Foreign.
You're listening to Eureka on Monocle Radio.
Brought to you by the team behind the entrepreneurs, the show all about inspiring people, innovative companies and fresh ideas in global business.
I'm Tom Edwards.
Elliot Andre is the founder and designer of Exa Studio, a unisex jewelry brand he launched in 2020 after teaching himself how to 3D print during the Pandemic.
The collection features rings, necklaces and accessories in abstract shapes and out of this world designs, all handcrafted in his East London studio.
Result pieces that look otherworldly.
Part ancient relic, part future artifact.
Five years on, Elliott's designs have appeared at London Fashion Week, been featured in a Netflix series and are now available at Nordstrom with more exciting partnerships on the horizon.
So how do you build to a signature style?
And how do you balance the primacy of creative expression with the needs of running a quickly growing business?
Well, here is Elliot with more on how the journey be.
This all started in 2020.
It was the beginning of the Pandemic.
I was always curious about wanting to sort of design.
I come from a design family.
My sister, she just finished university, her mum was a streetwear designer in the 90s.
I come from a music background myself but I was fascinated by how things are made, processing things and that's what pushed me to jewellery.
I started learning 3D printing, CAD and that's what sort of started my jewellery journey.
And that's all been self taught.