Love Australian Jewellery Designers?
Meet Simone Walsh

A small jewellery business begins

1993

Simone saw an unusual piece of handmade jewellery and was intrigued by how it was made. She picked up some pliers, wire and glass to figure it out. Soon after she began making very simple designs and selling them at markets in Adelaide, South Australia: the very beginnings of Simone Walsh Jewellery.

Becoming a jewellery designer

1994

Simone decided to learn how to make more complex jewellery with precious metals. She ditched her job in the music industry and began studying full time: Visual Arts with a Jewellery Major at a technical college in South Australia, where Simone was awarded Most Outstanding Jewellery Student.

More education & art making

1998

After a stint living in Europe, Simone began a Bachelor of Visual Arts with a Jewellery Major at the University of Sydney in Australia. She started making and exhibiting artworks.

Simone graduated in 2000 and continued to design jewellery part time while working full time in marketing and web design for a non-profit.

An online jewellery store

2006

Simone took a gamble on a new online marketplace called Etsy. She was doubtful that customers would buy jewellery online, but sold her first piece within a few hours. She quickly built a busy little side hustle with customers around the world.

Simone opened her own online store at simonewalsh.com soon after, making it one of the first Australian online jewellery shops.

A growing jewellery brand

2009

Finally Simone was able to start running her Australian jewellery brand full time: something she had been working towards for years. Yay!

She was spending huge amounts of time in her workshop to keep up with demand, while also packing and shipping orders at a frantic pace as the business continued to grow.

Growing pains & changes

2014

Having returned to South Australia and partnering with her husband, the business experienced growing pains: Simone couldn't possibly work any harder to keep up with demand.

We decided to partner with an ethically run artisan workshop to make components to Simone's designs. While Simone still hand works, finishes and assembles our jewellery (and makes designs from scratch), this change has revolutionised our business and made it much more sustainable.

An Australian jewellery brand

Today

Simone is proud to be an Australian jewellery designer running a thriving independent jewellery brand with lovely customers around the world. She still loves designing jewellery, learning new skills and bringing joy to customers.

Decades after writing that letter, Simone now lives in the countryside, where she designs jewellery in silver, gold and gems.