Rolly Robinson he wants to take our call outside. Talking from the porch of her Novel Jersey home, the designer and co-founder of a jewelry line isshi she is delighted that it is finally hot enough to enjoy the sun and fresh air. The weather, while it may be a boring topic of conversation, points to something bigger for Robinson: the current embodiment of their lifelong appreciation for nature that regularly appears in their work. Among other topics to catch up on? Dolly Parton and our early days were spent working side by side at a fashion publication. I was a burgeoning fashion editor, and Robinson, a talented but sometimes underutilized graphic designer, left handmade paper dolls on my desk for me to discover. I still have one safely tucked away.
We’ve come a long way since then. I, for one, left Novel York and went to Robinson’s (sort of) home state of Tennessee. Robinson, on the other hand, left the graphic design field to manage several high-end boutiques before finally launching isshi, a whimsical jewelry line that gained early acclaim and attention from fashion industry insiders.
But we didn’t talk on the phone to talk about our past. Just a week earlier, model and entrepreneur Bella Hadid released the first fragrance to her perfume collection Orebella. In the ad campaign, she only wears an isshi necklace and little else. It was a crowning moment for the designer who has been working diligently on the line since 2019.
“I haven’t heard anything from anyone in the band,” says Robinson, recalling how, after months of silence, the euphoria at the prospect of taking a photo with the jewelry faded. Photo sessions can be fleeting. Sometimes the look and elements chosen by stylists – or even photographed – are not final. But a few months later, while running errands around town, Robinson received frantic messages. “My ex-partner would call me and text me and say, ‘B***h, call me.’ Son of a bitch, check your text messages. And these are photos from the campaign, showing Bella and the necklace. And I was like, “Oh my fucking God.”
The necklace in question: a custom long, multi-layered pearl extravaganza inspired by John Galliano’s work at Dior. In fact, this work is simply a continuation of Robinson’s long-standing fascination with nature and what it can produce. “I want to celebrate nature [in isshi] and really put it at the forefront because nature is king,” Robinson explains.
Robinson moved to Sevierville, Tennessee, located in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains, with her mother and sister when they were six years senior. “This is where Dolly Parton comes from,” Robinson proudly noted. The country star and Robinson have a lot in common: larger-than-life personalities, unbridled self-confidence and a hypnotic charm rooted in Southern hospitality that leans toward playful mischief rather than cloying sweetness. Sevierville is it is also home to the Dollywood singer theme park. The city that welcomes multitudes of tourists every year is perhaps overshadowed, or at least informed, by the park’s gilded blonde halo.
Growing up in this environment, it’s no surprise that Robinson’s personal style and jewelry designs often combine these disparate influences. At isshi, collections often combine accessible Dollywood surrealism with the surrounding majesty of the mountains. Organic materials are bent and hammered into unusual shapes and illusions, offered at a relatively affordable price. Robinson’s outfits also celebrate individuality, resourcefulness and self-acceptance, which Parton extols in her songs.
For Robinson, the jewelry line is the culmination of an isolated childhood spent in the company of nature. “My house when I was growing up was surrounded by trees,” they recall. “And that was my first encounter with real nature. There were snakes, owls, scorpions and all these crazy bugs and raccoons. There was something about playing outside, in nature, in the dirt with leaves, stones and trees. This whole thing just completely unlocked another part of my brain. In fact, their childhood is still a bubbling stream of inspiration. Robinson says their mother’s “feisty” fashion sense and early fascination with cartoons, especially Japanese anime, have long been cornerstones of their overall aesthetic, both in terms of clothing and design.
Nurturing an early fascination with art, Robinson eagerly sketched his beloved animals and insects. This would lead Robinson to earn a degree from The Arts Institute in Florida. However, it was while studying at The Arts Institute that their attention focused on fashion. They recall that Robinson spent countless hours in the library, poring over books on design and illustration, anything he could get his hands on. Finally, after graduating, Robinson moved to Manhattan to pursue the fashion industry, working as a digital media graphic designer, which is where our paths crossed.
But the graphic design seemed limiting to Robinson. Looking for a little more freedom Robinson found a home in luxury retail, working and managing multiple boutiques such as Gucci and Chanel. Unfortunately, Robinson was laid off from one of these roles in 2019. After spending time with his family recovering from a massive dose of burnout, Robinson became captivated by the jewelry collections that began to invade their social media feeds. They began to construct the conceptual elements of what would eventually become isshi.
After completing her early collection, Robinson contacted a friend who co-founded a miniature, now closed showroom representing jewelry lines. By agreeing to work with Robinson, she encouraged them to add more pieces to the collection to show during Fashion Week in February 2020. Robinson successfully showed in Novel York and Paris this season, and after gaining momentum, they faced a major problem: the world closed down.
But Robinson was fearless. “While we were in lockdown, I really had time to put energy into my second collection, which consisted of 30 or more pieces,” they say. It was also an opportunity to step out of their original pompous noisiness and embrace a bold, yet wearable, avant-garde lifestyle that pays homage to their childhood. Each piece is handmade and uses local, ethically produced materials, Robinson continues.
The fashion industry noticed that the brand appeared in the “Sex and the City” reboot, And just like that. In season two, Lisette, Carrie’s clamorous neighbor and jewelry designer, wears Isshi’s carved necklace while living every designer’s nightmare: her collection is stolen by dishonest waiters. Celebrity followers like Espresso singer Sabrina Carpenter wore matching bracelets and earrings during her red carpet appearances, and FKA Twigs wore pieces from the archival collection. Additionally, retail hefty hitter Nordstrom now he holds the line.
And while some may want to kick back and bask in the praise, Robinson continues to expand her creativity by incorporating modern methods and materials into her designs, such as hand felted wool and other textiles. These modern techniques debuted in isshi spring 2024 collection, Lament, the first part of the “Heartbreak” trilogy, inspired by the breakup Robinson recently went through. “This collection is about finding peace and beauty even in the chaos of the world,” says Robinson. The collection includes castaway delicacies, from tangled necklaces with starfish baubles and mixed metal links. Dropped earpieces decorated with floating pearls outline the ear as if finishing a Matisse sketch, while a spiral bracelet evokes the hypnotic sound of the ocean. After all, when suffering from a broken heart, you may sometimes feel as if you were swept out to sea without a life raft.
Isshi Spring 2024
Courtesy of isshi
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But Robinson has built her own protected haven, raving about isshi’s upcoming fall 2024 collection and the second chapter of the trilogy, Prologue. This is where the sadness of a broken relationship ferments into awakening, says Robinson. When preparing the designs, Robinson returned to the places where he lived as a child, drawing inspiration from the mountains – in particular from decay, spores and rotting wood. It may not sound as impressive as previous collections, but don’t be fooled. Breaking up can be a useful thing. Found from a mountaintop to an echoing scream, it initiates transformation and growth. Without it, the flora and fauna would remain in arrested development, much like the unchanging rides and themes of Dollywood. But Robinson is not standing still: isshi deliveries for fall 2024 begin in September. They are already sharing designs for isshi Resort 2025.
The afternoon sun slowly began to sink below the horizon, painting my office with golden delicate. Throughout our conversation, I watched the shadows lengthen and stretch across my neighbor’s lawn. I’m not surprised to hear that Robinson is doing the same on his porch in Novel Jersey. It seems like some things never leave you. There’s a symphony of car horns and sirens on the phone, so I ask Robinson if he hears the first rattle of the cicadas that are just beginning to appear in Nashville. No, but we laugh and promise that we will arrange another conversation soon, the next one will be definitely more gossipy and less talk about the store. “Farewell, Queen!” Robinson evokes their typical, exuberant energy. And that’s where our conversation ended.
