Eureka 431: How to build a signature style

0:14You're listening to Eureka on Monocle Radio, brought to you by the team behind the entrepreneurs, the show all about inspiring people, innovative companies and fresh ideas in global business. I'm Tom Edwards. Elliot Andre is the founder and designer of EXA Studio, a unisex jewellery brand he launched in 2020 after teaching himself how to 3D print during the pandemic. The collection features rings, necklaces and accessories in abstract shapes and out-of-this-world designs, all handcrafted in his East London studio. Result, pieces that look otherworldly, part ancient relic, part future artefact.

0:52Five years on, Elliot's designs have appeared at London Fashion Week, been featured in a Netflix series and are now available at Nordstrom, with more exciting partnerships on the horizon. So, how do you build to a signature style, and how do you balance the primacy of creative expression with the needs of running a quickly growing business? Well, here is Elliot with more on how the journey began.

1:21This all started in 2020. It was the beginning of the pandemic. I was always curious about wanting to sort of design. I come from a design family. My sister, she just finished university. Her mum was a streetwear designer in the 90s. I come from a music background myself, but I was fascinated by how things are made, processing things, and that's what pushed me to jewellery. I started learning 3D printing, CAD, and that's what sort of started my jewellery journey. And that's all been self-taught. The moment that changed things for me was in 2022. I got reached out to by a costume designer working on a film for Daniel Kaluuya called The Kitchen.

2:03That's out on Netflix right now. Their team messaged me, was like, we like your stuff. We want to buy it. I gave it to them, rushed, made it while I was still working full time. so obviously I was doing that on the side while working my job. Dropped the rings off, didn't hear anything for about two years and I thought, OK, nothing's come of it, they probably even used them, they tried them on, they didn't like them. Last year, the film was released, I was watching it and I paused it, like, that's my stuff. So it was incredible and just seeing my rings in that situation, on that film, especially the themes of the film, it was incredible.

2:44My work does have a timeless abstract appeal. I want it to always look fresh, but at the same time not dated. My inspiration is heavily influenced by sci-fi, the great unknown, sort of past and present. So I want it to always look like it's sort of future, but you found it, unearthed it from the earth, basically, thinking, where have this come from? That's how my work is. The materials I use, I use silver, I use a lot of gemstones, precious gemstones, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, garnets. I'm a huge fan of black sapphires, black diamonds, black stones. They look quite strong. The things I've had to learn is you can't do everything by yourself.

3:26Occasionally you will need help. And that's where I've had some of the help from Darren Hidlow. He's a part of Novellbox. He's definitely helped push me and introduced me to some important contacts who have given me feedback in a sense that the stuff I'm working on, what could be better, what could be better than that, the business side of it, the social media side, because, you know, there's a lot you need to do and it's not just the making part. And I think it's important to know where your skills stop. I'm not a photographer. I'm not a social media executive or stuff like that. So I need to know where my skills start and where my skills stop and get the right people in that can help me with that.

4:04I've just started this partnership through Nordstrom. I have about seven pieces on there at the moment, two pendants and about five rings more to be added very soon. It's incredible, especially seeing from my journey back then till now and seeing how much further it can go in the next few years. It makes me feel excited. It's incredible to see, you know, the stuff I've made on places like Nordstrom, in places like Netflix films, seeing them in magazines. It's incredible and it's definitely inspirational for myself because I like pushing myself and that's what I like doing. I like seeing how far I can take something.

4:39There's something exciting happening in June. Physically, I can't say yet, but it's going to be incredible. Paris in September, showing up for my first time there, and hopefully New York in the next year as well. In the future, I hope that the XA Studio will be a staple brand. I like the pace I'm currently going at, and I'd like to take it a lot further. But next year, I want to see more shots, more people wearing it, more films, because I think that's a part of it I really enjoyed. finding that my work can fit into these certain worlds and can transition seamlessly into it. It's quite nice.

5:23That was Elliot Andre, the founder and designer of EXA Studio. You can learn more by heading to ex-a.com. And that's all for this episode of Eureka. We'll be back at the same time next week. The programme was produced by Laura Kramer, with audio editing by Jack Dewars. Listen again and find out more at the website monocle.com. That's where you can join the club and subscribe to Monocle magazine, or feel free to follow us and browse the archive wherever you get your audio. To contact the team, email Laura on lrk at monocle.com. I'm Tom Edwards. Goodbye, and thanks for listening to Eureka.