As a child, jewellery designer Pippa Small was attracted to gems, shells and minerals — materials that show up in her signature designs today. To fund her master’s degree in medical anthropology, she turned to jewellery production, which caught the attention of fashion houses Gucci, Nicole Farhi, and Chloé. After years of success in fashion, Pippa’s two interests merged while working with indigenous communities, such as the Batwa Pygmies of Rwanda and the Kuna in Panama. She now divides her time equally between her anthropological work and jewellery collections.