When Samantha Wills left her hometown of Port Macquarie, on the New South Wales’ North Coast, she swapped the beach-side suburbs littered with apartments with ‘Dolphin Sands’ and ‘Dolphin Cove’ in cursive script on their facades, for a humble market stall at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. With the move, she abandoned her childhood dream of becoming a dolphin trainer, to start her own eponymous jewellery label.

“It doesn’t relate to much to what I’m doing now,” the willowy blonde laughs of her dolphin training aspirations. “I’ve always been interested in art. I actually just fell into what I’m doing. I never set out to be an accessories designer. It was a hobby, and it’s turned into a career.”

Now almost five years on, her label is highly sought after and multi-award winning, and is available in department stores and leading boutiques internationally.

“It’s been a lot of hard work; a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” says Wills in defence of the label’s success. “Five years ago we were down at Bondi Beach markets with a tiny little table with fold-away legs.”

A self-confessed workaholic, Wills has recently returned from LA, where she spent her time sating the international market’s (and media’s) appetite for her wares.

“It’s not a healthy habit,” says Wills of her all-or-nothing mentality, “but I guess it’s better than a drug addiction or smoking.”

Her debut collection, Vintage Glamour, hit Sydney’s fashion week in 2004, and it’s been all systems go ever since. Addicts to her label include Nicky Hilton, Jennifer Hawkins, Nicole Ritchie, Delta Goodrem, among many others.

Each piece of each collection is well travelled; Wills uses a lot of natural stones and materials, lending the label an organic feel, vibrant with a vast array of colours.

Her last season, Summer in Morocco (high summer 07/08) showcased Wills’ penchant for bright turquoises, and her love of, yes, you guessed it, Northern Morocco. Featuring her signature weighted pendants and ornate cuffs; her delicate detailing made each piece a collectors’.

Her latest collection, Trésors Parisiens (meaning ‘Parisian Treasures’) is not one to sit out on. Inspired by the decadent jewels found in Parisian vintage markets, this collection is decidedly darker then her last ones, marking a coming of age for the label, the departure noted by the prevalence of heavy onyx stones and intricately detailed pewter.

“It’s an affair of the heart,” says Wills, of the collection. “Think stones belonging to French countesses remade with treasures belonging to Moulin Rough dancers.”

Firm favourites include the Ballara Ring in bronze, a hand-cast pewter peacock, hand-plated in antique bronze; and the Moulin Rouge necklace, an onyx stone pendant hand-set in pewter with faceted teardrops set on top featuring a black jade flower rumoured to have been found in a vintage Parisian market, a mere three blocks from Moulin Rouge. The freedom that is found in her approach is unique, unhindered by rules and regulations, and it is one that is rare in this day and age of mass-produced chain-store accessories.

“The good thing about where I’ve come from is that I have no formal training in design,” says Wills. “I’ve never been taught that ‘this’ is right, or that ‘this’ is wrong – there has been no limit put on my creativity.”

It just goes to prove that where there is a Wills, there is most certainly a way.


On The Web:

www.samanthawills.com.au