Introducing: surō

Introducing Australian brand surō. surō was first launched in 2017 by Creative L.D Malone and Fashion Photographer Hannah Rouche. We spoke with Hannah about the journey behind surō, the importance of ethical jewellery and their design inspiration. 


surō Pierre Earrings, surō Salamano Earrings  

How is your jewellery ethical and talk us through this process.

Ethics are at the core of surō. l.d’s background in moral philosophy and my experience as a fashion photographer informs what we do in terms of our production and manufacturing of our designs. Our sterling silver is sourced exclusively from recycled precious metals, which means goldsmith refinings. We also try to do this with our gold wherever possible. In addition to this, everything is made in Australia from design to production. Nothing is outsourced overseas which not only results in high-end production but also ensures the importance of human life in terms of safe working conditions and fair wages. We firmly believe in radical transparency when it comes to production processes, and this is one of the pillars of surō: design merging with fashion and morality. 

 

What was the staring point to this second collection and how does it differ from your first? 

In the first collection we emphasised perfection in design whereas in this collection we really valued imperfection and contradiction, and we did this by juxtaposing high polished surfaces against texture and abstraction with practicality. 

surō Masson Pendent Necklace

You haven’t always been a jeweller, tell us how and when you fell in love with the art of being a silversmith. 

l.d was learning traditional furniture making at Australia’s oldest craft institution. It was here that I decided to enrol in an evening class in silversmithing and I encouraged l.d. to do it with me because I thought he’d love the detail driven aspect of it. As a photographer working in a fast paced digital industry, a lot of my work has a short life span as I move onto the next project. I fell in love with jewellery because you can exist with something that’s not only tangible, but something that lives with you over the course of an entire lifetime. 

 

You have a lot of friends in the fashion industry as a photographer, do these women impact on your design process and do you ever create pieces with these women in mind? 

Definitely, I love having discussions with these women around design, fashion and ergonomics. 

As a fashion photographer you have captured thousands of beautifully created pieces, did the thought of how your pieces would be seen through the lens impact on your designs? 

In my experiences of photographing jewellery, it is easy for pieces to get lost visually. With this in mind, we wanted to create a balance of statement jewellery that has a strong editorial look that’s also wearable in everyday life.