Melbourne label Bonus Prize is making the gem-studded jewellery of our dreams
IMAGES VIA BONUS PRIZE
WORDS BY KAYA MARTIN
“One day I wanted a ring and a friend said to me, ‘Why don’t you make it?’.”
“You might come across a bonus prize in the video game of life that could be a ring or a gem or something. When you get something like this it feels so exciting and precious and intimate and I really like that about jewellery,” Alex Lily, the founder of Melbourne jewellery label Bonus Prize, explains. It’s this sense of otherworldly wonder (and that dash of good luck) that Bonus Prize seeks to encapsulate in each piece of its handmade jewellery.
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From their Brunswick studio, Alex creates recycled gold and silver creations embedded with colourful gemstones, each piece imbued with something a little fantastical. Below, Alex discusses their creative process, the trials and tribulations of building a business and how a DIY obsession can turn into a career.
Tell us about you. What’s your fashion/jewellery background?
I felt like I was a creative person, I was around a lot of creative people that were painters, illustrators etc, but I identified as someone who didn’t have a creative practice. I was lost in finding a practice so I felt like my creativity was kind of lonely and unexpressed until I found jewellery almost five years ago now. I’ve always been someone who wants to figure out how to make something.
For years I was into making my own lamps, making natural dyes, making wine picked from fruits I’d pick in alleyways in Melbourne, things like this, and then one day I wanted a ring and a friend said to me, ‘Why don’t you make it?’. So I tried to make it myself, with some gold that I’d been given. I really enjoyed the practice of it and I just kept doing it. I am very obsessive in my interests and then spent the next five years researching and making jewellery in all of my spare time.
A lot of times in my life people would be surprised when I showed that I had an interest in fashion, or an opinion about fashion – I guess I didn’t seem like the type. In my life I bought into the idea that fashion is exclusive [and] is something that people know about that I don’t, but I eventually found myself making jewellery and realising I am a fashion designer in a way now. It’s not an exclusive thing that only some people can have an opinion about, it’s something that everyone inherently has an opinion about. It’s so lovely now moving out of lockdowns and seeing this moving tide of fashion on the street here. It felt like it evaporated for the last two years.
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How did the label get started? Talk us through the process and the challenges.
I started for six months with a business name called Cast Jewellery but didn’t really feel like it represented the playfulness and excitement that I wanted to elicit with Bonus Prize. Originally I thought of the name Bonus Prize as thinking about your life and the parallels of a video game – like you might come across a bonus prize in the video game of life that could be a ring or a gem or something. When you get something like this it feels so exciting and precious and intimate and I really like that about jewellery. It makes people feel special, it creates and carries history through families and [carries] personal emotional history.
My challenges of starting a small business I guess again was my obsessiveness, and [I] found myself for the first two years constantly exhausted, working 70-hours weeks. Thankfully I have learnt a better balance now. Another challenge is financing your start. Everyone’s different, but there were so many costs that I would never expect and [I] constantly felt like I could never afford to pay for it all at the same time. I guess that was also part of my ambition to grow at the fastest speed I could.
What were you trying to achieve from the project at the time? How has this evolved and what are you trying to communicate through the brand now?
I’m still trying to communicate the original message of Bonus Prize, but I run the whole thing by myself still, and it’s grown so much. So things I used to be able to do, like a treasure hunt (I did in lockdown 2020 and 2021), or Instagram interactive stone layouts where people voted for a design, or lucky dips, these things are harder for me to have time for and to manage everything. I love doing these when I have time, but as Bonus Prize grows, I have less time than I did when it started to do those games.
I have lots of ideas but have to ration my time in order to make sure all my orders are on time. I am trying to grow my skillset always, and I am currently trying to create modern takes on classic engagement rings. Meeting people who are in love and want to symbolise that in some way is something that I cherish and am excited about bringing this to Bonus Prize more in the future.
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How would you describe Bonus Prize to someone who’s never seen it before?
Like finding a four-leaf clover. My whole life, even as a toddler, I always would find four-leaf clovers. A four-leaf clover symbolises everything that Bonus Prize is about – finding something that is really joyful and exciting and that you feel lucky to have found.
What are you most proud of in your work on your label?
I’m most proud of my dedication to always growing my skillset and keeping it interesting [something that] for me I think [is] hard to do when running a small business involves so much monotonous work to keep it afloat. And secondly, managing my anxiety.
I like Bonus Prize to be all the fun and playful parts of me, so I guess I have avoided talking about it, but sometimes it will take me hours to work up to calling my diamond supplier, for example, and afterwards every time I realise that turns out it was actually chill and no disaster happened. I wouldn’t say I’ve overcome it, but I’ve just embraced that it’s part of my life.
What do you wish you knew when you started?
As soon as you have pain, you gotta book that physio appointment. Making jewellery is hard on your body, and you need to stretch every day. Six days is too late to reply to an email. You have to put alcohol and boric acid on gold before you anneal it, otherwise, you will stain it. God, I wish I knew these things years ago.
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What about the Australian fashion/jewellery industry needs to change?
True transparency needs to happen about where materials come from and I think the longevity of the materials used. In order for it to change, some structural things need to be changed globally. It’s really hard to fully chart the ethical dimensions of materials and [as a designer] you do your best. I have personally been trying to avoid any kind of greenwashing in my brand mostly to avoid saying that consumption is neutral.
I use all 100 per cent recycled metals now, but I’ve avoided really flagging it because I think at the stage we are in climate change I think consumption in itself still needs to be reduced. I have now a limited palette of stones and materials that are trying to achieve longevity, as a way of reducing consumption. I am thankful [I’m] in a place right now where I can do those things comfortably in my business.
How can we buy one of your pieces?
It’s pretty common these days for people to buy directly from my website, but anyone’s welcome to come by my studio and talk through an idea and get measured or try anything I have on hand on.
Explore all things Bonus Prize here.
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