative spirit.
Another key influence is the work of French artist Robert Delaunay, who, together with his wife Sonia, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. “There is this very famous Robert Delaunay painting [Rhythm No.3] I saw in Paris at the Musee d’art Moderne, that has stuck with me,” explains Kia, whose collection was inspired by the rhythm and movement of Delaunay’s exploration of colour. An iconic pastel-pink pastry shop, Angelo Brocato, in New Orleans is another influence as is Miami’s famous Art Deco district. “Art Deco was always one of my favourite eras of jewellery,” she says. “I love the twist of pastel tones that come to play in stones.”
“I loved that you can create something that is unique to the person. I spend hours on these pieces, so it’s lovely to have them recognised and loved.”
While the high level of craftsmanship and meticulous attention to detail rightfully put Kia Schwan pieces in the “realm of high jewellery”, the price points are not in the same bracket, which will come as welcome news to fans of the brand. With the Abacus rings starting at £6000, the collection is “a little more accessible”, as Kia says. “I see a lot of jewellery that’s often not well crafted in terms of my price range, so I hope to attract customers looking for something personal and interesting.”
So, who is her client? “Most of the time it is women buying for themselves,” she reveals. “They are mainly in their 40s buying a gift for themselves: sometimes for a big birthday or if they’re having a baby, or just for the fun of it.”
“I’ve also redesigned some engagement rings [in the case] of divorce,” she adds wryly.
One of the most satisfying aspects of her job is reinterpreting heirloom pieces for customers and creating a “narrative arc” that will connect one generation with the next. She tells of how she recently repurposed a broken vintage jade bangle for two daughters after their mother died, working with a stonecutter to add the mother’s garnet birth stone to create two new bangles in jade, garnet and diamonds, set in 18k palladium white gold.
“I feel very proud when I see someone wearing [one of her pieces],” she says. “It feels very special. The client who ordered this jade and garnet bangle wears it every day now. “The stonecutter called me a magician, [because] out of something really sad, I created a moment; something that makes her really happy. She wears a lot more green now and has adjusted her wardrobe to her bangle. I spend hours on these pieces, so it’s lovely to have them recognised and loved.”
While she plans to add new pieces to the Colorhythms collection, including more earrings and a new line of men’s rings, she’s intent on creating one-of-a-kind pieces using gemstones that have been sitting in her jewellery box for some time. “My great uncle was a radiologist and loved travelling, and he gifted me a lot of stones from the 1970s: lovely aquamarines, large sapphires, great for making pendants, and some lab-grown alexandrites,” she reveals, smiling. “It’s a lovely treasure trove to come across, and the next step is to work on those.”
She admits that she finds the logistics of running a new business challenging at times. “I love it but it’s a lot of work as it’s only me,” she laughs. “For a while, I did all the sales and shipping – things as a designer you didn’t necessarily have to learn before. “Designers love to have a quiet and creative space, whereas this is quite the opposite and means getting out of my comfort zone.”
Although she’s aware she will need more assistance as her business expands, she is determined to let it grow organically. “I like the pace we are growing,” she says simply. “I still love the personal contact with all my clients and walking them through the process of customising a piece. That is very important to me, and I feel if I grow a lot, I will lose that.