Words by Jonathan Evans
Photography By Justin Chung

Philip Crangi, Giles & Brother

Giles & Brother

Philip Crangi always knew he wanted to be an artist. And being raised by two art teachers in an environment tailor-made to support just such a creative inclination, it was something of a foregone conclusion that he would indeed become an artist, in some form or other. That he would wind up as a jewelry designer specifically, though? “It was a complete accident,” Crangi laughs, before correcting himself. “Well, not an accident—a leap of faith.”
From his workbench in the studio where he designs Giles & Brother, the popular line of fashion jewelry he founded with his sister Courtney in 2001 (he also has an eponymous fine jewelry line, founded the same year), he recalls his early days at the Rhode Island School of Design, and his dissatisfaction with his initial decision to study painting. “There was something missing,” he says. “The painting major wasn’t right. I really wanted to learn something, to learn a trade.” So Crangi visited a friend in the jewelry department, housed in a 19th Century building filled with torches, anvils, hammers, all the tools of crafting decorative objects from metal. “I was just transfixed by it,” he says of that first encounter. “There’s something kind of primal about jewelry. It revolves around technology, but it’s ancient technology. I was instantly drawn to that.” ●

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Full story available in Faculty Department Vol. 1.

Photographed in 2014 – New York, NY.

Ido Yoshimoto

Inverness, CA

Molly Sedlacek

Fairfax, CA