Pearls of Wisdom

For Sophie Bille Brahe, designing is about capturing a feeling. “It’s an ongoing flow,” says Sophie of her process that she’s been navigating for over 12 years. “Each collection comes from a very personal place. I look back at past designs and can see that I was at a certain point in my life for each one.”

Her love of working with pearls, for instance, stems from a necklace given to her when her son was born. “Having a child and being pregnant is such a magical thing. For me, a pearl illustrates this. By nature’s magic, a small grain of sand drifts into an oyster that produces a pearl. This perfect, round, white shape – this little piece of beauty,” says Sophie.

A trained goldsmith, Sophie went on to study a masters at London’s Royal College of Art before launching her Copenhagen studio in 2011. It is here that Sophie prototypes her in metal before crafting each piece by hand.

An absolute focus is showcasing the stones, namely akoya, round or baroque freshwater pearls and Top Wesselton VVS Diamonds set in gold. “I prefer to have materials stand out for their own beauty rather than for elements I have added,” says Sophie, whose most treasured piece of jewellery is a diamond ring she found as a little girl in an antique chest belonging to her parents.

Brahe recently launched a divine collection of hand blown Murano glassware. “I spend quite a lot of energy trying to create a universe around the jewellery, and for me the glassware is part of that,” she says of the line up of candle holders, tulip bucks and delicate Marshmallow Sky glasses with a candy pink spiral. In Autumn 2024, the designer opened a by appointment only store at 1000 Madison Avenue, New York. It has the feel of a Scandinavian palazzo complete with Rune Bruun Johansen cabinets and Bertel Thorvaldesen sculptural pieces. Her blend of Danish form and fantasia sure has a lovely allure.