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This year is already shaping up very well for Alice Walsh, mainly on account of her crafty cufflinks, and if you didn’t know, now you do, Alice made them. And indeed, Alice Made This cuff-links are quite the design feat, but we’ll elaborate on that a bit more later, what’s clear at this point is that her intriguing object d’art links are the perfect quirk for your cuff.
Throughout her early working life, Walsh discovered that the factories she worked in became a progressively formative environment. It was whilst working with Tom Dixon, the avant-garde industrial designer of compelling illuminators, that Walsh recognised this, and her passion for raw materials, reformist manufacturing techniques and sui genesis aesthetics was born. Her maverick methods then went hand in hand with the likes of De Beers, Conran, Habitat and even Panasonic, to name just a few of the disparate brands which also encouraged her approach, effectively positioning her to make a start on her own label.
At the core of eponymous label is an enriched experience in design, backed by a solid ambition to collaborate with others in order to interact with the kind of people that thrive on the same wavelength. Talking of collaboration, it’s integral for Alice to work closely with the factories that produce her fascinating curios, mainly because she is primarily influenced by the industrial processes that bring her ideas to life and eventually to the cuff of a shirt.
Collection 006, which was revealed earlier this year, is inspired by the ornate intricacies of 18th century couturier dress buttons, and in general terms, her newest collection is a move towards classicism that still highlights the significance of her process. Through investment casting, a 5,000-year-old process, and one of the oldest known metal-forging techniques, the contemporary fossils of steel rivet buttons that originally adorned couturiers waistcoats have now become cuff-links for the inquisitive modern man.
Ruling Britannia-based expertise shines thanks to Walsh’s vision, and her enterprising travails are not about to let up anytime soon. The emerging accessory artisan has recently taken a slight detour by venturing into a new field, ties. By uniting with British heritage epicures, Marwood, to launch four exclusive tie-pins and ties the respective parties have celebrated equally both the qualities of traditional craftsmanship and shared philosophies based on experimentation. Influenced by each other’s signature aesthetic, tie pins inspired by Marwood’s diamond logo design are plated in classic and also advanced metal formulas. Consecutively, textured ties composed of the finest luxury blend of British silk and woolly jacquard comply with the associates’ seal of approval that ensures a quality product.
Determining Walsh’s take on Marwood is of course rather exciting, and considering the budding ideology that requires consumers to invest in clothing with more care, amassing pivotal, timeless pieces, such as the suit, it’s undeniable that the undisclosed fancy of Alice Made This cuff-links, which demand much more than just a second glance, is the most current way to accessorise a dull cuff. While cuff-links often succumb to practical lacklustre, Alice knows that many don’t want to rely on generic accessories; instead she has helped us to see the metallurgic light, thanks to an age-old dedication to her craft, and the splendour of her extant antiquities.
by Liam Feltham
Images courtesy of Alice Made This