Q & A with River Hazel

We caught up with River Hazel from Hazel and Herb - this girl - seriously. Spends most of her days in her van. Makes jewels out of the cutest little mushrooms and plant life and is just deadset gorgeous.

I’ve never been very good at planning or designing things, I’ve always just kind of winged it and gone with the flow. The same goes for my jewellery - I’ll go out foraging and find some bits of nature that inspire me; pieces with different colours, textures etc. Then I’ll sit down in the studio - sort through the shapes I have and work out what would do that collected piece the most justice. Sometimes they don’t work and other times they totally do and I’ll repeat the design as close as possible till I’m sick of it.

I’m loving all the news connections I’ve made lately, new friends and people to work with, new artists that I’ve been inspired by. Since leaving my job to focus on my business I’ve had a lot more free time to get out and about and meet new people.

To be honest, I’m quite happy floating around Australia! Next on my list is definitely Tasmania though. The diverse landscapes and breathtaking views have left me awe-struck. I’m dying to get out there. 

SO much love! I literally adore every moment spent creating, I love knowing that I can craft a piece and send it off to someone out there in the world who will (hopefully) adore it. It all kind of started through landscape photography actually, I was getting out and about most weekends to photograph different forests & waterfalls. The photos didn’t feel ‘enough’ to me, I didn’t feel as though I was capturing the places I’d been visiting accurately. I wanted to create something you could hold and feel, a closer look at it all. And I love mushrooms!

I think its mainly about your attitude really, you need to be a little free-spirited and not mind getting a bit grubby sometimes. If you’re doing it on a budget, chances are you’ll go a couple of days without a shower. Bush toilets become a normal thing too. That might gross some people out, so I think yeah, definitely a different mindset.

No new adventures planned just yet, I’ve kind of grounded myself and settled for a while - I’m building a studio and getting that finished. Then maybe I’ll focus a bit more on selling my van and buying a bus to travel around Australia in. I’m also kind of hoping to fall into a couple of hundred thousand dollars to buy the house next door and do that up. So if you’re reading this and you happen to be a long-lost rich relative of mine, my birthday is coming up real soon ;)

My boyfriend and I debate this quite a bit - as far as I’m concerned my favourite meal is a smoothie (cacao, mesquite, rice milk, bananas and ice. Maybe PB too if I’m treating myself.) He doesn’t quite think smoothies count as meals though, I guess it depends on your perspective. 

I’d been playing around with resin and jewellery for a couple of months before I began selling, but I did always have ‘business’ as my goal. When I thought I had perfected it enough, I posted a photo on Instagram and it went nuts, so I opened up shop. It’s been a couple of years since then and a few months ago I finally decided to take the leap and let it support me full time. I quit my job and it was the best decision ever. 

Did I already mention I left my job and it was the best decision ever? Haha! No, but really - having all day to myself is pretty great. I’ve been loving all the extra time I have to create. 

Visit Hazel and Herb HERE.