Kyra Xu is a London-based jewellery designer and recent graduate of the BA Jewellery Design programme at Central Saint Martins. She creates dramatic pieces that transform the body and challenge conventional ideas of adornment.
Rooted in science fiction and imagined forms of life, her work explores how jewellery can alter the wearer’s appearance, building characters and visual identities that blur the boundary between the human and the otherworldly.
Designed for editorial and runway contexts, her pieces are built to command attention. She asks not just how we adorn ourselves, but what we might become.
Current Obsession: Could you tell us the story behind your graduation project and what drew you to the subject?
Kyra Zimin Xu: Growing up, many of us were introduced to extraterrestrial life through films like E.T., where aliens looked surprisingly human. Scott Richard Shaw proposes a different possibility in Planet of the Bugs: Evolution and the Rise of Insects, arguing that intelligent life elsewhere in the universe may resemble insects rather than humans. From there, I began imagining a sci-fi world where alien parasitic organisms gradually transform the human body.
The collection unfolds like a science fiction story, following the life cycle of imagined extraterrestrial organisms. Drawing from research into insect biology and parasitic behaviour, the pieces trace a process of infestation and transformation – beginning with small egg forms that attach to the body, growing increasingly invasive, and eventually entering the host and transforming it from within. Jewellery reshapes the wearer’s facial features, giving them insect-like characteristics and altering the silhouette of the head. When worn, the pieces invite the wearer to become part of the narrative, temporarily taking on the role of a host undergoing transformation.
Material experimentation was central to bringing this fictional species to life. Inspired by the iridescent surfaces of insect wings and exoskeletons, I explored colour-shifting materials, Angelina Film, chrome powders, and chameleon flakes, layering them to create surfaces that behave differently under varying light. In darker environments, colours become more vibrant and iridescent, while some surfaces appear to shift entirely as the light changes, mimicking the appearance and camouflage of insects.
CO: Beyond the gallery, where do you see your work taking root and finding its life? Who do you hope to reach with your work?
KZX: Many of my pieces are designed for editorial and runway contexts, where jewellery becomes part of a larger visual narrative. I am particularly interested in collaborating with fashion designers, stylists, photographers, and music video directors.
I am also drawn to opportunities in costume design, film, and digital environments, exploring how jewellery can exist across both physical and virtual spaces.
CO: What’s your favourite studio ritual?
KZX: My favourite studio ritual is listening to podcasts while I work, choosing true crime stories and detective series rather than music. Following a narrative as it unfolds, trying to piece together the logic behind it, keeps part of my mind engaged while allowing me to focus on making.
Some of my longest studio sessions have been spent working through a project while an entire investigation unfolds in the background.
