It’s easy to avoid fast fashion when it comes to accessories. Australian makers are flexing their creative muscles and making fantastic earrings and jewellery on shore from natural and recycled materials. The materials being used range from copper to resin and everything in between, and the brands that are doing something a little different to the standard glitter-filled-acrylic stand out in more ways than one. Here’s some of my favourite on the scene.

Pictured: Sarsha Simone wearing Doodad and Fandango – Photo by @SocializeMedia

1. Doodad and Fandango

Doodad and Fandango

It would be offensive if I didn’t lead with this sweet ear candy. Doodad and Fandango has created a serious cult with its pop art accessories and let me just say that as a brand, you know you’ve made it when your customers refer to your goods like they do to this brand – a sentence often muttered between friends: “Are you wearing your Doodad’s tonight?” One of the coolest things about this statement brand is the ability to customise. You can get big heart dangles with your significant other’s name on it or earrings that look like your face (on your dog’s face). No joke, the resemblance is uncanny.

2. Denz and Co

Denz & Co

Not your traditional design or materials and therefore pertinent to this list is Denz and Co. These accessories are made from enamelled copper and painted, to some how end up appearing old school and contemporary at the same time. The contrasting colours are my favourite and will quirk up any outfit. The Denz and Co accessories are made by a husband-wife team in the Noosa Hinterland in Queensland.

3. Concrete Jellyfish

This Aussie designer has created contemporary ear candy that resembles the country’s icons, animals and associated designs. The materials used are a mixture of resin, rope and metal, that together make these huge works of wearable art that are almost too precious to take out of the house. All of the earrings are huge and will be the statement piece to any outfit. They’re all ethically made by the artist in sunny Queensland.

4. Martha Jean

Martha Jean

Melbourne-based accessory designer Anna Nicols is the founder and maker behind Martha Jean. With a background in fine art and textile design, Anna says she’s drawn to colour and form which influences the design of her acrylic and resin based accessories. The Martha Jean earrings collection is handmade in Australia in a studio powered by renewables.

5. Pixie Nut and Co 

From her studio in the colourful town of Nimbin, NSW, Philippa Nilant designs and creates for her illustration-based label, Pixie Nut & Co. Inspired by nature and Australian wildlife, Philippas’ naive-style, hand painted designs are translated into clothing, fabrics, scarves and iconic wooden earrings and brooches. Shop for super cute earrings featuring Australian native flowers and animals.

6. Each To Own

This Northern NSW-based brand made some of the first sparkle-filled plastic studs and dangles that have now been commercialised by nearly every other maker on around the globe. But that’s a good thing, because they’re bloody beautiful and we want more of them in our life. The wares here are a mixture of acrylic, sparkles and metal, in traditional shapes and sizes. They’re all ethically made by the designer in her leafy Murwillumbah studio.

7. Kirrelee & Co

Kirralee and Co

The Kirralee & Co team includes four makers who work out of a large solar-powered shed on a suburban farm near Ipswich, Queensland. The team says they’re driven to create design-oriented, minimal, ethical and sustainable solutions for living and decorating. Along with vases, shelves and knives, the brands makes a gorgeous earring collection in neutral wood tones.

8. Busyhead Design

Mmmmm… gin. Busyhead’s earrings are very quirky and reasonably priced so you can start stacking up a collection without breaking your budget. The brand’s bold and bright colours and novelty design stands it apart from other earrings to the point where once you’ve seen them you’ll recognise them everywhere. The novelty of the design usually gets me over the line, but I also love that they’re locally made to last.