Founded in 2009, BUNNEY occupies a particular space between traditional British jewellery, subculture and everyday design. Working exclusively with precious metals and specialist workshops in London and Birmingham, the brand applies the same level of attention to everything from rings and badges to objects that sit well outside conventional jewellery.
That breadth has become central to BUNNEY’s identity. A simple badge can carry ideas of music, protest and belonging; an everyday object can be treated with the same seriousness as a piece of fine jewellery. Underneath it all is a belief in longevity - that objects made properly can become more personal, and more meaningful, the longer they are kept.
We spoke with founder Andrew Bunney about the path from fashion and streetwear into jewellery, Britain’s tradition of specialist craft, the influence of subculture, collaboration, and why the most interesting objects are often the ones that resist easy categorisation.
- Before Bunney, you spent years working with some of the most influential names in streetwear and sportswear. What did that world teach you that traditional jewellery training never would have - and what did you have to unlearn?
I’ve worked across all kinds of brands, from shoes to clothing and accessories, in fashion, streetwear and sportswear. It is perhaps a little unusual to then move so radically into jewellery.
In many respects, though, the outlook is quite similar. The process of making something isn’t so different - perhaps you have to adjust the timeframe or the scale, but the principles are often the same.
The biggest difference is the lifespan of the product. We probably all know someone who has had a ring handed down through generations, or been given a piece of jewellery that becomes one of the most precious things they own.
You might have a jacket or a pair of shoes that you really love, but tastes change, things wear out, and eventually you can’t wear them anymore.
Jewellery is different. If it is made properly, it should be possible to wear it for a lifetime.
- Why jewellery, and why 2009? Was there a specific object, moment or gap in the market that made a jewellery brand feel necessary rather than simply possible?
There was no particular significance to 2009. I was simply at a point where I wanted to make something of my own, without having to follow the rules or limitations of the brands I had been working for.
I had always been interested in jewellery, but I didn’t really identify with what was typically presented as men’s jewellery. I often preferred women’s styles, but perhaps found them a little too delicate or dainty.
So I felt there was something somewhere in the middle.
Over time, that idea has evolved. It became about creating things that anyone could access and be excited about, regardless of gender, age or even how interested they were in jewellery.
Even with products I’ve made or worked on for other brands, I’ve always liked the idea that different people can discover something and wear or use it in a way that becomes personal to them.
- You describe Bunney as making “jewellery and precious wares” rather than just jewellery. Where did that distinction come from, and what does it let you make that the word “jewellery” alone wouldn’t?
Outside of the regular jewellery line, from time to time we make more unusual things that sit outside jewellery.
They might be everyday objects, such as a perfume atomiser, but made with the same care, attention and materials that you would expect from a piece of jewellery.
It also allows us to approach accessories differently - for example, working with Porter and using silver hardware, or producing technical apparel with precious metal hardware.
It is really about applying the same approach to objects that you might not normally think of as precious.
- Everything is made by hand in London and Birmingham, in precious metals only, hallmarked under a system that dates to the 1300s. Almost any brand today could make this faster, cheaper and elsewhere. Why hold on to all of these?
A great deal of attention is paid to the feel of a piece, alongside the look, and some of those elements can’t be replicated so easily.
I think it could be made cheaper and faster, but I don’t think it could necessarily be made better.
I’m not sure there is much romance in how quickly something was made, or how much cheaper it was.
The UK has a particular skill set and history with these kinds of products. There are people here with very specific knowledge and abilities, and we want to work in that way.
- You’ve talked about a “best-in-field” approach - working with the finest specialist for each thing. How do you find those people, and what does that collaboration look like day to day?
We have a number of workshops that we’ve worked with for many years, each with their own particular skills and expertise. They are very much part of how we make things at BUNNEY.
We don’t try to make everything in one place. Different workshops have different strengths, whether that’s casting, finishing or engraving, and over time they’ve come to understand how we like things to be made.
It’s about having the right people around us and bringing those specialist skills together.
- The badge is the brand’s signature: an object that cost pennies in the culture it came from, remade in gold. What is it about the badge specifically that made it the right foundation for Bunney?
The badge evokes a lot of the qualities that speak for BUNNEY.
The badge as we know it evolved from a souvenir in the Middle Ages into something that could represent protest, fandom or belonging in the latter part of the 20th century.
In music and subcultures, the badge became an important currency - something that identified you and gave you a sense of belonging.
It was therefore already precious in its own way, despite being made from something as simple as paper or metal.
Producing something similar in precious metals takes that idea a little further. We often make engraved versions for brands or private customers, so they can become very specific to the person or group they represent.
- A portion of the range is deliberately unusual - a toothpick in solid gold, coin banks, at one point even a motor scooter. How do you decide an object deserves to be made precious?
I think there is a certain language that people who know BUNNEY understand, and that allows us to go into unexpected or untested areas.
We are able to make things from very small to very large - from a wedding ring to a large vase.
I don’t want to be too prescriptive about what qualifies. There are obviously things I would still love to make that we haven’t got to yet.
- The brand’s own telling of its provenance runs from the Huguenot silversmiths to Britain’s postwar subcultures. How do you see those two histories - one of craft, one of style - as connected, and how do they both end up in a single ring or badge?
We work mainly in gold and silver, which have been understood as special or meaningful materials for a very long time.
Subcultures have their own histories, which pass into lore and become familiar around the world.
We are making things here, and that history is very much part of the fabric of the world around us.
What unites these otherwise unlikely ideas is the notion of something being special - people making special things, and people doing special things.
It comes back to the badges we talked about earlier: belonging, moments in time, and ultimately feeling are all very important.
I think that is what we are trying to do with the products - produce things that mean something to people.
- British subcultures were about belonging and signalling through small details. Do you think that instinct still exists in how people wear jewellery today, and how has your audience’s relationship to those references changed since 2009?
I think subcultures don’t disappear. They are probably just easier to recognise in retrospect than they are in the moment.
Teenagers have the same feelings whatever the era, even if they don’t necessarily dress in such an obvious way.
I don’t think the messaging has changed that much, but on our side we understand much more about how a product can take on a life of its own and come to mean something very personal.
And going back to the original question, I think that is part of what makes jewellery interesting. It inhabits a very particular place in people’s lives.
- Is there a piece in the collection you consider the most British - not in its imagery but in its attitude?
Perhaps the signet ring.
This can evoke tradition - with a seal engraving added - and a sense of belonging.
But it can also be easily subverted by a girl wearing it in an unintended way.
- You’ve worked with Porter, Sacai, UNDERCOVER and more - houses with very strong identities of their own. How do you protect what’s Bunney in a collaboration, and what have those partners taught you about your own brand?
Most often, we are producing the product ourselves, so it naturally has the same feel as the other things we make.
We are unlikely to work with a partner where there isn’t some kind of synergy.
Even when the brands are unexpected - Nensi Dojaka, for example - I think the product somehow still feels like a BUNNEY product in the end.
There are also a number of special projects and pieces that we create with or for pop stars and other VIPs. Those can be particularly interesting because they give us an opportunity to make something a little outside our usual or preconceived areas.
- Bunney has a devoted following in Japan. What do you think Asian audiences respond to in a brand so rooted in British specifics - and is there a piece you’d want someone encountering Bunney for the first time to pick up first, and why?
Japan adopted BUNNEY very early on. I think there is an understanding there of value, jewellery and a more gentle form of self-expression.
I don’t want to create things that radically change someone’s life or alter people’s perception of them.
I think enhancing who you are, and making something feel special, is a happier place to be.
That is probably what I would hope someone understands when they first encounter BUNNEY.
Discover the Bunney collection now on HBX.