interview with Jamie Lyn, the creative mind behind Ax + Apple

By ls On March 21, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Hi everyone! I feel really lucky when I get to speak with women who are super creative and are running their own businesses. Today’s interview is with Jamie Lyn from jewelry line Ax + Apple.

lucky star: How would you describe your brand?

Jamie Lyn: I’d say the Ax + Apple style is pretty laid back, but maintains a keen sense of thoughtful curation. We try to invoke vintage spirit without being dusty. I think a lot of my designing deals with the juxtoposition of opposites. Shiny and dull, masculine and feminine, sharp and dull, textured and smooth. You get it. It’s all in the name. It is who we are.

ls: When did you know that you wanted to design jewelry?

JL: I didn’t know I wanted to design jewelry until I started doing it. It was really as though it chose me, not the other way around. I had been working as a props person in film and the production designer I worked with bought me a bag of old coins from a flea market. I brought them home, drilled holes in them and put them on chains. That was how it all started.

ls: Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?

JL: I draw inspiration from all around me, but recently I’ve been trying hard to draw it from within me. I find the key to innovation in any facet of design is to not pay too much attention to what is out there, but to try to tap more into what is inside. That’s where the magic hides. I am working hardest when I am in the bathtub staring at the white walls. The key for me is to pay just enough attention to know what’s out there, but not enough that it starts to infiltrate your dreams. I come up with a lot of my ideas in my dreams.

ls: Tell us a little bit about your design process.

JL: I have always been a treasure hunter. Always sourcing everywhere I go, whether it be a store, the street, or the forest. A lot of the process for me involves coming across materials I feel connected to, then laying them out like puzzle pieces and seeing how they fit together. Recently, I have begun carving wax and having castings made from those carvings. In this medium I start with a sketch, then as I start carving, I let the wax reveal itself to me. I always try to let the materials I am working with inform the process as much as my ideas of what I am trying to achieve. I think if you work with your materials instead of trying to dominate them, you end up with much fresher and organic results.

ls: Do you have favorite fashion blogs, designers, or magazines that you look at frequently?

JL: I love Natalie Off Duty. Natalie is a model and quite a muse. Her style embodies everything I feel we are about as a brand. Other than that, I am pretty addicted to Tumblr. I follow tons of fashion blogs on there. It’s my link to what’s going on out there in the world!

ls: If you were trapped on a desert island, what three things would you bring with you?

JL: My ipod! I would be lost without my music. A sketchpad. A polaroid camera. I feel like as long as I had my creative outlets I’d be fine

ls: What is your favorite movie, book, season, and food?

JL: Too hard… I love them all!!!

ls: What is your ideal vacation?

JL: Anywhere warm with an blue ocean where I never have to wear more than a bikini, skirt and sandals. I really want to go to Morocco. It is next on my list.