Hi, I'm Kayla // I'm 25 years old and I live on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. I run Atoll myself from home, and am a touring musician, so life is pretty busy and I’m pretty much at the bench whenever I get the chance between gigs!
In December 2018, I did a short silversmithing course with a great local teacher and fell in love with the art of metalsmithing. I then got all my own tools, set up a bench at home and began experimenting and teaching myself.
I love working with opal, as no two are ever the same, and I especially like to pick out ones that have extra quirks and details. When creating each piece, I go with the flow and craft the metal to how I feel it will best showcase the stone in a raw, organic way.
I work with solid Australian opal, from Queensland boulder, to Lightning Ridge opals, and South Australian white opal, all of which are cut and polished by my dad Steve from Smart Opals. He sources them directly from mining families around Australia, so when purchasing my pieces you can be confident that you are buying responsibly sourced and crafted opal jewellery, from miner to maker.
Dad has been cutting opal ever since I was little - over 15 years now - and it's safe to say his love of opal definitely got passed down to me. As a kid, you'd usually find me beading and playing around with jewellery wire - I think that our two hobbies were always meant to come together at some point.
Atoll jewellery is for everyone.
With my rings I try to make them in lots of different sizes and designs so they can be worn any kind of way by anyone. One ring could be a pinky ring for one person while the same ring could fit on the thumb of another - if you like it, then it's for you :)
Same goes with pendants and earrings, gift 'em to ya grandma, boyfriend, uncle, anyone.
Why the manta ray logo? I actually saw my first manta diving off the Cocos Keeling atoll, and I was completely in awe as it circled around my dad, the instructor, and I for a few minutes, checking us out. As it slowly swam off into the blue I knew from that moment they were going to be my favourite animal for life.
Lil' backstory on the name 'Atoll'
With an atoll being collection of islands formed in the shape of a ‘ring’, I thought it’d be a fitting name for a jewellery label (bad pun I know). Jokes aside, it felt very fitting as I have always been inspired by the ocean environment, through growing up by the sea. I lived on Hamilton Island as a young kid, and intermittently in the past few years, as well as on the Sunshine Coast, and I have always drawn influence from the raw beauty of nature in my art, music, and now metalsmithing.
The name works twofold, as opals are full of colours and patterns alike to the marine environments that exist around atolls - dazzling blue/green seas filled with all colours of coral and marine life. Some opals look like they have their own group of islands, created by ironstone on the surface of the stone, or look like they have a coral reef, deep sea currents, a fiery sunset or even a glimpse of a clear night's sky, full of stars and galaxies painted on the face of them. It’s a real nice connection I found between different worlds in nature.