Q & A With Designer Elke Kramer

Angelina: Who is Elke?

Elke: I am the creative director and founder of Studio Elke, and co-founder of Common Knowledge Projects, the mothership that looks after many projects including Studio Elke. I am also mother, knitter, baker, pickler, and lover of beautiful objects, surfaces and places. 

A: Tell us about the boxes that your jewelry come in; they're amazing and change every season...

E: We lovingly create the bespoke packaging, not just to transport the jewelry, but to also house it so that it has an extended life-span. All of our manufacturing is ethical and sustainable, and we care a lot about creating objects that are not fashion-driven and disposable. We lovingly, hand-paint large sheets of French art paper, which is then shipped to Indonesia, and hand-cut, foil-stamped, then formed into the different shapes and forms we concoct each season. Its an element of fun for us, to paint, swoosh and spritz the paper. It gets us away from our screens and gets our hands dirty!
 
A: Where is the line produced?

E: We have fostered an amazing relationship with incredible makers based out of Bali, Indonesia, for over 10 years now. They have the highest standards of ethical and sustainable production, and urge us to give them a lot of time and low numbers as they take pride on hand making items with love. It works really well for our business model, which is to produce limited runs across many styles, so that products remain unique.
 
A: Do you have plans to extend the jewelry line to other objects?

E: We are about to launch our first line of Studio Elke objects, due to land mid-Oct, including jewelry boxes, as well as bracelet and earring stands. Really excited to add them to our range. And of course there's other dream projects on the horizon! Textiles, homewares, garments….We're currently doing a large scale collaboration with a commercial carpeting company, which is exciting. We have created collaborative eyewear and footwear in the past, and we love to extend our creative vision  to different mediums.
 
A: Where do you find yourself turning to for inspiration these days

E: It's hard to stay off Instagram and Pinterest. I am ashamed to say I am a glutton for visual content and its so easy to consume. But I also love travel, and find my creative mind really opens when I get away from my desk and screens in general. I recently followed my partner to Alaska. He is a photographer and was working on an art project. We spent weeks in a little van, hurtling down Alaskan highways, sleeping amongst the most majestic ice capped mountains. It was completely magic.
 
A: What gets you out of bed in the morning?

E: My 2 wild, gorgeous little boys, aged 1.5 yrs. and 4yrs., who wake up and leap on me around 6 am. They are so full of love and delicious kisses, so its a joy to get up.

A: When do you feel like the best version of yourself?

E: Poolside or oceanside, when I freestyle all my troubles away. There's something rebirthing about enveloping yourself in water; you always come out with a clearer head.

A: Something you have yet to figure out?

E: How to be mindful, to slow down, and to engage in the present. Running a busy business and looking after 2 even busier little boys, means that I often don’t have a moment to stop. It's something that I am trying to master at the moment. We only have one life, so you need to work had to not let it speed past.

A: Something you have figured out?

E: Not to sweat the small stuff, and that it is all small stuff!

See Elke's jewelry in the shop here.