ANNA ROSS | KESTER BLACK

Alchemy Pendant Necklace with Chalcopyrite Mineral
from Kingdom of the Illuminated Collection

Picturesque Sydney Harbour of Sydney, Australia is one of three inlets that compose Port Jackson.  

Several islands including Fort Denison, Spectacle Island and Shark Island pepper the length of the famous harbour.  

Australia is also the current home to featured jewelry designer Anna Ross.

A fresh graduate from Otago Polytechnic and native of New Zealand, Ross gets all giggly whenever she sees someone wearing jewelry items from her low-key, two-year old brand Kester Black.

The Australia-based jeweler transferred all of her know-how that she acquired while studying fashion design to build a jewelry brand instead.  The up-and-comer learned her new found trade through trial-and-error as she developed her label.

The jewelry maker’s pared down aesthetic of sterling silver, metallic minerals, yellow and white gold, and hand carved wood reflect the rustic, the whimsical and the cosmic.  Semblances of boars, squirrels, goats, bones and polar bears populate Ross’ jewelry world.

“I design things that I like to wear and the majority of my designs are influenced by what I see on a daily basis like architecture,” says Ross.  “It feels really good when other people love something I have created.”

Sterling Silver and Twine Mouse Bracelet
from Maiden Voyage Collection

While working full-time for a jewelry wholesaler, Ross worked diligently through lunch breaks, days off and after hours to make Kester Black a reality.  Ross’ animal-inspired charm jewelry collection, Maiden Voyage, highlights beautifully detailed fauna in hand carved wood and sterling silver as they dangle from respective sterling silver chains or finely twined rope. 

Working from a converted prison, Ross also built her futuristic collection Kingdom of the Illuminated, which features organic, crystalline minerals like chalcopyrite in pendant necklaces, and rings.  The baubles evoke what I imagine to be the debris from the fictional explosion of planet Krypton. 

The White Diamonds Collection offering asymmetrical, three-dimensional forms in sterling silver are effortlessly subdued yet crisp, ultra-modern and chic.  

Her take on the oft done BFF necklace is a nicely executed departure from the norm in its geometric and somewhat abstract interpretation.   I like her unconventional choice of materials like wood and mineral rocks to embody her fresh take on classic jewelry.

Sterling Silver Friends Forever Pendant Necklace
from White Diamonds Collection

“If I had not moved to Melbourne, Australia I would never have created my jewelry label.

As I continue to expand the label, I want to travel. I want to see Italy and France and take influence from my travels and put them back into my designs.”