Behind The Collection: La Vita

Introducing the culmination of our ethos and aesthetic; introducing La Vita.

A curation of 37 premium pieces, our SS23 collection integrates precision metalwork and visual innovation.

La Vita is crafted entirely from certified recycled silver and gold vermeil, with the addition of stone elements and stylistic details. All materials are ethically sourced and traceable, meeting our evolving standards as they relate to our maxim: ‘Make Few, Design Well’.

As you browse the collection and explore cutting edge details crafted by committed hands, enjoy this sit down with Banksy to learn about the motivation and sensibility behind La Vita.

Q: Starting with your latest drop, La Vita. Can you tell us about what influenced the collection?

There are a few things that inspired me when I was designing, and it has been a work in progress for most of this year. I've had pieces designed from as early as January while I was in Japan, up until pieces that were designed about a week before drop.

I have been reading a lot of philosophy lately and was inspired the Greek stoics such as Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and others. The goal was really to embody some of their teachings and ideas into certain motifs and symbols. Additionally, I have always been fascinated by ancient Rome and its contributions to almost every aspect of modern western culture. So, it’s kind of been a crossroads of these two overarching concepts. I feel like they do go hand in hand. Jewellery has this powerful way of immortalising anecdotes, and capturing the essence of human experiences and emotions.

For myself, this collection is an artistic representation of our shared histories, a tribute to the enduring power of storytelling through jewellery.

Q: Starting with your latest drop, La Vita. Can you tell us about what influenced the collection?

There are a few things that inspired me when I was designing, and it has been a work in progress for most of this year. I've had pieces designed from as early as January while I was in Japan, up until pieces that were designed about a week before drop.

I have been reading a lot of philosophy lately and was inspired the Greek stoics such as Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and others. The goal was really to embody some of their teachings and ideas into certain motifs and symbols. Additionally, I have always been fascinated by ancient Rome and its contributions to almost every aspect of modern western culture. So, it’s kind of been a crossroads of these two overarching concepts. I feel like they do go hand in hand. Jewellery has this powerful way of immortalising anecdotes, and capturing the essence of human experiences and emotions.

For myself, this collection is an artistic representation of our shared histories, a tribute to the enduring power of storytelling through jewellery.

Q: Why does the name ‘La Vita’ strike a chord for you?
I called it the La Vita collection because it means ‘the life’ in Latin. That was obviously the prominent language during the Roman Period, and those who know me know that I have a strong verve for life. However, you’ll see different aspects of this sprinkled through the product designs and names, particularly Seneca’s Signet and the Essence Band, which reads “while we wait for life, life passes”. It's encouraging people to live their life and make the most of every day.

Q: The campaign shoot adds another dimension to your brand visually - you usually go with quite natural hues but this time you’ve added red and other colours, can you talk us through that decision?
Yeah, it's very bold, it's very strong. Red seems to be my colour of choice this year, I love incorporating it into different areas and details. I did do a lot of product research while I was designing this collection, looking at established brands across Europe and America and red is something we’re going to see quite often in the imminent future.

But I think around what was most important for me around this shoot and the reason why I had shot it a bit differently to our past campaigns was that I'm working really hard to elevate my brand and show people that we are a premium brand and that we sell a premium product, and I wanted my imagery to complement that.

I felt like maybe sometimes we've been misinterpreted as a younger, surf, coastal brand, which we absolutely are. That's where Merchants has come from. But I think I am really inspired to elevate the brand to be a little bit more urban, modern, street, and have tried to incorporate those tones throughout the campaign and imagery. I was also so inspired by the level of product that we're about to release that I want to make sure that we gave this collection the best runway as possible and showcase every single product in its own right.

To execute, I worked closely with some incredible creatives to bring that vision to life, particularly Jonni Westside, Ash J Studios, Johnny Jackson, who did all the styling and direction, and a number of people behind the scenes that came on board to help us.

Q: On that note, this year has been huge for you with collaborations - what makes working with other creatives so special?

I love working collaboratively because you get such fresh and different perspectives. I believe it’s just about appreciating the essence of creativity and championing those talents and those skills through different artists. That's why I enjoy working collaboratively with artists, because I get to see so many different perspectives.

I think working for so long in creativity and design and photography, I've started to appreciate that creativity isn't just this floating cloud that people either have or don't have. I like to believe it's almost a lot more niche and distinguishable, and everyone has a different avenue of creativity or perspective that they put out—whether that's our customers and how the dress/style their jewellery, or if it's through a photographer and the way that they take their photos. Some photographers work heavily in post production, where others spend so much time composing their shots and manipulating light so that they barely touch their imagery after it's shot.

This is obviously one very particular example, however, I like to think everyone has that small, distinguishable strength of creativity, and I really enjoy seeing that come to life through different creative avenues.

Q: La Vita is your most diverse collection so far in terms of shapes, textures, stones and more, what drove this experimentation?

For me, La Vita feels like the capstone project. It feels like the first collection I've officially designed, in a weird way. I think maybe a lot of people might misinterpret that because I've been running Merchants now for three to four years, but in this weird way, it feels like the 'first' collection we have ever done. Everything up until that point were smaller projects and smaller collections, and I had often put out pieces and collections that I had wished—but didn't have a chance to develop further, often due to time constraints and deadlines we had set for ourselves.

The most amusing thing was often the pieces I had hesitated the most on releasing had often ended being bestsellers so I guess at the end of day it's going to be up to the customer decide.

Nonetheless, for the first time, I can confidently say this actually feels like a finished collection. I have been able to allocate a lot more time to product development and design this year, thanks to my incredible team picking up the slack when I've been in 'design blocks'.

I feel like there's enough variety in there that someone will find something they're going to love within this collection. But I also feel like it goes back to our roots and our very first couple of collections, such as Mirage and Year One, and the early Sunwalker and Envy. I feel like those pieces really fall into the categories of simple but timeless. Furthermore, I feel like the quality of each piece has been raised significantly.

When we first launched, we had incorporated a lot of gemstones into our pieces, like Tiger's Eye, Turquoise and Onyx. I moved away from that in the last couple of years as I have strugged to ethically source gemstones. I don’t feel comfortable selling gemstones that I didn't know where they’ve come from. That was the key reason why I had moved away from incorporating gemstones into my pieces, even though it was something that our community has always loved and requested.

Thankfully, I've been working closely with a new reputable gem supplier who is a lot more transparent around where our gemstones are sourced from and can guarantee they don't come from conflict zones, which is hugely important to me.

I do love incorporating color, I love incorporating gemstones, and I feel like they add another facet to jewellery design and so much more opportunity for creativity. As far as gemstones go, I've been trialling and testing a lot of different variations, and I'm really excited to bring it back into one of our main features of Merchants.

Q: Do you have any top picks from La Vita?

I hate to pick favourites because I think they're all amazing in their own right, and I feel like a dad who’s picking his favourite kid.

Rings wise—I absolutely love the Orbit Signet with a Red Garnet. I'm so stoked to introduce that to the world, but I'm going to have to say the Asteria Signet is my winner of the collection. I think the Quadrata chain is also very understated; I'm really excited to release that because it just feels like such a finished product, a labour of love.

Q: How would you describe your style to someone who's never seen Merchants before?

It's so hard for me to articulate that, but I think in a lot of ways, Merchants has always been an extension of myself and as such, resembles my own personal style and tastes. As that has changed over the years—from growing up around surf culture and coastal lifestyle to working within fashion and being inspired by streetwear and creating premium products—so has our overarching branding for Merchants has changed.

That is what I would say my vision is for Merchants, to be a household name for premium Australian jewellery brand, that has it's roots set in coastal surf culture but is still very much a streetwear / designer label.

I think it's brands like Saturdays NYC, and Noah, that really inspire me in this regard.

Q: What does La Vita mean for you in terms of that brand evolution?

I come back to the fact that I feel like this La Vita is the capstone project for Merchants of the Sun. These last three, four years have been such a learning process for not just myself, but my very young team. We're finally coming into our own, finding our unique style, our authetic personality and maturing into this premium urban jewellery label—and I'm excited to lean into this further and release some seriously good collections in 2024.

Shop the La Vita drop from Tuesday, 21 November 2023. Sign up for news here.