Eight questions for the interested and interesting: Katherine-Mary Pichulik

Katherine-Mary Pichulik has spent the past decade turning rope, found objects and a healthy dose of imagination into one of South Africa’s most recognisable jewellery brands. The founder and creative director of PICHULIK has taken her sculptural accessories from a Cape Town atelier to an international audience, picking up collaborations, awards and plenty of fans along the way. We caught up with her for our eight questions.

What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year?

The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright. I tend to enjoy female writers, a small cast of protagonists and insights into familial dynamics. This novel is intimate, with each character’s inner world explored in separate chapters. It’s relatable and nuanced. Her cadence is fantastic, and her play with language is unexpected but precise: “The way they ignored each other was more alert and intricate than another couple kissing.”

How do you keep fit? 

I love long walks, yoga and, most importantly, weight training three times a week. I like to lift heavy and listen to powerful female rap artists such as Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion and Doechii. It makes me feel strong, irreverent and invincible.

Week-night, low-key restaurant go-to? 

We live in the deep south in Simon’s Town, so Olympia Café in Kalk Bay on a winter week night is always cosy, or Limoncello in Noordhoek.

What is the one artwork you’ll always love, and why?

Emaphandleni by Asemahle Ntlonti. Ntlonti has an incredible sensitivity to the work’s surface as a landscape of heritage. It is layered and living, scrubbed and stitched. The work carries a deep sense of longing, and I think that is beautiful.

Do you have a hobby?

My work is my hobby. I’m a designer and run my own business, so the two naturally melt into each other. I love researching history, anthropology, art and antiquity. I have a myriad notebooks filled with notes, data and observations, and I can be quite forensic in my approach. All of it finds its way into my collections. It’s what I choose to do on weekends and even on holiday.

The one unusual item you can’t live without?

My EpiPen (a joke, perhaps a little too literal) and my deck of tarot cards.

Who was your high school celeb crush?

Ethan Hawke in Before Sunrise.

Three songs you’d take to a desert island?

Electric Relaxation by A Tribe Called Quest reminds me of my brother, who passed away when I was 19, and of our relationship and mutual love of music. Harvest Moon by Neil Young was the song we danced to at our wedding. Glory Box by Portishead takes me back to being 16 in Italy with my mom after an art tour, driving around in a hired Fiat and listening to the soundtrack of Stealing Beauty on cassette.

ALSO READ:

• Eight questions for the interested and interesting: Annabel Davidson
• Keeping it in the family: a conversation with Alexander Mavros
• Michael Chandler: the storyteller in blue and white

_{Top image: supplied.}