Last winter, Elke Kramer’s resin jewellery was the accessory to have. Now she’s be snaffled by Sportsgirl and Jessie Hill for collab collections, and has a hot winter range ready to roll.
Clearly someone inside Sportsgirl has their finger on the pulse of Australian fashion, since previous collabs include Chip Chop! and Minty Meets Munt. Next year we'll enjoy Sportsgirl collabs with Romance Was Born and TV.
Bianca Burd, New Concepts Buyer, is that switched on person. Responsible for finding young designers to work on limited collections for Sportsgirl, she travels the world spotting trends and shops and read a lot. "Yes, I shop a lot, perhaps too much. So I find these great designers that I know our customers will love."
"In Australia, we are more fashion leaders, than fashion followers. It's obvious to me that Australia is a hub of creativity, so rather than just interpreting overseas trends, we tend to make our own and we're led by the independent designers like Elke," says Burd.
Her collaboration with Sportsgirl is Elke's biggest order to date. She says it took a lot of confidence to launch her own business, which mainly fills small orders to boutiques. Kramer’s super creative mum - a designer, illustrator and commercial artist - gave Elke the belief that she could take on any creative project.
Now with five collections under her belt, she finds the business flows. “Every collection is easier than the last, because you have already made all the mistakes and you learn more every time,” says Kramer.
To get her business off the ground she worked as a freelance graphic designer, working at magazines and making jewellery at Sass and Bide. It took three years after finishing her Bachelor of Design at UNSW for her business to become strong enough that she didn’t have to rely on freelance work.
Running her business on her own means switching between left and right brain to balance books, coordinate logistics and design collections. When she needs to work on a new range, she locks herself at home for days. Every season she flies to see her manufacturers to inspect quality control and workers standards.
Most of Elke’s pieces are made in Indonesia, while some pieces of the winter 09 collection will be made here in Australia. She is aware of the fact the manufacturing in Asia can appear exploitative, but is emphatic that her manufacturers are skilled artisans. “The people who make my jewellery have a culture of carving and jewellery-making that goes back thousands of years. Their knowledge has helped my collections evolve. They are skilled artisans and crafts people and the things they do so well. They’re so precise and have such a respect for quality that they will even knock back deadlines if they think they can’t get.”
Trompe L’oeil is in stores now. Elke for Sportsgirl will be in-store in February. Miracles and Wonder for winter 2009 will be in store May 2009.