Ryan Storer isn’t what you’d expect. The Sydney-based jewellery designer—think glittering Swarovski earpieces and pearl-capped chokers—talks confidently as we sip our mid-morning coffees. He makes sweeping gestures with his hands, laughs at his own jokes, and apologises for straying off the questions.
In just a few short years, his self-titled label has become a must-have amongst fashion’s cool club. Georgia Jagger, Susie Bubble, and Isabelle Cornish are besotted with his ear cuffs. Working with a tiny team of part-time pieceworkers, Storer produces the bulk of collections himself in a studio shared with designer Emma Mulholland. He counts Net-a-Porter, Browns and Farfetch among his devote stockists. As his empire expands rapidly, Storer makes the time to fly abroad biannually and meet with perspective buyers in person. Each trip, he packs a baseball cap.
Let’s begin in the present. What are you working on this week?
I’ve just come back from Melbourne, a personal trip, and I’m finishing production for the AW14 orders and working on SS15, which needs to be ready in a few weeks. Scary!
In older interviews, you’ve suggested expanding into leather goods. Is that something that could happen soon?
Yes, in September. The first samples are coming in the next two weeks, so as soon as I approve those I’ll announce it is happening. I started with leather and I’ve always been very passionate about it. Initially I’ll do bags and I might do a belt or two. I know I’m going to have to do some kind of evening clutch – I’d be crucified if I didn’t!
It’s interesting to look at the cult popularity of your pieces. At least half your online store is perpetually sold out. Did you ever expect demand would be so strong?
I’ve been fortunate. Within the first collection, and even in the second one, there have been three to four styles that have just gone crazy. I don’t know how, but everyone picks up the same style. For me, it’s important to edit my collection tightly. I only put through a really small amount to production—under 10 pieces. I hate too many. I’ve worked for many years [for other designers] with collections of 250 plus pieces and it just destroys it.
There are countless Ryan Storer imitators. How did you feel the first time you came into contact with a high street rip-off?
I was angry, but I thought, ‘There’s nothing I can do”. It’s China and their laws—you can’t protect jewellery like that. I bought an immitation online and it was bad. It was this big earpiece and it was all flattened, it didn’t move. I just needed to see what they did to it. They destroyed it! Later, a local designer bought it from my online store and within a few months they were selling it. That’s the worst. That made me angry, more so than China, where they go to Net-a-Porter, see a trend and copy it.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?
In a way it’s good to know people are watching what you’re doing.
Where did the concept for that signature crystal earpiece originate?I don’t really know. When I worked at Peter Lang I used a similar aesthetic, but no one bought it. It’s something that’s always been a design thread for me over the years. I don’t like anything too big, chunky, and sparkly. I wanted one [of those early pieces] to look like broken glass, but it slowly morphed into a more delicate fan.
Are you a collector?
My walls are mainly covered in art I collect when I travel. Most recently I bought antique masks in Mexico, these Day of the Dead masks. Tony Viramontes is an 80s illustrator, I bought a piece from him in London.
Where’s the best place for you to be right now?
New York.
Would you move there?
I’ve been thinking about it since the last trip, especially with what we saw in Milan and Paris. At the Milan event Anna Wintour walked through, I mean, when does she walk through anywhere? It’s a totally different world.