Millie Savage lives her life in hyper-colour. Guided by her gut instinct to pursue what makes her feel good and collecting people along the way, she has built lifelong collaborative friendships. We spoke to her about how she channels this hyperbolic way of being and creating into every aspect of her life; the way she dresses, the way she travels and even how she decorates her home. It's all the same thing for her, an assemblage of wild little jewels tumbling into arrangement. From her pet peacock Lazarus, to her coven of female jewellery witches, Millie learns by doing and experiencing the world in all of its magical chaos. With a playful approach and an obsessive work ethic, anything is possible, and she’s opening stores in all of her favourite holiday destinations.
Tell me about your creative practice. Have you always worked with your hands in a tactile way?
Yer I’ve always been creative and before I made jewellery I painted, before that I sewed, did clay for a bit.
You often compare your jewellery making to painting, tell me more about this?
Do I? Haha! I went to uni to study painting as part of a fine arts degree before I realised I was not very good at it. Took up a silversmith elective for a bit before I dropped out. I think the thing that would link the two up would be colour. I use a lot of colours in both my practices and I love making jewellery and matching up tones and colours.
You spent a few years living in Bali, how did this shape your practice and what is your relationship to the place now?
I love Indo! The people are so beautiful and it’s much more of a chill lifestyle. I lived there for three years and besides the traffic, I miss it.
I go back a couple of times a year as I have an amazing team that I set up when I lived there. I feel really lucky to be able to produce a lot of the silver pieces there, especially in part due to the traditional techniques and knowledge they bring to the table (although they often think my style is crazy and I have to convince them that the design is shit on purpose, it’s expressive not messy haha).
I also made some lifelong friends there, like Lia who was the first person I ever properly employed and she started as someone who would help me with my admin stuff before I trained her to make jewellery. Fast forward 10 years and she’s one of my best friends, lived with me in Aus for ages, now she’s moved to Paris making jewellery for Chanel and she has her own jewellery business there! Incredible person.
What are some of your favourite things to do in Bali?
When I get back to Bali the first thing I want to do is get a Nasi Campur. I’m going on Sunday!
How has working in art and design informed the way you create and decorate your home?
A friend said once my house is just one of my rings big scale and I really liked that. I think the way I dress, what I create, how I decorate - it’s all the same thing. It’s bright colours and bold bits, shiny things. It’s all just an expression and it might be a different medium but it’s the same shit.
We heard you have a peacock at home, is this still true and what is the story behind it?
Yeah his name is Laz or Lazarus. He’s got a new boyfriend at the moment and he’s not home that much! The neighbours have a new peacock and he’s hanging out there a lot but he did bring his boyfriend home to meet me the other day so that was cute. Sometimes Laz goes through the dog door and comes inside to shit everywhere, the bugger.
You have assembled a coven of women to work alongside you, in what ways has this community supported you and your practice?
Yeah there’s definitely a strong coven. We have some men working in the biz now and they’re really great too. I’m really lucky to work with the most talented, creative, caring and smart people. I wouldn’t be here without my team supporting me and I’m eternally grateful to them all every day. It’s just nice to work with people who genuinely care about what they are doing and are passionate about it. It makes it our highs and lows, not just mine and it’s a much more fun ride when you share that as a team than a solo party.
Who are the female creatives that have inspired you and your work most?
Kepsibel - she is the smartest, most cutest, most prettiest girl I have ever met and she has such a beautiful bum it’s so incredible but her face is also soooo pretty and she is just hot and sexy and like wow. (Kepsi wrote the answer to this question and I didn’t have the heart to change it)
Knowing where you are now, if you could send a message in a bottle back to yourself when you first started making jewellery, what would you say?
Trust your gut, make as much as you can because that’s how you really learn by doing, open NYC and find Abi Flatters and hire her as soon as you can (my General Manager and partner in crime)
Where next? What are your wildest dreams and desires for the brand to expand?
After Bali next week I’m going to Ibiza to do a scouting mission for the next store. Basically world domination but starting with places I want to go to on holidays
Photographed by Phillipa Musso