Renée Blackwell is a jewellery designer based in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast hinterland. She turned a weekend stall at Eumundi Markets into a thriving jewellery business, now creating one-of-a-kind pieces using gemstones and vintage finds she’s collected from around the world. She still designs, photographs, and runs the business herself.
She has been an ArtsHub member since 2025.
Follow Renée Blackwell on Instagram or visit her website.
If you’re an ArtsHub member and would like to be profiled on the site, email us with Meet the Members in the subject line.
Renée Blackwell: video
Renée Blackwell: video transcript
My name is Renée Blackwell. I live up on the Sunshine Coast, the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast, up in Queensland.
I don’t do any commissions. I did at one stage – probably 10 years ago, I stopped doing commissions.
There’s a couple of reasons for that. One is, I don’t need to. I hope that doesn’t sound crazy, but I mean, I’m busy enough creating my own work. I don’t need other work to supplement it, which no shade on that. When you get started, you know, you do what you have to do.
Meet the Members: Pamela Kleemann-Passi, visual artist
The other reason is it’s really, really hard to get your vision of what you want into my brain and then for me to create it. Do you know what I mean? Whether it’s fine art or textile art or ceramics or porcelain or pottery or, you know, jewellery, whatever.
It’s so much nicer when a customer finds something they love and they buy it because they love it, rather than me trying to create what’s in their head. And that could be really difficult.
Renée Blackwell: how I work
It’s easier for me to determine that I’ve overdone it rather than underdone it. Like, ‘Ah, too much,’ rather than, ‘Oh, could I add something else to this and make it more special?’
Meet the Members: Alonso Pineda, theatre director
Before I actually set anything or create anything, any finished piece of jewellery, I might play around with it for quite a long time. But on the other hand, sometimes things just snap together and it’s like, ‘Yep, those things were meant to be together, let’s do that’.
Renée Blackwell: my inspiration
I would have to say it’s my components, 100%. And that is why I’ve spent so much time over the years travelling for my components. You know, I’ve literally travelled to the four corners of the world. I’ve handpicked every single solitary stone, crystal, charm, vintage or antique button that I use in my jewellery. I’ve handpicked every one of those.
Meet the members: Susie Fagan, comedian
And I would say that’s my inspiration. You know, I don’t sort of conjure up or sketch out an idea. I go to my components and I then get the inspiration and start from there. It might start with like one stone and then add something, add something, add something, take it away, rearrange, but it usually starts, you know, that way.
Renée Blackwell: my advice
Perseverance is one. As with any business – it doesn’t matter what the business is, whether you’re a window washer or car salesman – it’s stickability. The number of people who order online and say, ‘Oh, I just found you back online. I used to buy from you at Eumundi 15 years ago’, or ‘I used to buy from you down in Sydney. I just found you online again’.
You know, I might only hear from them every so often, but the point is you’re still there. And that really is half the secret to the success in any business. And that’s one of the main things I’ve learned is the upside of longevity and stickability.
You know, be like Nike, just do it. I mean, that’s so much easier said than done because people just get, you know, frozen. It’s literally so much, right? And things do change.
Honestly, the hardest thing in the world is to just open it up. And it doesn’t matter how silly you sound or how unprofessional you sound, it’s better to put something out there and get started than to not.
And then the other thing I would say is, instead of trying to do all of them [social media or online platforms], pick one and try to do that one well, like Instagram. Just pick one and try to do that well. It’s a real challenge because of the over-saturation. It’s hard to break through.
But it can be done.
