Tag Archives: recycled silver

Limited Edition: Top: Recycled Metal Leaves handstitched to Kangaroo leather; Bottom: Kohl Flutter Necklace handstitched to salvaged hessian

Garland Necklace with Cocoa Leather

Maja Rose and Tess Lloyd met whilst studying industrial design just over ten years ago.  Since then they have grown their business Polli, into an internationally recognised jewellery business.

Based on Japanese and Danish paper fold methods, Polli jewellery is delicate in design with a funky twist.  Stainless steel butterflies and leaves interlaced with colourful salvaged leathers, flowers embroidered with colourful cottons, and intricate cut outs form patterns that make Polli jewellery unique, and understandably a highly rated item on a girl’s gift list (listen out husbands and boyfriends!).

But it is beyond the beautiful designs that Polli stands out even more – Their sustainable practices extend from products used in their jewellery range though to their business practices.  All stainless steel is 75% recycled and the new Kohl Gold collection is almost 100% recycled brass. Customers are also encouraged to return the packaging for re-use.  The Carbon Reduction Institute has awarded Polli the rating of a low CO2 company – flights, car travel and energy consumption are offset; in the office Polli recycles where possible, uses natural light and airflow (instead of aircon) and the Polli team even sit down together to share an organic communal lunch cooked in house!

Top: L-R : Brooklyn earrings and Ring Pendants; Bottom: handstitched woven butterflies

Between juggling business and family, Maja and Tess graciously found the time in their 4 day work week to share with us more about their brand:

1)   How did you come up with your business name and logo?  It’s a long story but I’ll try keep it short (too late!)… 9 years ago we opened our diaries to choose a date to launch our brand and chose ‘St. Swithins Day’, 15 July, and considered naming our brand ‘Saint Swithins’. It’s a funny tradition like ‘Ground Hog Day’ (think Bill Murray); legend has it that is it rains on this day it will rain for the next 40 days – hence the umbrellas in our logo! We then missed the deadline and chose the name Polli; but the umbrellas were cute and have stuck ever since.

The name ‘Polli’ is delivered from ‘polypropylene’ – our first products were flat packed polypropylene baskets sold through markets. We liked Polli as it created a playful, female persona for a brand.

2)   Polli jewellery is recognised internationally. When was your “we’ve made it” moment?  We travelled to New York for the first time about 3 years ago to exhibit at the New York International Gift Fair. It was our first OS business trip and we met with buyers from all the major galleries across North America like MOMA, LACMA and the MCA Chicago. We would work during the days at the trade show and celebrate (a little too much) each night and pinch ourselves that this was our ‘job’!

3)   Where did you draw your inspiration from for your latest Limited Edition range?    Our limited edition collection was inspired by botanical fabric prints. The butterflies, leaves and colours really caught our eye and came to life when we introduced new materials. We set a brief to make the range sustainable so we sourced recycled hessian coffee bags, salvaged leather remnants and kangaroo leather strands to complement our recycled brass and stainless steel. As the range was to be limited to only a short run we could indulge in labour intensive hand stitching (some pieces take hours to make) but we really enjoyed experimenting with new techniques.

4)   Polli has a strong commitment to the environment in both the materials you work with and your business practices – Can you share with us your top 3 tips for helping other businesses go down a similar path?   Every industry is different but some points we really try to stick to are:

1. Offset your Omissions – approach a partner to offset your travel (air plane and car) this helps you see another ‘cost’ to all distances you travel. By contributing to the planting of trees you can help reduce your carbon foot print.
2. Specify Recycled – we print using recycled card for our catalogues, postcards and packaging; even our latest ‘eco deco’ Christmas decorations are printed on recycled stock. We also use recycled brass and stainless steel in our jewellery.
3. Manufacture locally – we make all our products (and do all our printing) in Australia. Not only does it help Australian industry but it eliminates the omissions created when shipping stock from overseas. When we export we choose postal methods which are collected and delivered with bulk shipments and have a lower impact that individual couriers.

5)   What are your major challenges at Polli?   Our etching processes can be a bit of a ‘black art’, as they’re all made in Australia even minor changes in climate or water quality can cause inconsistencies so working with our suppliers to get consistent results can be time consuming.

Juggling babies and business can also be challenging – luckily we’re all in the same boat and can always help each other out.

6)   If we were to pop by your studio this week, what can we expect to see happening?   Each week at Polli is a little different which keeps it interesting. Each day Sherri prepares an organic, vegetarian lunch which we all share around a communal lunch table. Most of us have babies (Jasper is 5 weeks and is the youngest ‘team member’) so there is generally a baby in the studio. We do all our graphics – there’s often a little photoshoot going on – yesterday Anna shot a collection of stainless steel on a bed of moss which looked beautiful. As the production is done in our studio there is a long table with people making jewellery, drinking tea, listening to music and chatting.

The only day when it’s quiet is a Friday… we only work 4 days a week at Polli J

 7)   What are your dreams for Polli in the next ten years?   We have so many dreams… we’d love to travel more and see our products sold through Japan and Europe.  

Polli jewellery is available online and through selected international stockists.