Meet Austin James Smith, the visionary behind the avant-garde jewellery brand that's taken the world by storm. In this interview, Austin James discusses his creative process and the journey of creating his disruptive brand, offering insight into his inspiration, his approach to design, and his message of self-expression.

Greetings Austin James Smith, can you please introduce yourself? Where are you from? How long have you been designing jewellery?

Hello! My name is Austin James Smith, and I am from the Detroit metro area of Michigan in the US. I have been designing jewellery with my brand Austin James Smith for about 4 years now.

How did the brand originate?

The brand kind of emerged organically through my own creative curiosity. At the end of my college experience into my move to New York City, I began to experiment more with wearable sculpture as a fine art practice. Through this creative journey, I began to wear jewellery more myself and was finding that I wasn't very interested in what was currently on the market, which led to me figuring out how to make my own. I’ve always had a fascination with metal, and many of the sculptural pieces I was creating were very piercing-inspired. Leaving college, I felt very inspired to follow my intuition with my creative process, and so I followed the urge.

The pieces have a futuristic avant-garde design. What is the inspiration behind your creations?

I think because I was experimenting so much with my sculptural face art and costume, my design approach to jewellery has carried with it that same experimental nature. Every collection I create I try to create a certain theme visually around it that informs the design, as well as the season. For example, in the summer I love to be more playful with jewellery, wearing bright golds and crazier colours. So, in response to this, I made my collection very pirate and nautical-themed, making reference to the ocean. For this past winter collection I went for a more sleek futuristic route because that style feels more appropriate for the wintertime. I really enjoy riding the wave of what I'm feeling even for my own personal style and finding a fun and creative way to present it to people.

Your jewellery has gathered quite the buzz online, also being worn by big celebrities. Did you have any strategy in mind when creating your brand to position it in the market and push its growth?

First off, I am extremely grateful for the celebrity placement I've had with my pieces. With that being said, I never designed pieces with the thought of that even happening, and I think that plays in the reason it became successful. My design process always came from a place of natural artistic intuition that is fulfilling for me, and I think that shows in my work. I am super happy that people grasped what I put into the world, and with every new collection, I try to always remain authentic to myself and what I want to share. Whether a piece is worn and loved by a celebrity, or someone out in a small town, I am happy I could create something that brings someone joy. I think the key with jewellery is authenticity, jewellery is sentimental and when you create things you care about, people can tell.

What is the message that you are trying to send with your designs?

Jewellery for me and fashion in general has always been a way to test my own boundaries and push my own limits. I've created peace within myself as well as the world by letting go of the boundaries that have been built by other people of what I should be. Jewellery has been an amazing way to present who I am inside physically on the outside of my body, and it immediately attracts interesting like-minded people and also easily weeds out the ones who are not. I want anyone who enjoys my work to also feel that same level of calm and enjoyment when expressing themselves in the way that they want, and not the sense of shame some of us may be used to.

What is your dream collaboration?

I recently have been doing more custom jewellery design, whether it be variations in colours of past pieces I’ve created or fully custom pieces. I don’t particularly have one dream person or brand, in general, I’d like to work with, but I am excited just to do more custom projects in general!

What's in store for Austin James? Are you working on any cool projects that fans should be excited about?

Currently, I am working on my summer jewellery collection that I am very excited about. The design is funkier than any past collection but still pays homage to the brand's core identity. My last collection UTOPIA featured a more subdued design for winter, so I am very pumped to push the boundary even further with these new summer pieces.