I stumbled across Luxulite on Etsy one day and ever since got combarded by tantalising adverts, thanks to Facebook’s cookie system. Gosh and darn it, I had to get me some of the colourful craziness!
Luxulite Lucky Lobsters Beachcomber Necklace
I am a huge fan of vintage jewellery, especially anything quirky, but with a baby thinking that everything is a chew toy or something to swing on, it is too much of a risk! This stuff is authentic and easy to wear, Betsy loves rattling the necklaces when I wear them, but I know she can’t break them like my old ones! I have to say that the lobster set is my all time favourite!
Red Lobster Earrings
I asked the founder Katy Crebbin a few questions about her amaaaaaazing collection:
1. Do you have a love of vintage yourself?
I do! I’ve been enjoying the vintage and rockabilly scene for many years now and love attending weekenders and events around the country – my favourite has got to be the Rockabilly Rave, but we are really lucky in the North East as we have a strong community with loads of gigs and events happening regularly around the region.
2.What is your favourite era?
In terms of design, music and fashion it has to be the 1950’s, with a little dabble here and there into the 1940’s. There’s a real sense of optimism and playfulness in popular culture and design in the 1950’s which is just too good to resist!
3. What made you start creating retro jewellery?
I think it’s a combination of a huge love for the fashion and accessories of the mid 20th Century, and the problem of being able to firstly find it, and secondly afford it! When I started out I was making the jewellery for myself to wear as you just couldn’t get good repro jewellery anywhere at that time – the vintage and rockabilly scenes were saturated with tattoo-inspired plastic jewellery (which is fine but it just wasn’t my bag!) I wanted to wear jewellery that looked like the originals from the 1940’s and 50’s. The more I made, the more friends and family wanted things and it just grew from there!
Green Chimayo Inspired Necklace and Earrings
4. What is your favourite piece and what seems to be your best selling
I’d say my favourite piece to date is a novelty corn cob brooch with little brown glass chickens – it was a really fun piece to carve and is lots of fun to wear! It’s usually hard to pin down a best seller as I tend to make quite short, limited runs, but this year my (completely unexpected) best seller has been my Audrey II brooch which was made completely on a whim and was never expected to be such a hit!
5. Do you use anyone as inspiration?
The work of jewellery designer Martha Sleeper is a constant source of inspiration, but I also love to look at novelty prints and designs from the mid-century period – there are so many amazing (and some utterly insane) themes in fabric prints, it really is a treasure trove of inspiration. Ideas have come from all sorts of sources though, from films, places or songs, to something as simple as stumbling across an old board game in a charity shop and re-purposing the pieces to make jewellery.
Sweater Girl Hoop Earrings
6. Have you got new styles on the horizon?
I’m currently finishing off my samples for my Halloween and Christmas collections which is so much fun! I love a good old OTT tacky holiday, and Halloween has got to be my favourite! There’s also a really exciting new collaboration coming up in August with a fellow British designer, so I can’t wait to show everyone what we’ve been working on – watch this space!
I for one cannot wait to see the Halloween and festive collection! You must check out Katy’s shop for yourself. The brooches look fantastic on coats, jackets or blouses, so if you are looking for something to finish off the outfit or add a splash of colour on a grey day then this is your best place! They are also really affordable pieces of jewellery. You are looking at £8.50 to £16 for a brooch and up to £25.50 for some of the more crazy necklaces, so nothing that will break the bank and they make awesome stocking stuffers too!
Cherry Log Slice Brooch
1940's Pin-Up Entertainer Kitten von Mew 