Sophie Bille Brahe – The Power of Timelessness

It was an unusual, almost silent arrival at the station in Copenhagen. My first trip there by train. Whenever I travel to Copenhagen, a feeling of attachment seems to pop up. Here, just outside the city. the Danish jewellery designer Sophie Bille Brahe lives with her kids, boyfriend and dog. She asked me to meet her at her house, because from there she could better organise all the things around her. The way she came down the stairs barefoot, in her pink Cecilie Bahnsen dress, still fastening her earring with one hand and greeting me with the other, really struck a chord. In this issue of SLEEK the word ‘power’ appears again and again, and during this meeting, I experienced with Sophie the tender, warm form of power that oftens comes with getting to know someone.

SLEEK: Do you think jewellery has an effect on us and if so, how would you describe it?

Sophie Bille Brahe: I think it [has] the ability to hold many moments and carry so much history. Jewellery has so often been used to mark significant occasions in life. Jewellery is often presented with a special meaning which then may be passed down for generations to come. I hope that the jewellery I make, people will pass on. It’s difficult to find any other objects that are closer to the stories of people’s lives than jewellery. So I think in that way, jewellery really makes sense for me, because it means so much to the people that wear it.

S: You’ve created jewellery since you were a young girl. When I look at a lot of the pieces you make, they seem to share a sense of fragility. Did you ever consider translating this fragility, even femininity, to other art forms? 

SBB: I like to use my hands and I don’t have a pen now, but normally I would be drawing while you and I are talking. It’s a very natural thing for me to do. For many years, I was mainly painting. I have this problem in that I always doubt myself. When I would paint and draw, I would ask myself, “What if nobody likes what I do?” So I started to search for a craft that I could return to in case people didn’t like what I did. What I love about making jewellery is that it is like a Bermuda triangle; it is art, fashion and crafting all in one. There’s a lot of freedom in it. 

S: What else informs your creations and what is the process of creation like for you?

SBB: If you walked around my studio right now, you’d find post-its everywhere. I need to stay at home: cleaning up ensures there is nothing on my table, no sound, clean walls. Then I start drawing, work a little with metal, go back to drawing and so on. The process, it starts here [she points to the area around her head], but it is not yet here [she places her hands in front of her heart], and the task is to make it all connect and become more concrete. I create according to the phase of life that I am in. For every collection, there’s a very personal story behind them. 

S: Every artist usually remembers their first piece … 

SBB: Of course! My first piece was called Croissant de Lune, [it had] a line of diamonds going all the way up the ear and gradually increasing in size. At that point people would still say: “But nobody just wears one big expensive earring in one ear. You need two. You cannot do this and you cannot do that.” When you learn a craft you also learn that there are a lot of rules. I did that piece before my studies at the Royal College of Art. It became my way of saying “these  are the rules and this is how I decide not to follow the rules”. I now know how to perform the craft, so I don’t have to follow the rules. This is my universe. I’m not afraid to say how I think something should look. If you don’t like it, I don’t care.

S: What do you think about jewellery being a kind of intimate memory? 

SBB: For me, it is more about telling my story and expressing my inner life. What I love about jewellery is that it is my feelings that create it – and then everybody puts their own story into the piece. That is what makes it important to people. It points to places and times in our lives that are important for our individual stories. 

S: For many people, having jewellery is very important. But there are, of course, those people, who cannot afford yours or any jewellery. What do you think about that?

SBB: I try to create pieces that are also more affordable. But when I work with the materials that I work with I am aware of the responsibility. These are the highest-quality diamonds and pearls. I try to show the purity of a diamond or a pearl. It’s important to strive for the highest quality, otherwise it doesn’t make sense to work with these kinds of materials in the first place. I also don’t think meaning is only created by something very expensive. Meaning is not about high prices. It’s about a feeling and the reason why.

S: What does ‘forever’ mean for you?

SBB: I try to create things that have a ‘forever’ look, something your granddaughter would find one day and want to have. Forever means ‘timeless’ and there is a lot of power in the idea of timelessness.

S: When I think of pearls, they also symbolise for me the power and strength of pure beauty. Not for nothing they are also described in fairy tales or stories as the transformation of tears. What are they for you?

SBB: I love that pearls are an organic, raw material that are created naturally by the earth and yet they are so beautiful without needing to be modified. They are classic and simple but still have an enchanting and capturing look. When I gave birth to my son Johan, my mother gave me a natural pearl necklace that my father had given to her while we were living in Saudi Arabia. At this time, pearls were not something I wore very often, even though I appreciated them as a beautiful, natural material and I loved the gift from my mother. I found it very difficult being apart from my son, so I wanted to create something special that I felt had real meaning behind it and I decided to work with pearls for the first time. To me, pearls symbolise the strength of pure beauty. 

S: What do you learn about yourself from your children?

SBB: When you have children, you have the chance to re-experience things from your own childhood. So you investigate yourself in a sense. When you have a child, you lose time. You’re not in control anymore. You need to be extremely fast and make the right decisions; you don’t have the luxury of saying, “I can think about this later. I have become much more focused.”

Interview from SLEEK 71 – Power. Get your print or digital copy now!