Truly unique art is always recognisable and Philippa Green’s jewellery, supplied to Cape Grace through Imagenius, fits this prerequisite. Looking at a beautiful perspex cuff, overlaid with strips of silver, you just know this is a Philippa Green. It could also be studded with beads, stitched with flower or animal designs, engraved or adorned with a semi-precious stone and even embedded with diamonds, but it can never be anonymous.

Iconic cuffs and bangles are Philippa Green’s signature pieces that never date, never go out of fashion and look classic and modern at the same time, forever.  It is for these reasons that magazines use her jewellery so often for fashion shoots. Ranging in price from R380 to thousands, each is hand curved and adorned depending upon what inspires Philippa at the time. This could be any number of recycled finds from Church Street Market, or from suppliers who know Philippa covets strange, odd, broken brooches, buttons and things that no-body else wants. “I love seeing what I can do with all the odd things people have no use for that become treasures to me.”  Sometimes they go into creating the large rings and earrings Philippa is also renowned for.  “I make wearable art,” she says, adding “I can’t compete with Chinese fashion jewellery, which lasts a season then breaks. Mine is hand-made and expensive. People cherish them as art pieces.”

While originally from Durban, Philippa attributes her creative success to being in Cape Town; the mountain, the oceans, the inspiration found when walking the streets of Cape Town. It was a chance meeting that begat the creative partnership of Ida-Elsje Olivier, herself and Gregory Katz into a shop named ‘Olive Green Cat’ at 76 Church Street, between Long and Loop. Katz inspired the idea of setting diamonds into coloured resin, although he leaves the creation of the pieces firmly to Olivier and Green. Exporting as far and wide as Scandinavia, USA, Australia, Denmark and England, you don’t have to go that far to satisfry your desire for a Philippa Green original. Just come into Cape Grace or visit Imagenius at 117 Long Street.  Their retail store is a collection of eclectic and interesting pieces with a primary focus on showcasing innovative South African Art.