The Story Behind Our Bountiful Collection of Fruit Earrings
My zesty cranberry scones, I’ve had something juicy up my sleeve for a while, and it has to do with our vibrant collection of hand-woven fruit earrings. You see, the origin of these fruit earrings is really quite the tale, and I think you’ll want to settle right in for it!
Because who doesn’t love buying something cute for a cause? And that’s exactly what these earrings are all about.
So today I want to really peel back the layers on these hand-woven accessories, so you can understand where they came from, and why they are so much more than just unique accessories.
And, in order to truly understand the importance of our fun fruit earrings, I need to introduce you to Casa Bonita Lifestyle.
All about Casa Bonita Lifestyle
Casa Bonita Lifestyle is an incredible company started by the lovely Liliana. Over 16 years ago, Liliana moved to Australia from Colombia - and discovered it wasn’t so easy to find community or business opportunities.
So that gave her a business idea! She was inspired to create a network for Latin American women, both in Australia and abroad, to empower them in business ventures and help them find a little piece of home in Oz.
And so, Casa Bonita Lifestyle was born!
Casa Bonita’s mission was to help Latin American women start their own businesses, become financially independent, and honour their cultural identity through their work. To do so, Liliana created two spheres within her business, the Women’s Empowerment Hub, and the Casa Bonita retail space.
The Casa Bonita Women’s Empowerment Hub
The Casa Bonita Women's Empowerment Hub provides empowerment workshops and cultural events to bring together immigrant women (and their families) in Melbourne’s west.
The hub helps to provide a bridge to newly arrived migrant workers so they can find their own identity in Australia, and form meaningful connections within their community.
Whether families have just arrived on our shores, or have been living here for decades, the Casa Bonita Women’s Empowerment Hub provides an extensive network of resources and activities to help Latin women find a home away from home - and THRIVE in it.
The Casa Bonita Shop
The other side to Casa Bonita’s business model is the Casa Bonita Shop. This retail space ethically sources handmade artisanal goods from Latin American women, Indigenous women, and migrant women starting their businesses.
This allows artisan techniques to stay alive, and helps Latin American women in Australia and abroad to put food on the tables for their families. It also introduces the world to the beauty of Colombian and Ecuadorian artisan goods!
All the products we feature have been sustainably made by hand, which makes them all the more special and unique.
Why shop Casa Bonita Lifestyle?
Since its creation, Casa Bonita Lifestyle has created financial security for more than 250 families in Colombia, over 200 artisans from Ecuador and Colombia, and more than 100 migrant women in Australia.
When you make a purchase from Casa Bonita Lifestyle, you’re helping to expand that circle of success! And, you are providing work experience for migrant and Indigenous women in a way that actively celebrates their culture.
If you take a look through the Casa Bonita Shop listings (which contain keyrings, hats, pottery, cushion covers, and more!) you can learn all about the process behind your unique piece - and get to know a little about the artisan who made them.
There is something so intimate about the Casa Bonita experience, and it’s breaking down cultural barriers one purchase at a time.
As an Australian designer myself, I always love supporting fellow Australian designers - which is why I have started collaborations with a number of them! And I am so honoured to have been able to start a special collaboration with Casa Bonita Lifestyle.
The Casa Bonita x Wicker Darling collaboration
While Wicker Darling is most known for its wicker bag collection, we have expanded our offerings over the last couple years to include clutches, cute coin purses, bag charms, designer silk scarves, and more.
And one of those unique offerings is our fabulous line of fruit earrings, thanks to Casa Bonita! Through Casa Bonita Lifestyle, we’ve been connected with an artisan in Colombia who makes gorgeous fruit earrings using traditional weaving methods with iraca palm fibres.
Of course, we wanted to put a Wicker Darling spin on the fruit earrings, so we worked out to add some Colombian gold for the studs - in the shape of delicate leaves and flowers.
The result has been stunning! We have continued to collaborate on more and more styles of fruit earrings, and I can’t wait to see what we come up with next.
Now that you know all about the fruit earrings Casa Bonita has designed with Wicker Darling, it’s time for you to see them for yourself!
Our collection of handmade fruit earrings
Need jewellery to go with your cute summer purses? Then we have just the thing for you! Here is our adorable collection of fruit earrings courtesy of Casa Bonita:
Watermelon earrings
They’re bright, they’re juicy, and you definitely need them in your life - meet our hand-woven watermelon earrings!
These watermelon earrings are the perfect companions for our watermelon satchel, but they will look great with any fun, colourful outfit. Just LOOK at those bitty black seeds. What’s not to love about these refreshing ear baubles?
It should be noted that these are a delightful red sort of watermelon, not a watered-down pink or yellow. As such, they should stand out in any crowd, as a good watermelon accessory should!
Cherry earrings
Cherries are an absolutely iconic symbol when it comes to pin up rockabilly style. So, it should come as no surprise to anyone that our cherry earrings were the very first pair of hand-woven earrings to sell out!
That’s right, this fruit is now out of season - but that doesn’t mean we can’t admire it! These hand-woven cherry earrings are simply too adorable to be ignored.
Once again, we figured a BRIGHT RED cherry was the way to go. (A pale Rainier cherry simply wouldn’t have had the same effect.) But it's not just the pretty red fruit that steals the show with these cherry earrings - it’s the leaves.
Just look at that beautiful two-toned foliage. I think the mix of bright and blue-green leaves was a masterful choice, and it really sets this pair of fruit earrings apart from the bunch.
Grape earrings
If you missed out on our red cherry earrings, perhaps you’d be interested in a lovely bunch of grapes? You see, our grape earrings are made in a very similar style, and are equally adorable.
And, of course, if you are something of a wine-lover, then these grape earrings are the perfect fruit earrings for you! Just imagine how much attention you would get if you wore these to a wine festival. (Hint: It would be a LOT.)
These grape earrings are a lovely shade of purple, but, in typical Wicker Darling fashion, we couldn’t just keep them monotone. They also feature a lovely splash of green, which adds a whole lot of extra fun and pizazz to the look.
Citrus earrings
Sometimes you need to spruce things up with a little citrus, and we have you completely covered in that department. If our lemon satchel and lemon scarf weren’t enough indication, we love a bit of citrus at Wicker Darling.
And so, we have not only one style of citrus earrings, but two!
The first style is our beautiful lemon stud earrings. These have to be the cutest lemon earrings you’ve ever seen in your life. Just LOOK at them. Perfect proportions, teeny little leaves, and that HAND-BEADING. We are living for the beautiful beaded citrus blossoms on this look.
And, not to be left out, our second style of citrus earrings is a pair of zesty orange earrings. These fruit earrings also feature those squeal-worthy hand-beaded blossoms.
While the lemon earrings are all rays of sunshine, there is something a little more laid back about these orange earrings, which leads me to believe they would work wonderfully across seasons, and could possibly even stand in as pumpkin earrings!
Fruit salad earrings
I may have saved the best for last. Because why stop at one fruit when you can have them ALL!?
That’s right, fruit salad earrings, everyone. We’ve got pears, strawberries, watermelon, pineapples, bananas, and all sorts of gorgeous fruits on these hoop fruit earrings.
Just LOOK at the craftsmanship - at the detail in those teeny, tiny hand-woven fruits. Can you believe it!? These fruit salad earrings will work wonderfully with any fruity clothing or accessories, like our Fineapple the pineapple purse, for example.
And (just when you thought these fruit earrings couldn’t get any better) they come in three different sizes, so you can pick the pair that suits you best. Or, you know, just go in for all three!
Squeeze the day with your very own fruit accessories
Everyone needs at least one pair of fruit earrings in their life. They just make every outfit more ap-peel-ing. And with the adorable and ethical fruit earrings at Wicker Darling, it’s impossible to stop with just one pair!
Of course, we offer much more than earrings for the fruit-inclined, and if you want something extra to pair your new fruit earrings with, then why not pop over and check out the other fruit purses, fruit scarves, and fruit jewellery in our Fabulous Fruit collection!?
And, with new designs releasing every month, we may have some delightful new additions to our collection of handmade accessories. So come see the earrings, brooches, necklaces, and more that we have in stock.
