Stainless steel is one of the most skin-friendly metals! It is also super rust-resistant, tarnish-resistant, water-resistant and corrosion-resistant. It is completely fine to wear in water, pools, showers and long term. There is a good reason why cutlery is made from it, it lasts!
While stainless steel is considered hypoallergenic, and people like me who have sensitive skin can totally wear it, there are a group of people with severe nickel allergies who may react to the minimal nickel content in stainless steel. Some cutlery pieces have less nickel than others, but I may not be able to confirm 100% what the grade is unless it is engraved on the back of the piece.
The brass padlocks are also not considered skin safe, but they are the only jewellery component that aren’t! Everything else is 100% stainless steel.
I will do my best to ship orders within 2 business days of purchase. There shouldn’t be any reason for delays longer than this, but if there is I will inform you immediately or before you get to checkout (if a component is out of stock for example). For the made-to-order items I will aim to ship within 3 business days.
I dispatch the orders from my town’s local post shop so for now expect to see my bad handwriting on your packages! Haha
I prefer to use recyclable or secondhand materials to pack and wrap your order rather than brand new packaging. Examples are secondhand bubble wrap, newspapers or magazines. I also use small black mesh bags too which I purchased secondhand.
Shipping is priced is tiered based on size and goes by the largest item in your cart. Economy and courier options are offered but we cannot guarantee any shipping times. Courier companies often have unforeseen delays.
If you order a bag and some other small items, I may carefully package the smaller items into the bag.
Your order will be shipped with NZ Post and either urban/metro or rural depending on your location. The current system we have doesn’t determine this for you, so we are trusting you to be honest if your address is rural.
Right now, no! Sorry! Just while i’m starting out I will only be shipping to addresses in Aotearoa New Zealand. The international shipping is complex atm and super expensive.
SUPER IMPORTANT! Follow the instructions and recommendations on each product page. You can use a soft tape measure (they are super cheap and found anywhere, or raid your mum’s junk draw) or a piece of paper – check out the size guide here. It is my responsibility to list the accurate dimensions and measurements but it is your responsibility to choose correctly based on these measurements.
If you are based in Christchurch or Canterbury, I may be able to assist with re-sizings after purchase, just shoot me a message.
If you have purchased a ring that is slightly too tight, it may be possible to SLOWLY open it up yourself using a strong, long, strong pair of long nosed pliers. only open the ring tiny amounts, rotating where you are pulling it open, GENTLY AND SLOWLY. After you have opened it a tiny amount, try it on first before opening any further. It is much easier to make it larger than make it smaller so be really careful. And keep in mind your finger size expands throughout the day.
Padlocks are the ONLY jewellery component that are not stainless steel but every other component is including the cutlery, clasps, jump rings, chains – all are S/S. The padlocks are either hard plastic coated or brass – brass can irritate skin so keep that in mind when purchasing if you’re planning to wear directly on the skin. The plastic coated ones should not irritate the skin at all. People really love the padlocks which is why I still include them in my collection. All other jewellery – depending on the piece it will be either 304 or 316 S/S. The chunky hardware style chains are 316 marine grade. SUPER tough stuff! The specific materials will be listed on the product page.
For the other accessories like the bags and jean chains, they have primarily stainless steel chains and hardware too, however some components are an alloy metal (like the spikes!) I also use metal rings that I thrifted, and other random components. I love hunting the op shops for interesting components to add to bags and jean chains, some thrifted items I may not know exactly what kind of metal it is.
I would always prefer to incorporate thrifted components however for all the skin-touching jewellery (aside from the padlocks) I ONLY use stainless steel as most skin types tolerate it well.
Unfortunately anyone with a severe nickel allergy will be unable to wear my jewellery. Really sorry! Even if I purchased titanium chains and clasps the piece of cutlery would still be S/S or other components therefore I have made the choice to make exclusively S/S jewellery.
Short answer: YES!
Long answer: every finished product is designed and handmade by me, however I do not make every single chain link by hand for example or forge steel. I purchase the chains in bulk, cut them down and assemble with the jewellery findings like clasps and jump rings.
I make all the cutlery pieces from existing cutlery that has been thrifted/op-shopped. I NEVER purchase cutlery brand new, this would defeat the purpose! The cool patterns and designs on the cutlery are already engraved, the vintage ones are particularly cool! I don’t engrave any of the designs myself however I do punch the letters in by hand myself for the punched rings/pieces. The cutlery pieces get cut, filed, sanded, bent, drilled, cleaned, polished by me in my garage and then assembled in my workroom.
All the resurrected bags have been thrifted and I repair them, clean them, install metal hardware and accessories, add functional chains, replace straps etc. I will never purchase a bag brand new, it would defeat the purpose! I do really want a sewing machine though so I can create from thrifted fabrics.
Every piece of cutlery you see and every bag – YES – 100% thrifted/op-shopped. As mentioned, I will never purchase these pieces brand new, it would totally defeat the purpose! My focus is on slow fashion and using existing items and recycling/repurposing wherever possible.
HOWEVER there are many components/accessories I use that are just not possible to thrift consistently, as much as I would like to! These include: chains, clasps, jump rings, padlocks, hex nuts, shackles, carabiners, quick links, steel rings etc.
I have thrifted a TON of metal rings however I reserve these for bags and jean chains because they are not stainless steel and I wouldn’t want them to irritate your skin!
I always prioritise using existing goods and spend a lot of time in op shops, however I do love creating cool pieces out of other new steel components (like hex nuts, love you x).
Keep in mind that I am one person operating a small hand-made product business incorporating second-hand/thrifted components therefore cosmetic imperfections will likely be present. With that in mind, OF COURSE I do not want you to receive a faulty product, or disappoint my customers. Where reasonable, I will absolutely accept a return if the item is faulty or broken upon delivery. However this does not include general wear and tear of a secondhand component, or fraying of a bag handle, scratches on cutlery etc. Disclaimers will be present on every product page for this reason.
Every case is up for discussion of course. If there is damage or extreme wear on the piece that you were really not expecting or are unhappy with and it impacts the function of the item, we can discuss options. Just please keep in mind I am NOT a big corporate greedy company with endless funds. I will need to obtain information before considering a refund or accepting return in accordance with the consumer guarantees act.
This is a hot topic right now and I want to address it off the bat! I do not use ANY AI for any photography, writing, designs, social captions, videos. I write every word myself, which is why there are probably mistakes, but I would rather be 100% real and speak as myself. AI is problematic and more awareness is needed as it is becoming increasingly harder to tell what is real and what is fake. To an extent I fully understand some people needing more assistance. I am all for people making their lives easier, but not at the cost of harming (and deceiving) people or impacting the environment.
WARNING: Really shitty people are creating fake AI accounts pretending to be artists who hand-make items, pretending they are not mass-manufactured. Unfortunately people are falling for these scams and the pages spend all day deleting comments from the people who call them out.
One of the reasons I am so active on socials and create a lot of content of myself is to be a real face amongst all the bullshit and fakeness that is in the world right now. We are losing human connection, let’s do better! One of my favourite things about this whole venture is actually connecting with people. AI creates art that is stolen from real artists and shitty people sell that art.
I am lucky my ADHD lead me into a thousand creative pursuits in life which allowed me to pick up a bunch of random skills like photography, graphic design & writing. Plus a crazy amount of perfectionist tendencies means I work way too hard and do way too much and am overly critical of everything I do, one of the many reasons this website took SO long to finish! Lol.
My partner has built the entire website and I make most of the design choices and all the product pages. I do all of the product photography and graphic design. We really love it and hope you do too!