December 14, 2011

jewellery designer taë schmeisser





Melbourne-based Tae Schmeisser only launched her jewellery label Beuy at the start of December, and already she's been blown away by the response. It's her second label, after exhibiting in galleries with her eponymous line since 2002. Tae has a BA in Visual Arts (glass) from the Australian National University, and has studied ceramics and glass in Japan.

Which five words best describe you? Energetic, driven, focused, curious, observant.
How did you get your career start and what path have you taken since? After finishing my visual arts degree five years ago, I started stocking my glass jewellery pieces at the Canberra store Bijoux. While I felt nervous about having my work critiqued, the response was positive. The reward was certainly worth the risk to my ego. Next I enrolled in a gold and silversmithing course so I could learn about and work with other materials. Now, after a number of years making gallery pieces, I am excited to launch a jewellery label that can offer something creatively and technically innovative as well as being more accessible for a broader range of people.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt along the way? Always get professional photography! Investing in your work and its presentation can only have positive results.
What’s your proudest career achievement? Launching my label bëuy! Gaining the experience, knowledge and the nerve to take the creative and professional leap. Sometimes you need to make wrong turns and take the long way around to be certain of what you want, and how much you’re willing to put at stake for it. But the detours can also be a lot of fun!
What’s been your best decision? Surrounding myself with people who offer different perspectives, support and insight. People who make me laugh. Everyone has life lessons and experiences to share. Listening is invaluable. Sometimes you just need someone with a fresh perspective to ask you the right question and it can help resolve a design or technical glitch.
Who inspires you? Anyone who has a passion that no matter how mundane, outrageous, unconventional or unprofitable it may seem just keeps working at it, refining and evolving their practice, because they could not imagine living without it.
What are you passionate about? Sharing my perspective through my work, even though it may not always be terribly enlightening to anyone else! I get excited and inspired by everyday objects - a well-crafted spoon that perfectly balances form and function, the geometric beauty of a rib cage.
Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? A few girlfriends and I were actually talking about how we would love to have dinner with Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton from At the Movies - they are both so fervent and even when they absolutely disagree, you can still see the respect between them.
What dream do you still want to fulfil? I hope that I never run out of dreams and goals. At the moment, I am working on the next collection for bëuy. My ultimate dream is to extend into homewares and fashion. I want to create a brand that delivers a recognisable and unique aesthetic with new approaches to materials. I want people to be able to look at a piece in New York, Paris or Batemans Bay and straight away say, “That’s a bëuy...”
What are you reading? My wonderful Dad gave me a cheeky book, The book of general ignorance, part two. I think he was trying to tell me something.


images courtesy of beuy