Introducing our next In the Spotlight Erstwildian, Carolina!

For those of you in our Official Community Facebook Group, you’ll likely know of, or even chatted to Carolina before, as she is often posting her fantastic photos with her brooches and out on her adventures. Carolina is such a positive presence amongst our community, and has been for so many years, so who better to be our latest In the Spotlight participant.

How and when did you first discover Erstwilder? Which design was your first piece? 

I first discovered Erstwilder around 2014 at a rockabilly festival in the town I live, in Germany.  There was a stall with clothes and some jewellery. That was when I spotted Betty Jo Sparrow. I was fascinated. The woman who had this stall was not from here and told me about Erstwilder being an Australian brand. She took cash only as a payment and I remember checking my wallet frantically to make sure I was able to grab all the pieces she had. They were Betty Jo Sparrow and Dot the Dosing Deer (both with matching earrings). I think I also got Fletcher the Fox. I was absolutely hypnotised!

Arriving home I went online and struggled to find stockists in Europe, but I managed to place my first order from the website in Australia. But these were other times, things were a lot more difficult and bureaucratic here in Germany then to buy from outside the EU block, it took a long time in customs, I had to travel almost an hour to collect my parcel, it all seemed so hard and almost unachievable. I placed a few orders but thought I wouldn’t manage to do it again.  Luckily not long afterwards, I came across another Erstwilder piece at a stockist's online shop. From there on, I never stopped collecting. 

Do you like to collect any specific designs or themes?

I have a huge soft spot for animals, quirky animals doing human activities are even better!  My favourite collections tend to be Easter and Halloween, which sounds like a contradiction, but I like to say I have a restless heart.  The musical style and subculture I am part of, Psychobilly, takes a lot from vintage aesthetics with a bit of a horror edge (therefore Halloween pieces work all year round for me). But I also love the spring vibe pieces, maybe because the winter in Germany is so harsh that I can't wait for Spring to come (Easter time here). The Australiana pieces are also a delight. They give me the opportunity to learn about Australian nature. I am originally from Brazil, the Australiana collection has also made me more interested in Brazilian fauna and flora. A wealth of information I took for granted in the first half of my life, when I still lived in Brazil.

More recently the country collections have become huge to me. It is that collection in the year where I know I'm going to indulge, and I feel no guilt whatsoever in doing so!

Which design gets complimented the most? 

Several, but one that I can say that every time I wear it I get a comment, remark or compliment, is The Kiss (The Nouveau Collection, 2021).

Which design do you find you wear the most? 

I have phases of wearing more flowers and birds, others when I go for more quirky designs. But the one piece I think I have worn the most in my collection is Acacia in Gold (Jocelyn Proust). I've worn it already with everything, from jeans and t-shirt to a ball dress. It always looks stunning, it always compliments the outfit. 

Why do you like to wear brooches / wearable art?

I feel every time you pin a brooch on or wear wearable art, you are expressing a bit of yourself and your mental state through the eyes of the artist. There is feeling hidden behind every choice, if you can just look at it closely.  And it is a little bit of beauty or a clever idea you are throwing out there in the world. 

If I have something on my mind or I am missing someone, for example, it will appear on my choice of brooches. Same thing if I am happy or worried about something. It is a soothing code to myself, I take that out of my thoughts and put it in the brooch. It always makes me feel better.

If you could choose any design to include in a future Fan Favourite release, what would it be and what colours?!

It has to be Sara the Capybara (2018). I absolutely love the animal, the design, her welly boots, her smiley face. I'm biased as capys are native to Brazil, but they are also such sweet, chill animals. It's hard not to want to hug them when you see them in nature (I don’t by the way!).  A lovable creature, perfect for a brooch! I would recolour her in earthy/ orange tones maybe, like that adorable Love Everlasting Collection cat (The Cat's Meow Brooch). Having said so, I'm lucky enough to have the original and still I think I'd want Sara in any colourway

Top 10 EW brooches of all time?

Now this was very hard, especially to stick to only ten!!!! Knowing I’ll be leaving behind other pieces I love and cherish, here are my Top 10 today in no particular order:

Octavious The Octo-Scribe
The Splendid Fairy Wren
Guardian of the Garden
Love Bandit
Sun Charmer
A Lion Named Roar
Pascal The Prawn
Lyle The Hatchling
The Bureaucratic Bird
Nibbles The Wombat