Words: Marianne Astrid Close // Main photo: Drew Martin by Emma Kiley
Drew Martin is primarily a jeweller, melding metal into forever pieces. Her work features chandeliers, sheriff’s stars and baroque crucifixes embedded with precious stones.
“Making jewellery is such a layered process. You can’t always start a piece and finish it on the same day. There are multiple steps involved and sometimes periods of waiting,” she says.
For Drew, the material itself often dictates the outcome. She works with the lost-wax casting process, allowing the softness and fluidity of the medium to inform her pieces.
“I love mocking things up. I don’t think I’ve ever gone from start to finish with a completed concept. I know some jewellers are very precise, and I admire that, but I prefer to let a piece be what it is going to be,” she says.
Now, four years into running Outcast Goods, Drew is taking that practice beyond her own work with Shop Generator – a new retail project bringing together independent makers from Adelaide and interstate in Common Uncommon Studio at the back of beloved bakery Idle Hands and Housewarmers.
Running from Thursday 15 October to Sunday 18 October as part of Adelaide Design Week, Shop Generator will feature as many as 40 artists, ceramicists, glassblowers, metal fabricators, clothing and jewellery designers, photographers, joiners, florists and sculptors.
Some creatives include Ailish Ling, Bushwoman, Cakey Sportsman, Em Frank, Ember Satyn, Jack Fenby, Romelia, Martina Beka, Kobamundii, Saturday Yard Work, Studio Mignone and Thomas Carvolth, with visual identity designed by Tessa King.
“Shop Generator approaches the gallery experience from a retail perspective,” Drew explains.
“The intention is simple: to create a space where object-based work can be encountered, considered, discussed and ultimately taken home.
“It’s a celebratory moment for the objects that sit upon our shelves, atop coffee tables and within wardrobes, recognising that a sale can be a meaningful continuation of the making process.”
The concept is intended to extend beyond Adelaide Design Week, with Shop Generator envisioned as a series of pop-ups that shift between jewellery, clothing, metal fabrication, lighting and other forms of design.
“There is beauty in leaving it open-ended and allowing space for Shop Generator to grow into something organically. Maybe that’s a permanent retail location, maybe that’s a series of annual or biannual market events. We’re going to respond to what feels right,” she says.
Drew’s journey started in Visual Arts at TAFE and the former University of South Australia. She loved ceramics and printing, but found the jewellery component and the technical side to be dry and demanding.
She then undertook a brief silversmithing course at JamFactory, which is when she discovered her process could be her own.
“JamFactory is such a special space,” she says.
“You have access to an incredible array of tools and artists. That’s when I began to do my own thing and started working out what I needed to operate solo.”
Today, Drew works from her home studio, which has its benefits as well as its drawbacks.
“There is definitely an advantage to having my bench so easily accessible, but my world can become a bit of an echo chamber,” she says.
“It takes a bit of effort to escape the bounds of that and to interact with others again.”
As Outcast Goods has grown, Drew has continued to shape the balance between business and creativity.
“When you get into the mindset of becoming a business, it does shift the focus of what you make. I’m still working out how to make it all financially feasible,” she says.
“If money was not an object, I’d be making really heavy silver pieces. Mexican jewellery is really beautiful for that. When silver was cheaper and less volatile, you could experiment and take more risks, but now things are more economically challenging.
“I think the steepest learning curve has been developing a consistency around the practice, and around putting things out into the world. That extends to photographing it, putting it on the website, promoting it and ultimately seeing whether someone wants to buy it. It takes time to develop a cohesive process.”
Drew has also learnt to embrace the ebbs and flows of a creative practice, recognising the cyclical nature of her own rhythms.
“You can have two amazing weeks, and then suddenly think that everything you make sucks. It’s just part of the natural rhythm. You have to learn to be kind to yourself in those more difficult moments,” she says.
Drew finds energy in the creative community around her. She sees the collaborations behind Shop Generator as emblematic of a community that goes above and beyond to support one another.
“The state of the world is particularly bad right now. Some days it can feel baffling to be making my silly little things. I feel really blessed to be working with mates, and need to remind myself that this does bring me joy and joy is such a powerful emotion to lead with,” Drew says.
“The response to Shop Generator has been beautiful. Everyone has been so giving and willing to help. I feel really blessed to be a part of this little creative bubble.”
Drew Martin’s pieces can be found on Instagram, online on the Outcast Goods’ website, or in person at Shop Pond and Summertown Studio in Adelaide, and Solari Studio in Melbourne.
Keep up to date with Shop Generator on Instagram: Thursday 15 October to Sunday 18 October // 100 Gilbert Street, Adelaide, SA.
