About

Hollow Bones was founded in Melbourne in 2013 by Willem Asher Payten.

Willem had just completed his Advanced Diploma of Jewellery Manufacture and Design at NMIT. He started carving. The process was wax carving and lost wax casting — the same process jewellers have used for thousands of years, and the same process we use now. It cannot be sped up without being ruined.

Every piece begins as a block of wax. It is carved by hand — tools, patience, and a clear idea of what the piece should be. The wax positive is invested in plaster, the wax is burned out, and molten silver is cast into the void it leaves behind. The result is a piece that carries the decisions made by hand at every stage.

.925 .925 sterling silver. No compromises on material or process.

The brand was born as a rejection of mass-produced catalogue jewellery. Pieces that could be worn hard, kept for life, and passed on. Jewellery built for people who wear their values, not their outfits.

Hugh Payten Smith — Willem's cousin — has been part of the studio since the beginning. He's now on the bench full-time, running the studio day-to-day and building the brand forward. The business moved with Hugh to Mullumbimby, Northern Rivers NSW. The studio is a cabin in the Northern Rivers. The place is part of it.

The collection covers rings, pendants, bracelets, and earrings. Signets, skulls, serpents, wild roses, celestial motifs, protective symbols. Each piece is made to order. Two weeks from purchase to your hands.

We don't keep stock. We make what we sell. We wear what we make.

Worth the wait. Every time.

Made by people who wear it.