Pei Yi is the eponymous Melbourne label creating dreamy baroque pearl creations
PHOTOGRAPHY BY AGNIESZKA CHABROS FOR PEI YI
WORDS BY IZZY WIGHT
“I think I’m really drawn to formwork and the idea of space and negative space… accessories are a great method to be able to explore these concepts in a way that’s divorced from sartorial functionality.”
For some designers and artists, creative inspiration is a serendipitous occurrence. Like finding a shiny treasure in a pile of dirt or vintage Valentino at the back of a Savers, the idea for a successful brand – or project, or campaign, or garment – can strike in the most unexpected of places.
For Hong Kong-raised, Melbourne-based jeweller and designer Liz/沛儀 (Pei Yi), it was a well-timed coffee and a chance meeting with Cathy from Newend Jewellery that led to her first internship. Having pursued an economics and finance degree during her initial years in Australia, Liz didn’t have any formal jewellery training – but her time spent as a fashion-obsessed child drew her to the creative industries.
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In 2018, Liz took a risk. Feeling dejected and ignored by Centrelink (a familiar feeling), she wandered into a bead store. She spent the last of her bank account on a collection of iridescent baroque pearls – a decision that accidentally led to the inception of her eponymous label, Pei Yi. On the cusp of new creative beginnings, Liz shares insight into her journey as a designer.
Tell us about you. What’s your fashion background?
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I’m Liz/沛儀 (Pei Yi). I was born and raised in Hong Kong and moved to Australia in 2013 to attend university. I don’t have any formal creative training; my degree is in economics and finance. I was gearing up for a career in that until a bad experience working at a start-up in London with some very Silicon Valley types left me quite disillusioned with it all.
I was pretty fashion-obsessed and creative as a child though. My dad called me his stylist [laughs]. I would obsessively pore over magazines, imagine new outfits and clothes, and make really weird things out of stuff I had around. I still do!
I guess my only training is looking at things. I’m a very visual person and get an inordinate amount of joy from looking at things – particularly novel things. That’s really the extent of my background.
How did the label get started? Talk us through the process and the challenges.
Pei Yi has really grown out of a series of fortuitous events rather than any direct intention to start a brand. Around the end of 2016, I was at a cafe when the person next to me started polishing some earrings. This turned out to be Cathy from Newend Jewelry. She invited me on the spot to intern for her. I’m very grateful for this experience.
She patiently taught me the basics of plywork and soldering until she moved to California, leaving me with her dremel and some silver scraps. I didn’t really think of the experience beyond that and stashed the supplies under my bed for years while I finished my degree and bounced around weird random jobs, feeling very aimless.
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Then at the end of 2018, I was unemployed, in debt and on my way to Centrelink to figure out why they kept rejecting me when I passed by a bead store. I went in on a whim and found all these amazing pearls. I’d never seen a baroque pearl before and they completely captivated me. Their forms were so organic and evocative; they went against the mass-reproducible aesthetics I’d been exposed to growing up. The rainbow lustre was also so special. Looking at them gave me the same feeling I had when I would look at glitter as a child.
Then it clicked – I could flip them for cash. So I spent my last $30 in my account on them and a set of tiny pliers. I made some earrings and started selling them to customers. I used whatever leftover money I had to buy more pearls and better tools and really just ran with it from there. I had no reason not to – it’s not like I had amazing options at the time.
There have been many challenges. Trying to get into fashion with no money, no name and no network – particularly over COVID – has been hard but rewarding. It’s also been a challenge to re-learn branding and business decision-making from a creative perspective rather than an economics/finance one. Studying supply-side microeconomics is very different from actually starting your own business, particularly in creative fields where so much value is intangible.
What were you trying to achieve from the project at the time? How has this evolved and what are you trying to communicate through the brand?
I don’t really know. I think because I haven’t had any creative training, it’s been a slowly evolving process to figure out what I like, why I like it, and what I want to convey and achieve. I think when I first started, I was more focused on pushing products and trying to make cash through making conventional jewellery. I still very much am – we all have to make rent.
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I think as I’ve developed my practice, I’m becoming more interested in general corporeal ornamentation. It’s not quite fashion – because I don’t feel like I have much new to offer as a clothing designer – but something more in dialogue with fashion; more expansive than just neck or ear accessories. I think I’m really drawn to formwork and the idea of space and negative space, particularly in architecture and industrial design.
I think accessories are a great method to be able to explore these concepts in a way that’s divorced from sartorial functionality. But accumulating the means to explore these things more is a slow process as a small business, so I can really only dabble when the opportunity arises.
Where did the name come from?
It’s my given Chinese name. A fortune teller chose it before I was born; the water radical in the name is intended to balance the excess fire in my life. No one uses it except for my family back in Hong Kong, so it provides some sense of anonymity. I think for me, it’s important for my work to be considered for what it is, and not be associated with any identity or perception of me – good or bad.
I don’t even think anyone cares, but I just want to be able to reflect and analyze its reception in a more unbiased way. I kind of wish I just came up with something catchy though. Even though it’s my legal name, it’s definitely made me reflect on the distinct cultural experience of being a mixed kid growing up in a post-colonial place, and the implicit privileges of being white-passing, particularly in current global politics.
What are you most proud of in your work on your label?
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I think it’s been the most gratifying to be asked to work with people I deeply respect, or whose work I’ve been following for ages. I have a hard time taking compliments, and this means much more to me than a compliment. I still feel very much like an outsider artist, so to have industry acknowledgement – like being featured in the MFW campaign or the Ka-He and Vogue MFF runway – means so much to me.
What do you wish you knew when you started?
Probably to guard my energy more and be more selective with the projects I want to contribute to. Because I didn’t have a reputation when I started, I really just said yes to everything that came my way to get my name out – often with very little tangible return.
A purchase is a purchase, but what’s a like worth? What’s a follow? A mention? When do enough @’s in the ephemera of the internet become collective brand value and awareness? I burned myself out for a while. I appreciate that these have led to opportunities, but moving forwards, I want to devote more of my attention to experimenting with and developing new things.
Dream Australian collaborators?
My ongoing collaboration with Steph from Sschafer has been great. We have similar sensibilities, enjoy going a bit too far, and both want to make things for the sake of creating. It’s been super fun! We have an upcoming chainmail collection and hope to move on to other forms of wearables in the future.
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I don’t think a collaboration would necessarily be suitable, but I’d love to learn from jewellers like Megan from Mgn Jwl and Underground Sundae. Both have very distinct-yet-coherent design sensibilities that evolve with what’s going on in fashion. I think that’s pretty hard to achieve and I have a lot of respect for that.
Go-to dinner party playlist?
I like a lot of stuff off Genome 6.66 bmp and Posh Isolation, especially Organ Tapes, Yikii, Jśa, Croatian Amor and Oqbqbo. I also enjoy a lot of mixes by Spinee and Malibu/DJ Lostboi. They all tap into a sort of hauntological energy that appeals to me as a very nostalgic person.
Who is in your wardrobe right now?
I have some Sschafer, Issey Miyake, Junya Watanabe, Jean Paul Gaultier, a lot of hiking gear and a lot of op-shop finds. I have a self-imposed ban on sartorial expenses now though. I have a very strong hoarding instinct so unfortunately clothing, financial health and I cannot coexist long-term at this point in my life. That said, I’d really love some Alix Higgins, Chantelle Lucyl, Wackie Ju… and so much more. I really love clothes! And for that reason, I must stay away from it all.
How can we buy one of your pieces?
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My e-shop is still in progress! But my jewellery is stocked in Error 404, Jolie Laide, Shifting Worlds and Sucker, or you can DM me.
View the latest Pei Yi collection lookbook here.
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