Physical Affection Has That Personal Touch

March 4, 2021 6:51 pm Published by Very Famous

“I have a problem with people ascribing bright colors and fun subject matter to children only,” Angela Vitello of jewelry brand Physical Affection writes to Very Famous. Words after our own heart! As she points out, just because something might include playful miniatures or colors that aren’t muted neutrals doesn’t mean it should be labeled exclusively childlike or nostalgic.

Physical Affection’s pieces feel like small secrets — curiosities such as faux butterflies, tiny swans and miniature dice encased in resin. The overall je ne sais quoi to the jewelry Angela designs might be exactly what she describes in our interview below. The “personal touches and flourishes” she documents in her Instagram Stories as inspiration, from a ceramic pig figurine to a candy-swirled dessert shop sign, remind us of her work. Each piece is a moment of intimacy, a gift you would give a friend before a heady day of smelling candles in boutiques, drinking dessert-y martinis, going to a 4pm movie, arm in arm from one place to the next.

Today, we enter the Very Famous World of Angela Vitello. Calling 1-900-Physical-Affection…

Tell us the story of Physical Affection! How did you start designing jewelry, and what led to you making a business out of it?

So I’ve always had this vague idea in the back of my mind that I’d end up designing jewelry but didn’t have a clear path towards it. A few years ago, I started making experimental soft sculptural work with plastic materials and ended up getting really obsessed with clear materials and embedding and that eventually led me towards resin. My first piece was like a resin seashell I just dipped a chain in. I started gifting to friends who then wanted to pay me and that led to the little business I have now. I also have to thank Lolo & Friends and Café Forgot to being immediately open to working with me. I got lucky that way.

Physical Affection, by the way, is a perfect name — where did it come from?

Thanks! I’m pretty sure it came to me because physical affection itself was something I was really craving at the time lol. It wasn’t that cut and dry, but I suspect that’s how it seeped into my brain. Also I liked the idea of the pieces themselves lending a physical affection to the wearer and vice versa.

How would you describe the style of your pieces?

It’s definitely a bit nostalgic. I make stuff that I would’ve wanted to wear when I was 12 (in 2002) but I’m wary to describe it as childlike. I have a problem with people ascribing bright colors and fun subject matter to children only. Who decided that! A really boring person probably and that’s not who my pieces are for.

How did you begin playing with the small objects used in your jewelry, like dice or tiny swans? Do those objects find you, or do you find them, in terms of how you envision using them in your jewelry?

So I had the tiny dice from a bubble wrap project I was working on before jewelry. I was opening up the bubbles and sticking the dice in and sewing them back shut. That did not have the effect I was hoping for, but I got really into miniatures and did a ton of research online about various tiny objects. Then I found an earrings mold that fit the dice and the rest is history. The swans were also from the bubble wrap project, but the ones I found that didn’t fit the molds, I wanted for the necklace; so I had to go through a few miniature swan options online until I found the right fit.

I LUV your collections of “little smiles” and “muses” in your Instagram stories, from light-up frogs and an ice cream display’s “no nuts” sign, to lingerie mannequins and bunnies. What kinds of places and environments inspire you most?

So basically it’s like a compulsion at this point. When I go anywhere my eye is drawn to certain things, things I find cute, personal touches, very what some people would call “low brow.” I’m constantly documenting them. I am drawn to “regular” people’s personal touches and flourishes, and those things inspire me endlessly. Also I’m just obsessed with animals, so whenever there’s a real or illustrated animal my eyes are on it.

What three things make you feel ~famous~?

Compliments from strangers, the proximity to the millions of different people that being Online can afford you, when an animal I’ve just met immediately takes to me.

All photos courtesy of Angela.