INTERVIEW + GIVEAWAY // So Little Time Co.

Wow it's our first ever G I V E A W A Y !!!!!!

Kirsty from So Little Time Co. has offered one lucky All you need is love + design reader a piece of jewellery from her collection! 

How to enter 

1. Like All you need is love + design blog's facebook page

2. Like So Little Time Co. facebook page

3. Share this post on your timeline (you can do this from our facebook page)

Be quick the winner will be announced Friday March 8th! 

I hope you enjoy reading about Kirsty's little adventure from Graphic Design into being a jewellery designer and maker! And good luck for the giveaway!!

What inspired the name 'So little time' and what does it mean to you?

The name So Little Time came from the original items we were making when we first started, that being watches, but even though we have stopped making those pieces, I really feel the name applies to so many aspects of the business and life, and people so easily relate to it.

Tell us the story of how 'So little time' began?

I started the business at the end of 2010, when I was working as a graphic designer. It didn't take long for me to realize that the work I was doing as a designer was so controlled by the client and not creatively fulfilling any more. I soon found myself wanting to create on my terms rather than someone elses. I found myself spending hours writing down ideas, sketching, researching and working out what exactly it would be that would allow me to create something that would make me happy, and something that I could share with others. After plenty of testing with all sorts of mediums, laser cutting included, which allow me to combine wood and illustration, So Little Time Co was born.

Tell us a bit about yourself, your background and what path led you to be a jewellery designer/maker?

I've always been inspired to make things with my hands, and my mother loves to tell stories of my cut and paste adventures as a child. Graphic Design was a natural choice for me after school and a few years later I had finished my degree and started out as junior in local a studio. It was really all just a natural progression for me from there and soon enough I wasn't getting what I needed creatively from the job and found myself needing to create things that made me happy.

What is the inspiration behind your designs?

I've always felt like So Little Time Co. is an extension of my own creativity. I’m inspired by the amazing texture of wood, whimsical stories and fairytales and the colours that line the paint isle, among other real life things, such as my quirky pet bunny, Frankie, my collection of paper art and my blog. Sometimes the best ideas come from just doing.

Where can we find your one of kind pieces?

You can find them on my website and also at my Etsy shop. I also have a number of stockists - Craft Victoria, Obus and Dorothy and Evelyn just to name a few. (www.etsy.com/shop/solittletimeco)  

What can we look forward to from So little time in the future?

I write down goals for my little business every year and I think there will be a few changes for So Little Time Co. this year. There will be more markets, more blogging and sharing photos and my process and maybe a bit more of a branch out product wise. 

INTERVIEW TIME // Tessa Blazey - Jewellery Designer

I had the pleasure of interviewing Tessa Blazey the Jewellery designer/maker behind some of the most unique jewellery I've ever seen, including my very own engagement ring! I was excited to discover her collaborations with fashion designer Alexi Freeman! They teamed up in 2011 and again in 2012 and are showcasing their new piece 'Gown of Shadows' at Craft Victoria's upcoming exhibition 'Signature Style'. You can check this out from March 7th - April 27th at Craft Victoria. For more info click here.

I hope you enjoy reading about the amazingly talented Tessa Blazey as much as I did!  I just love all of her amazing work. I'm off to pick out a wedding band to go with my amazing engagement ring. Wish me luck!! xx

Tell us a bit about yourself, your background and what path led you to be a jewellery designer/maker? 
I had previously practised Sculpture and Interior Design - I believe interior design lead me to jewellery. I was very fond of the scale of model making so the transition from interior into jewellery seemed a natural progression. I loved the idea of working in a miniature scale and it's accessibility as a sole practitioner. A piece could be invented and realised without having to involve anyone else. I spent much of my spare time as a child playing dress ups and I was quite obsessed with rummaging through my mother's crocodile skin jewellery box. I also inherited some lovely pieces of costume jewellery from my grandmother as a teenager and since that time became an avid jewellery collector. In 2004 I had my daughter Mila and wanted to find an occupation that utilised my creative skills and interests, that was (time) flexible and allowed me to work from a home studio. A friend and jeweller Kim Victoria Wearne suggested I enrol in jewellery course to give it a try. After completing a short course at the CAE I was utterly captivated with it and soon after enrolled in Jewellery at NMIT. 

What is the inspiration behind your work?


I see jewellery as a miniature form of Sculpture and Interior Design. They all utilise the imagination, form, space and shifting scales. Since taking up jewellery I have been fascinated with the natural forms of minerals. The structures of these minerals are extraordinarily beautiful, they often grow in very pure geometric forms that look artificial or manufactured when they are in fact naturally occurring (i.e tetrahedrons, cubes, octahedron's, dodecahedron's and icosahedron's). Many of them resemble a form of miniature architecture. I imagine them operating at contradictory scales - like tiny building or even fictive cities. I draw much of my inspiration for jewellery from the geometric forms of these mineral specimens - but also from architecture and experimental fashion design. 




Where can we find your one of a kind pieces? 


I have been represented by Pieces of Eight Gallery since 2009. Melanie Katsalidis (Pieces of Eight - Owner & Director) has been an incredibly supportive mentor to me and I find all her comments and advice incredibly valuable. Most of my precious work is stocked at Piece of Eight. I also have other jewellery ranges stocked at Craft Victoria, Black Finch, Luft & Stockroom, CoTA, Jam Factory & Gaffa. 






What can we look forward to from you in the future? Local fashion designer Alexi Freedman and I have worked on several collaborative 'jewellery gowns' together and we have recently finished a new piece entitled Gown of Shadows for Craft Victoria's upcoming exhibition Signature Style which runs from March 7th - April 27th. I cannot wait for the opening - it's going to be an incredible group exhibition!

PEACE, LOVE & LETTERPRESS // wedding stationery

Amongst all my researching, blogging and hunting on pinterest for wedding inspiration I came across this cute stationery company called PEACE, LOVE & LETTERPRESS. They do everything letterpress from wedding invitations to business cards. I am so inspired by their story I'm ready to race out and buy my own "mike" (you'll have to read the about us section of their website, then you'll know what I mean!) And best of all they are from Geelong! Courtesy of their blog here are some snippets of their work -