Jewellery brand Romelia is infused with familial intimacy, seen in its memory-inspired pieces and branding. The silver trinkets are forged using the strongest material around – love.

Jewellery-maker Emma Byrne doesn’t remember exactly when she started working with her younger sister, Isabelle, to create a new range of branded material for her Romelia label.

The sisters – who are best friends and separated in age by four years – have collaborated before. Whether riffing together on fledgling business concepts or sewing taffeta tops, when they’re in each other’s orbit they bring new perspectives to each other’s ideas.

From her new Melbourne locale, Emma says it might have been two years ago she asked her Adelaide-based sibling to take over from graphic designer Nathan Cutts, of Studio OK-OK, to continue working on the label’s marketing material.

Over numerous late-night Zoom calls and texts, the siblings learned how to turn their familiar rhythm of working together into something professional.

Romelia’s Spikey Necklace

Together, they developed a Romelia identity in the form of an all-caps typeface and a black and white colour palette. The new branding debuted on items in June this year.

“We were always going to work together because we’re very connected in that way,” Emma says.

“She’s just someone that gets what I’m about.”

There’s intimacy in family, and especially between siblings. One carefully selected word to a sister or brother will have them keel over in laughter, or provoke a perfectly-placed corkscrew punch to the arm. This intimacy was useful to Isabelle.

“I knew the outcome I wanted for her branding, which was to be bold and memorable, so it was a matter of making something that aligned with Em’s vision of the brand,” Isabelle says.

“The main characteristic of Romelia is to be purposeful.”

The graphic designer also tapped into shared memories when designing Romelia’s business cards and swing tags. The monochromatic cards include two circles sitting inside a rectangle.

These forms reference a thin, solid silver keyring belonging to the siblings’ Italian maternal grandmother, Romelia Focareta, who the label is named for. 

“We took inspiration from some objects around my nonna’s house. There was a keyring and a magnet,” Emma says.

“They were just two things that are just so iconic [of] Nonna that we had just grown up with.”

Famiglia

Emma started making jewellery under the Romelia name while completing a Bachelor of Arts, specialising in gold and silversmithing at RMIT, beginning in 2019.

Her metal of choice is silver as it’s affordable and malleable. She creates mostly made-to-order earrings, necklaces and rings through the label.

Emma does not have an arsenal of high-end machinery, so she focuses on making smaller items that can be slipped onto a chain or sleeper earrings, such as pendants.

She would like to work with stones and pearls eventually, as she has a penchant for “shiny things”, but is waiting for a proper set-up, and to learn how to solder.

Well before Romelia’s first charm was cast in wax, family was distilled into the business. Emma named the label after her nonna in honour of Romelia Focareta’s purposeful and balanced way of life. The matriarch lived responsibly within her means, but squeezed life for every ounce of enjoyment it could offer. 

“The example that I gave a lot is of cooking,” Emma says.

“Her ingredients would be of high quality and she would make things properly from start to finish, and nothing was ever rushed. One day when I thought about naming it after her, I thought about why and all these reasons that she inspired me, and I was like, ‘I want to bring that to my jewellery, and if  I name it after her, it’ll be a constant reminder to me of why I’m doing it’.

“It’s always something I come back to when I feel lost, or when I feel stuck. That’s why I named it after her.”

Nonna Romelia wore amulets, crosses and religious talismans on gold chains. She was born in San Lupo, an hour inland of Naples, and always prioritised family.

This ethos carries through to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This legacy is important to Emma, and working with her sister is part of continuing it.

“Not everyone is super close to their family and their siblings, but I’m lucky enough to be,” she says.