Ah, Autumn! ‘Tis the season for spiced coffees, berry-hued lipstick and sweaters again! And, as Gary pointed out the other day, jackets - or, more to the point, jackets that you can decorate with your favourite pins (see what I did there?)!
If you keep up with my Local Lovin’ series, you’ll know that I love to showcase awesome businesses and local talent from right here in Scotland - it’s a huge part of why I started this blog in the first place.
BUT, via the wonders of the internet, we also get the chance to connect with awesome people who create their work a little bit further afield. Yay! Indie designers pop up on my social feeds, or sometimes they’ll even get in touch with me directly to say hello and introduce their work.
Andrew Brozyna, AKA Rather Keen is one of these talents - creating enamel pins and gifts in sunny Southern California. It was Rather Keen’s vintage-inspired Halloween pins that first got my attention (retro black cats and pin-up witches, how could I not love them?!), which was quickly followed by a Snowy Village Christmas collection, 50s geometric fruit blossoms, cafe-themed pins (including tiny lattes for your lapels!) and, most recently, earrings!
Some of Rather Keen’s existing designs have recently been recreated as dangly, jangly earrings, along with some new pieces - my favourites are the fun watermelon rainbows for obvious reasons.
It’s not just that Rather Keen has a knack for creating accessories that are relevant to my interests (HELLO Halloween, coffee and vintage stylin’!), but the quality is rad, too. I accumulate my fair share of pins (what can I say, it’s a hobby…), so it’s easy to spot when something has nice, chunky enamel and clean lines.
And, fun fact: Rather Keen has a Glasgow connection too - Andrew and his wife went to a summer programme at Glasgow School of Art while they were in college!
Finding out about kickass small businesses and the people behind them all over the world is one of my favourite things about social media and I must admit to a little bit of Insta-stalking to see what designs might be dropping next…
Be sure to hop over to Rather Keen’s online shop and take a look around and keep up to date with what’s new on their Instagram (or just keep an eye on my jackets this season, ha!).
Are you an enamel pin junkie? What’s your favourite Rather Keen design?
