Right here in our hometown of Melbourne, Australia. Though originally designed by Louisa Camille, since late 2014 we've worked with an amazing mix of Australian illustrators and artists. These incredibly talented women are responsible for the design work which brings our collections to life. Elements of the design work are done remotely (within Australia) by the illustration team, but all designs are refined, finalised and submitted into production from our HQ here in Melbourne. Erstwilder design work has and always will be completed locally.
Production has always been completed in China, with components and being sourced across Asia. We've worked with the same wonderful manufacturer right from the beginning and have, over the years, developed wonderful relationships with our equally quirky production team, becoming very close with the small family owned resin producer.
Our designs are not made exclusively by hand, though many of the processes are completed this way. Designs are produced initially from laser cut sheets of resin. Layers are then hand assembled to create that Erstwilder signature depth and dimensionality. All painted detailing is also finished by hand.
Most certainly! Our teams visit the production facilities regularly each year to ensure that workers are operating in an environment which is fair and ethical, and that the small family owned and operated business responsible for our production shares these values. No employees are under the age of 18, salaries increase each year in line with living costs and all employees are entitled to join unions should they so choose. Additionally, an independent government organisation visits the facility to ensure all production processes are safe. As a label that exists to spread a little joy in the world, the safety and fair treatment of our production team is of the utmost importance to us.
Many hands are involved in producing an Erstwilder design. The process begins with our illustrators hands; creating unique, original character-based artworks. Once the layers of a given design have been laser cut, the layers and all components are then assembled by hand. Any additional painted detailing is also completed by hand. Because of the manual and human approach we take to production pieces may have slight variations in component sizes, colouring and even resin patterns. We like it this way and tend to think it makes our designs as unique from each other as the wonderful people wearing them.
The main component of all our designs is resin, reminiscent of the gorgeous 1930’s Bakelite originally used for vintage radio and telephone casings. The components used have changed over time. We’re always searching for the best possible quality. At present (for designs released from February 2018 onward), designs are produced using beautiful and strong silver-plated steel brooch pins. All earring posts, earring hooks, necklace chains and jump rings are made from stainless steel. Component information specific to each design can also be found on product pages under the ‘Info’ tab.
All Erstwilder designs are produced in a limited numbers for world-wide release and once sold out they do not return. From time-to-time very popular pieces are brought back with new resin colours or textures but once our production limit is reached, the design is taken off production never to return! In the early years’ production was capped as low at 200 units. The label has increased this over time to a standard maximum of 1500 pieces and an ‘extended limited release’ of 2000 pieces, to enable us to meet the demand from our community and prevent too many people from missing out. But designs released to a given maximum will remain at the limits in place at the time they were produced to ensure their collectability. We also don’t produce the same number of pieces for each design. Rather, we try our best to guess how popular a piece will be and produce accordingly. We’re only human and don’t always get this right (is it rather tricky!) and it does mean we can sell out of styles quickly, so snap your favourites up before they disappear!
*Excludes Erstwilder Essentials, Enamel Pins and scarves which are not specifically limited and may come in and out of stock ongoing.
