Unearthly Entity
We usually notice and compliment jewellery, not understanding or asking about the piece's backstory. How is the piece made? Who's the designer? What do you like about it? A piece of jewellery is what makes or breaks an outfit. However, it is usually ignored and not credited for its integral part in everyday wear.
Renee, better known as Unearthly Entity, is a Melbourne-based jewellery designer. Her work is found at Fugu Wears in Fitzroy on Smith Street. It uses intricate patterns to encapsulate gems, creating an almost out-of-this-world vibe with her jewellery, which hasn’t been seen elsewhere.
Would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Renee, and I’m twenty-three. My position? I do jewellery on the side, and I work a full-time job as well, . I have a passion for jewellery making, and I love creating things, so that’s kind of where I came from.
Firstly the name, ‘Unearthly Entity’, where did this come from?
I wanted to express the feeling of being not really within one certain community, kind of feeling like you’re on the outskirts. I mean, I’m mixed, like I’m biracial, so growing up that way and kind of being in a bunch of different communities but not really fully in any single one. Kind of has this whole thing of feeling like you’re on the outskirts. It kind of came from feeling that way.
How did you get into the idea of creating jewellery?
I followed a bunch of Melbourne artists for years. I think it’s a really beautiful community, and people have started running workshops in the last year or two. In April last year, I did a workshop with Sacreflux, who is a Melbourne artist, and really really loved it. It really suited the way that I worked, so I just decided to try to start doing it at home, and now I have kind of continued it ever since then.
@unearthlyentity
How did you start creating and designing Unearthly Entity, and what were the trials and tribulations?
It’s going pretty well! I just did customs for friends and kind of started posting them cause I thought I might as well start a portfolio online with the stuff I’ve been doing. I kind of just started doing customs, and I was really lucky that I had quite a few friends who were very supportive and reached out to me to make them some pieces. Then I thought, I’ve been going to Fitzroy market for years, and there’s Fugu Wears, who is one of my favourite little stalls there, and they opened up their own shop in the last year. I just messaged them and was like, “Hey, do you want jewellery in your cabinets. Would you like a jewellery maker.” I was very lucky that they said yes, so I decided that I would pop some of my stuff in their shop and kind of see how that goes.
When about did you start doing it as a business?
I think it’s interesting cause I feel it doesn’t really feel like a business yet. I feel like I’m creating these things and just seeing how they go and running a bunch of experiments to see what gets picked up in a way. I’m just kind of expanding my knowledge at the moment and trying different techniques and seeing what kind of sticks.
@unearthlyentity
How would you describe your jewellery, and would you be able to describe it in one word?
I think it’s all quite tendrilly, which is a really random word, but it always comes up, and I feel a lot of the stuff is a bit like, yeah, looks a bit spiky and tendrilly.
What techniques are used and what is the process of making the jewellery?
I am a very hands-on person, so I do a method called lost wax casting, where you build stuff out of wax, and you use a soldering iron to melt the things together and kind of build from there. Then, you can cast and place the gems as well. So I’ve kind of just built them out of wax, and then I take them to the casters and get them filled with solid silver. Yeah, it’s pretty much just melting them and like, I often destroy a lot of the things I make, and think like, ‘this is awful’. But you know, you kind of just make by melting them together.
Leading on from one of the earlier questions, do you have any artistic inspirations? And if so, what are they?
I think that I’ve been into so many different mediums from many years of trying things. The first thing that I really did was in high school, I did photography with the dark rooms and just the structure of different artists, looking at their work like, I’m trying to remember their names; it’s been so long, but yeah and like now kind of looking at Melbourne jewellers like Sacreflux and like Bobby Corica and seeing their practices and how they work is really fascinating. Inspiration, I feel comes from a lot of different places, and a lot of different mediums.
Is there a specific feeling that you want your customers to feel while wearing your pieces?
I think it started pretty much with me making things that I liked cause I couldn’t find the kind of jewellery that I would want to wear, and then I started making customs for people. It started being like my close friends, then the next ring would be for a friend of friends. The best compliment I’ve ever gotten from that was what someone messaged me, like one of my friends being like, “Aww, a person who received that ring loved it so much, and they feel so sexy wearing it and feel like really confident and happy.” I realised, that’s what I want to do, and I want people to feel really confident wearing things. I feel like there is this whole process of self-care when you wear jewellery because you have to be so intentional putting it on and wearing it, and I feel it’s a little daily practice in looking after yourself.
Would you say community is important in having a small business?
Definitely, I’ve pretty much only learnt from the community; I’ve done two workshops, one more recently to learn how to make chains, and one at the very start when I was first looking at making rings and lost wax casting technique. With that, like people from the community being really open and really transparent and happy to share who their suppliers are and all that kind of stuff. I wouldn’t have really learnt nearly as quickly as I did, I feel I was able to pick these things up so quickly because other jewellers were so just so kind and so friendly.
@unearthlyentity
How was it when mixing art with business - were there any challenges with it, or did it feel more rewarding?
It always feels a bit validating in a way where you kind of put something out there, and someone is like, “Oh, I actually really love that and I’ll spend my hard-earned money on something that you’ve made.” I think that’s a super exciting thing, and it makes it really like it’s the first time I’ve felt like, “Oh, I could actually maybe make this a bit of a thing.”Are there any projects or goals for 2024 that you would like to share?
Yeah, I have done primarily lost wax casting and rings, but I’m currently trying to build a workbench and make a soldering station so I can do chains and kind of use thrifted glass pendants and connecting them, and making some more like larger pieces as well so I feel that would be pretty cool.
You can support and find more about Renee and her upcoming work at her Instagram @unearthlyentity