Lucy Folk makes jewellery good enough to eat (and drink)

Lucy Folk has built a unique brand of jewellery and accessories adored worldwide by the international fashion circuit and jetset celebrities. A trained goldsmith, Melbourne based Folk has a flagship store in the CBD and is celebrating her recent collaboration with the family business, CAPI mineral water.

We asked her a few questions:

What was the ‘let’s go for it” moment starting your own business?

The first collection I made was for my cousin Arabella Ramsay’s runway parade at Sydney Fashion Week and the press was great. It gave me the confidence to start my own brand and sell in a fashion arena as I have always been drawn to fashion and felt like it was the right environment for my jewels. It’s all about taking risks and I haven’t looked back!

Where do you source your materials?

From all over the globe. I work with artisans in Australia to produce different elements that we cannot do in house. We work with a company in Japan for some of our fine jewellery and my sunglasses are made in Italy. I prefer to pay a bit more but ensure the quality is top notch and align the brand with the best suppliers we can find.

Lucy Folk’s Honeymoon collection

Where do you find your inspiration?

We grew up surrounded by Mexican Folk art. My mum is a dear friend of Barbara Kenny who started the fabulous Market Imports in Melbourne. Barb sourced wonderful furniture, glassware, and pretty much anything amazing she could find in Mexico and sold it all in her store around the corner from our house. We frequented the store as kids and would help wrap presents there and knew all the staff. It was our Mexican home away from home!

I have been to Mexico twice and I loved it. The colours, the food, the culture it’s such an inspiring place for me.

Will you take a different approach to upcoming collections? What’s next for your jewellery? 

I always take a different approach. You need to keep your customer guessing and I need to keep myself creatively challenged, so we try to reinvent the wheel for each collection. My next range is called Tesoro, which means treasure in Italian. There isn’t a foodie reference for this range but rather it’s about art.

We shot the collection in Venice, during the Vernissage of the Venice Biennale. My close friend Sophie Edelstein directed a film for its release, which is fantastic. Tesoro launches in early November.

Lucy Folk’s Poison Ivy Collection

Tell us about your collaboration with Capi, aside from the family connection, how do you see the your jewellery and the Capi brand coming together?

Both Capi and Lucy Folk work on ingredients. Sourcing unique extracts to make the best possible formula is key to Capi and my brand. We want to tell a story about lifestyle and how to enjoy life. Capi reflects my family and so does Lucy Folk.

The Capi campaign is a fantastic platform for Lucy Folk jewellery, what do you hope it will bring to your business?

I think it’s important for the audience to understand that Capi is a family business. We are all involved and essentially my sister, Saskia, and I are “creative directors” for Capi. Dad is forced to listen to us he has no choice and we have strong opinions!

It’s an honor to work together and I can’t wait to see my jewels on that scale, it’s going to be wild! Giant hands, jewels and drinks. What a combination! The images are incredible and I am thrilled to have been able to work on the campaign with Dad and the Capi team and KiDS. I was on location for the shoot and we all had a ball, it’s about celebrating the finer things in life.

Lucy Folk pieces in CAPI’s campaign.

Do you see Lucy Folk jewellery doing similar collaborations in future? What would be your dream collaboration?

Oh god where would I start?! I need to keep that secret for now but there is something on the horizon that ticks the dream box!

Finally, where can be buy Lucy Folk jewellery?

At my flagship store, Lucy Folk 1a Crossley St Melbourne. Or online at lucyfolk.com, all of my stockists are listed there. You can buy it in the Maldives if you like or Russia…it depends how far you want to go!