Introducing Fellow Madeit Seller - Lauren - from 'Ayana Jewellery'

As I love encouraging others, particularly those that handcraft items, I thought I would dedicate a blogpost once a month, sharing some information about other handcrafters that I have met.

This month I have great pleasure to introduce to you, Lauren from 'Ayana Jewellery'.

 Lauren is a very skilled jewellery maker that handcrafts rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces. I met Lauren through the handmade market site, Madeit. I asked Lauren a few questions about her craft. Grab a cup of tea and enjoy reading about her journey ...

Tell us a bit about 'Ayana Jewellery'.

Behind Ayana Jewellery is myself and my partner Vincent. While I develop, design and handmake each item, Vincent supports me with the business side of things from marketing to bouncing ideas.

After studying as a silversmith in New Zealand, I moved to London where I met Vincent. Together
the journey of Ayana Jewellery began. I spend long evenings in my bedroom apartment making and designing jewellery. Vincent helping where he could.
We re-located to Sydney in early 2015 and re-launched Ayana Jewellery. We now design and make contemporary fashion accessories from our creative home studio in Neutral Bay (Sydney).
The artistic inspiration for our products comes from our travels. The ones ‘desire’ to see, feel, taste and yearn.

Resonating from cultural motifs to architectural shapes and forms.

Each jewellery item in our range is handcrafted with love from start to finish, with each piece not quite the same as the one before. We design and make with the fun loving women in mind and the idea that jewellery is to be worn and enjoyed every day. 

What do you like most about being a handmade designer/creator?

I predominately work with sterling silver (925) so popping on my apron and taking to the bench with saws, hammers and solder to bend, curve and form shapes making the jewellery come to life has to be my favourite part of being a creator. On the other side, I just love when I sell something and get awesome feedback from the customer - you never stop getting that little buzz!

Why did you choose to create jewellery?

I never really know how to answer this question - I just love jewellery and it fascinated me that I could create my own from a few lengths of wire, some sheets of silver and a soldering torch. After doing a night course I was hooked and went on to do a full-time course.

What is next? Do you have any new products/designs/ideas planned?

We have just started doing markets in Sydney which are awesome and a great way to interact with customers, so we'll be doing more of those in the next few months. We also have a new range of Drop Designs which we have tested at the markets, they will be going up online in the next few weeks.

Our plan for the next few months is to get our jewellery into a few more shops and get more locally handmade items out there whilst educating the customers so they can understand and appreciate "handmade". We are already stocked with Bonty in Canberra, Boxable Gift Boxes and will soon be in Manly Gallery.

Thank you Lauren for sharing about your handcrafting journey and your beautiful products. I love the simplistic, modern design of your jewellery and I wish you all the best in your endeavours.

If you would like to view more Ayana Jewellery products, simply click here to view what is in store.

Thank you for viewing!

~ Jen

P.S - If you have enjoyed reading about other handcrafters and want to know more about Tupsy Turvy Designs, why not become a 'Golden Ticket Member'? It is FREE and membership entitles you to regular updates, exclusive sales, discounts and opportunities. Simply click here and enter your email address. Easy! I look forward to sharing more ideas with you soon ...

Pale Pink and Emerald Green

It's been a while since I have used some pink in my creations. I must say, I like pink in moderation as I am not as fond of combinations that use excessive amounts of pink. Despite this slight aversion to pink, I have made it the base of my colour combination. I didn't want too much pink, therefore I decided to add shades of emerald green to add some coolness to this combination.

The spark of this colour combination was a photo of a door. The photo consisted of a deep emerald green door that was the entrance to a pale pink dwelling. Whether it is the influence of this photo or of the colours themselves, these colours seem welcoming, kind and gentle.

As you can see, I have started making jewellery items using this colour combination. I also have another 'princess' canvas, a 'home' canvas and boat canvas in the pipeline that will reflect this gentle and kind mood.

I can't wait to share more of these items with you. In the meantime, if you would like to view jewellery items in store, please click here.

~ Jen.

Chocolate Brown and Light Blue

Since December last year, I have been a mother. My husband and I went through years of preparation and seminars as we journeyed through the adoption process. We learnt about how traumatic experiences effect the brain, how we can best manage children from traumatised backgrounds and generally prepared our living space for little people. Even though we both knew that eventually we would meet our children, nothing essentially prepares you for motherhood like having two little ones with you.

I must say, we are extremely blessed, not only to have two beautiful boys join our family, but have two beautiful boys that have slotted into life here and with us so well. It is definitely a credit to all involved in the process..

...However, as any parent knows, it is not all smooth sailing. There are days where dealing with tantrums and tears proves to be a challenge. They are the days when the children are all snuggled in bed that my husband and I relish breaking open some chocolate. Somehow the tasty, sweet treat makes a lot of the woes of the day seem much better. As I type this, I am smiling as yesterday was just 'one of those days'. As I snuggled into the recliner after all the cleaning up was finished, my husband broke off a little extra chocolate and stated that 'you probably need this after your day today'. Ah... he knows me well.

To me, the colour of chocolate evokes calmness, strength, stillness and peace. My newest colour scheme involves a range of chocolate brown hues teamed with a splash of light blue to lighten up the richness of the brown.

As you can see, I have already have used this colour combination for a range of pendants and earrings and I am about half way through a production line of cards. I have some ideas of using a teddy bear motif for one of my canvasses, a dog motif for another and a curly, short haired girl for my princess canvas. I can't wait to put all of these ideas into fruition. I would love to hear about your ideas, either by commenting on this blogpost, on the Facebook page or via email.

To see more items using this colour scheme, please click here.

~ Jen.

Earrings to make a set

I enjoy creating mixed media art and I love finding new ways of displaying this art. I have previously created necklace pendants as a way to 'wear' art but these pendants still needed earrings to match to complete the set. However, this problem is solved as earrings have now been created using the same type of technique. 

 

Each earring expresses its own uniqueness as it is cut from a book page that has had mixed media techniques applied to it. These little art pieces are then adhered onto upcycled buttons and covered with a glass like coating. Silver coloured wire is wrapped around the button and then attached to earring hooks (that are nickel and lead free) to complete the earring.

Jewellery makes a unique gift for a teenage girl, mother, sister or friend. Simply place items in a card to make a small but special gift. Matching cards and pendants are available in store. To view the range, click here.

Thanks for stopping by!