For Nicole Akong, designing jewellery is a relatively new pursuit — the fulfilment of a lifelong dream to spend her life making beautiful things. Born and raised in the West Indies, Nicole’s early academic achievements were always underpinned by a rogue creative streak. By age 7, she already held distinctions in dance and music. Aged 10, she learnt to use her mother’s sewing machine and would spend all her free time creating entire collections of Barbie clothes. She wrote a novel at 16 and at 18, left home to go to university in Miami and graduated with a degree in Fine Art in 1999. From there, she moved to London where she immediately fell in love with the city’s vibrant culture, and spent the next 8 years building a successful career in the City by day and DJing by night. In 2008, she took her first jewellery-making course and it proved a perfect outlet to channel her abundance of creative energy. With her jewellery attracting the attention of friends, colleagues and strangers alike, she decided to take a leap of faith and officially launched her jewellery label, Akong London, at the start of 2010. Akong London is set to become a cult favourite among style hunters in the know. Each piece is meticulously handmade with every component earning its rightful place within the finished design. The result is that every finished piece is treated as a mini work of art in its own right. The collections are inspired by style heroines who demand touches of luxury every day. The look features the glamour of jewels, the urban cool of chains, and some unconventional materials and trims to create an overall head-turning result.