“Each piece of jewellery radiates the wearer’s own personality, free from all convention and daring to sparkle in a different sphere,” said Caroline Gaspard, founder and designer of France-based Akillis. Her brand name tells all, combining the valour of its namesake, the Homeric hero Achilles, and the free and courageous spirit of the founder.
Founded in 2007, Akillis creates meticulous jewellery designs in refreshingly bold style to the globe and have gained strong reputation by virtue of its boundless creativity, the French jewellery making expertise and the designer’s distinct personality. “The philosophy of Akillis is all about inventing new codes and casting out stereotypes. Our innovative designs express the lust for love and the willpower to live differently,” Gaspard stated.
Gaspard told Hong Kong Jewellery, her journey of jewellery design began with a love for gemstones inherited from her mother, whose passion for precious stones motivated her to get a gemmology diploma at 61. Gaspard designed her first piece at 17, and unveiled her first Akillis collection Bang Bang when she was 25. This signature collection of yellow, pink and white gold bullets set with white and black diamonds stood as an indomitable manifesto of independence from the established norms.
Stories make jewels alive. Akillis is a place where fantasies run wild and fiction and reality mix seamlessly, she said. A lot of her strong characterised designs are inspired by Greek, Roman and Scandinavian mythology, heroic epics and movies, life experience, etc.
Her Python collection is derived from the story of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt with enchanting powers of seduction. It is said she used to wear live pythons around her wrists. In contrast with the ancient Egyptian jewellery, Akillis features the reptile through its purest essence – the unmistakable skin pattern. The success and popularity of its audacious collections indicate the hunger for original and daring jewellery designs for people who want something different to assert their personality, and Caroline Gaspard is exactly on their wavelength.
Gaspard is an advocate of French jewellery making know-how that turns innovative design ideas into reality. “This know-how is defined by meticulous jewellery handcrafted by talented artisans with unique and irreproachable techniques that will guarantee the best and the most secure fit of the stones on the jewel,” Gaspard emphasised.
She and her production team are uncompromising when it comes to the French jewellery craftsmanship. They even boast their own foundry with a dedicated smelter for each alloy. Based in Lyon, their production team of craftspeople, gem-setters, polishing and foundry workers produce all of their jewellery from sketches to finished pieces in their own workshops. Traditional manufacturing processes including lost-wax casting are applied alongside advanced technologies, from laser welding to water jet polishing machines.
Akillis always pushes design boundaries including the characteristic unisex appeal, way before it became an ongoing trend at the market. According to the young designer, their unisex lines represent a new kind of jewellery that transcends gender expressing a boundless liberty and reflecting the common jewellery need for both sexes. “In an increasingly bland world taken over by globalisation, it has become a real luxury to be able to express one’s style or mood and follow individual agenda,” she explained.
Moscow is the city that gave Caroline Gaspard her start. She opened the first Akillis boutique there in 2009, before expanding to Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East, partnered with 28 retailers. The year of 2017 marks Akillis’ 10th anniversary, Caroline Gaspard says that they will relocate the boutique in Paris in October, and keep a firm global presence especially in the United States, Asia and Russia. “We have many ambitious projects about our expansion,” she concludes. (Photo courtesy: Akillis)
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