One of the things I really admire about Erstwilder is their willingness to work and collaborate with local and international artists. I tell you what, if I ever learn how to properly draw, I will definitely hope that one day Erstwilder notices me and wants to turn my scribbles into brooches. But not today, today, we are celebrating someone with proper artistic skills, Jocelyn Proust and her brand new collaboration with Erstwilder. If you’re unaware of Jocelyn Proust, she is an Australian artist and illustrator and has established an international reputation for creating striking abstract prints in a clean graphic style. Bold use of colour is the signature element in Jocelyn’s designs and is always the starting point for her creative process. Her designs are often a fine balance between simplicity and complex detail. Living on the north coast of NSW, Jocelyn often draws inspiration from her natural environment. From observing, photographing and drawing plants and birds in her garden, she uses these natural elements to create unique designs suitable for use on a wide range of products. Jocelyn is now widely recognised for her Australian Native Flora and Australian Birds Collections.

If you’re an avid sewing enthusiast like me, you might recognise Jocelyn’s designs on many fabrics found in Spotlight and personally, I really love her floral designs especially when they have native birds scattered throughout he design. This collaboration is a wonderful celebration of Australiana highlighting our unique and diverse flora and fauna. The collection includes brooches, earrings, necklaces, scarves and essential earrings. As always, I am very lucky to be able to share with you some of my favourite pieces from the collection. This collection is full of wonderful treasures so check it out on the Erstwilder website before they disappear.

I have a particular soft spot for all the wonderful birds we have in Australia. Especially in summer, our front yard has many willy wag tails that cause all sorts of mischief much to the amusement of Brian, my cat. Willy wag tails are small birds, but don’t let them fool you. They will bully their way into a space, take on birds many times their size and just don’t put up with nonsense. Trust me, I’ve seen them take on Kookaburras, crows, magpies and cockatoos who dared to land in their territory … and win.
These tough little birds are amazing and I’m so glad to have them made into brooches which I can wear everywhere I go. The resin patterns in these birds is incredible and I love all the details added to the feathers to give these little guys a big personality.

The wattle plant is iconically Australian and many of us on the West Coast have a big soft spot for it. Probably one of my favourite natives plants, the wattle is beautiful, delicate and abundant. To have a wattle turned into a resin brooch is a wonderful thing, I love the different shades of yellow and gold making each wattle as unique as the true plant themselves.
This brooch has a sense of delicacy to it and I love the silvery tones of the stems. It all really helps to draw out the yellow in the flowers themselves.

I used to have a Major Mitchel bird as a pet when I was younger, his name was Mitch (yeah, super creative) but he was the best boy ever who was always up to mischief, could curse in two languages and had more sass than any other parrot I knew. This brooch is probably my favourite from the whole collection and the pink resin tones really come together to give the parrot the perfect amount of sass. This Major Mitchel is really beautiful, with red and pink being my favourite colour combination, I can see myself wearing this brooch a lot.

There are some really beautiful scarf designs in this collection and you can see Jocelyn’s skills in designing textiles. Like always, there are two sizes (head which is a small square and neck which is a long rectangle) and each design is perfectly played out to highlight the amazing illustrations. These scarves would make a wonderful gift and I know I will definitely treasure mine. For those who also fall in love with designs, this is the scarf collection you would frame and hang up. The designs are a perfect blend of flora and fauna which are amplified with bold colours and contrasting tones.

I think my favourite scarf is the Major Mitchel neck scarf (is anyone shocked? haha!). The colours just really work well together and I’m glad the background was a blue/grey tone as it makes the pink and red tones really pop. I like to style my neck scarves by tying a big bow around my neck as it helps the design really stand out and if you have a matching brooch, it makes a great centre piece. I think this is such a wonderful design and way to wear it so please feel free to be inspired and embrace this stunning design.

Like many Erstwilder collections, there are always pieces that sell out quick so if you find a design you love it’s probably best to try and grab it now. This really is a wonderful collection and I hope you love it as much as I do. I find that a lot of Australiana collections sell out really quick which just goes to show how much love there is for our native flora and fauna. This collection is a celebration of what makes Australia a unique and diverse country, it’s a great reminder of how lucky we are to live here.

Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and thoughts expressed are solely my own and not influenced in any way. There are no affiliate links and I do not benefit from any link clicks or purchases made.