Biko, the jewelry we love from local designer Corrine Anestopoulos, is now available for all on ilovebiko.com

The first time I met Corrine Anestopoulos, designer and founder of Biko Jewelry, I got a serious girl crush. I liked her Ramona Quimby meets Anna Wintour haircut, her warm and  welcoming smile, and I was instantly in awe of her jewelry, which is both delicate and tough, whimsical but edgy.

Corinne is lucky, most entrepreneurs spend years at a desk job they loathe before taking the leap to start their own business but she kicked things off at the tender age of 21, while still a student at Ryerson. What else isn’t fair? She didn’t even know designing jewelry was her passion. She stumbled into it after helping out some classmates as a model for a jewelry shoot. Although she wasn’t bending metal or twisting chains, Corrine does admit that her love for all things tactile began as a young girl. “I did friendship bracelets, I invented new styles with gimp and had a sticker collection with a separate book for fuzzy and smelly.” 

By 23, she was working full time on Biko and although her collection has grown and matured over the years, it has always maintained a theme of what Corinne calls”Modern Nostalgia,” incorporating playful treasures with sleek and modern materials. This theme is especially noticeable in her strange magic and little instruments collections

For the past nine years, Corinne has been creating her work in an attic turned art studio at College and Clinton.  Although quite happy to work alone, she now has a small assembly line within the rooftop space and requires the help of interns, who are more than pleased to learn from Corinne. 

Biko is often my favourite booth at oneofakind, which has proven to be a hugely successful business venture for Corinne (this year catch her at booth J-12). Her collection can also be found at a variety of Toronto boutiques including The Drake General Store or you can purchase directly from her super cute website

When she’s not busy creating enchanting things for you and I to dress-up in, you can find Corinne riding her bicycle down the back lanes of Toronto’s west side, brunching at Saving Grace or dancing until dawn at Unlovable. 

Now it’s your turn to fall for Biko, ilovebiko.com