Jewelery designer Elke Kramer, may have, she humbly recalls, “stumbled
into fashion” to begin with, but it hasn’t taken long for the
Sydney-based designer to find her feet. With her jewellery adorning
actress Keira Knightley on the cover of British Vogue this month,
Kramer’s eponymous wares have found their way into the spotlight. While
Kramer has become known for her distinctively geometric, Art
Deco-inspired aesthetic, it’s the unusual colors she uses in her designs
(which takes direction from botanical prints) that are the driving
forces behind her line. “I spend a lot of time on the palette and find
that the best color combinations come from nature,” says Kramer. “Nature
has, and always will, inspire me and my designs.” 
Kramer’s most recent
fall 2011 collection was derived from, she explains, “The poetry of
architecture and space. How not only architecture, but more specifically
shapes and forms, can evoke certain emotions and ideas.” The layering of
basic shapes in the collection, such as circles, squares and rectangles,
directly reference the Bauhaus movement – in this case, functionalism
inspires ornamention. So far, Kramer’s approach to, “Just do what makes
me happy, and design things that I would like to wear myself,” couldn’t
have worked out better – Opening Ceremony bought up her latest
collection, which is now in store, and Elke has recently branched out
into designing leather bags, belts and scarves as well as producing a
line of sunglasses with Australian eyewear brand COLAB.
elkekramer.com
Photos: Christopher Morris
