To Kristy Dickinson, jewelry has always represented something special. “I say, ‘It’s me spewed up in earring form,’” the self-taught jeweler explained. “It’s everything that I believe in. It’s everything I want in the world. It’s everything that I want to be seen.”
Her Haus of Dizzy costume jewelry and accessories reflect that approach. Acrylic earrings from the brand’s Social Justice collection are printed with messages such as “Stop Violence Against Women.” The red, green, white and black of the Watermelon collection designs echo the colors of the Palestinian flag. Glitter-bright heart pins incorporate the black, red and yellow of the Aboriginal flag, a combination that also is available on the brand’s elastic belts and shoe charms.
Ms. Dickinson, 45, is a member of the Wiradjuri, a large Aboriginal group in New South Wales, an Australian state on the country’s southeastern coast that includes Sydney, the state capital. And that was where her path to creating a jewelry brand began.
“I started out on my bedroom floor in a little apartment in Newtown, in Sydney,” she said. “Then it slowly went out into the hallway, and then it went out to the lounge room, and then it went out to the kitchen.”
At first, the work was personal rather than commercial. “I lost my Mom to suicide when I was quite young,” Ms. Dickinson said. “Art for me is the best form of therapy. Just sitting down peacefully making something and not thinking about all those wild thoughts in my head really helped me get through a lot of tough times throughout my life.”
She learned design and production skills through online tutorials and years of trial and error, initially working with brass but then turning to acrylic to take advantage of the substance’s broad color range and versatility.
Ms. Dickinson began wearing her designs when she went out clubbing: “People started noticing and were asking, ‘Where are you getting that?’” Soon, she began carrying pieces in her purse and selling them in club bathrooms. “I would say, ‘Well, I take PayPal.’”
As for the brand’s unusual name, she and some of her friends called themselves Dizzy Moles. “I moved in with two people and we had a housewarming party, and the Facebook party invite was going to be called the Haus of Dizzy Moles, and we shortened it to the Haus of Dizzy,” she said. “So the name all began with a housewarming party.”
When she began making jewelry, she recalled, Indigenous themes were far less common than they are today. “When I first started out in Sydney, there wasn’t many First Nation designers doing the contemporary stuff that I do,” said Ms. Dickinson, using a common term for Indigenous Australians. “It was very traditional.”
Her own approach, such as oversized statement earrings incorporating Aboriginal flag imagery, was initially met with surprise, she said. “People were like, ‘Whoa, what’s this?’”
While working full time at a retail job, she sold her jewelry at the Glebe and Bondi Beach weekend markets. But in 2017 a buyer from the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in Sydney discovered her work and placed an order — her first major account. “And that’s when it changed from art therapy hobby to an actual business,” she said. “That’s when I realized this is what I need to do. This is my purpose.”
Ms. Dickinson moved to Melbourne the following year. “Melbourne is such a creative hub,” she said. “It’s really welcoming of First Nation people.”
In 2023, she opened a Haus of Dizzy boutique and workroom in Fitzroy, a suburb of Melbourne that has long been a center of Indigenous community and political life, shaped by protests for several causes and the legacy of figures such as the musician Archie Roach.
In recent years, Ms. Dickinson said, the suburb has proved to be the right place for her and her brand. “From about 2020, when the Black Lives Matter movement just shook the whole world, there’s just been so many more people coming out, and there’s been so much more support for First Nation designers and artists,” she said. “It’s wild and amazing and I’m so proud to be a part of it.”
She said that, over the years, her creations had been worn by celebrities, including Lauryn Hill, Lalah Hathaway and Drew Barrymore. In addition to the Fitzroy boutique, the brand sells through its online site and is carried by several museums and art galleries in Australia and New Zealand.
“Kristy Dickinson’s brand, Haus of Dizzy, has a bold creative vision and an unmistakable voice which our customers really respond to,” Chantal Sneddon, the retail manager for the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, wrote in an email. “We are very pleased to have been part of Kristy’s journey and to contribute to increased visibility for Indigenous-led enterprises in the MCA Store.”
A team of five women work at the Dizzy workroom in Fitzroy, producing pieces that constantly evolve in form and message. “I can come in with a fresh idea that morning and we would have a sample by that afternoon,” using the laser-cutting machine on site, Ms. Dickson said.
The Aboriginal designs have meant a lot to her as well as to her clients, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike. “I have customers that say when they put on the flag earrings, their back gets straight, their head feels high and they can just take on the world,” she said. “That’s everything that I want my jewelry to be. It’s a conversation starter.”
Violence against women and families, in particular, has long inspired her work. “Growing up, I saw a lot of family violence within my own family,” she said. “I never want my son to ever see or be part of anything like that. Or any child for that matter.”
Much of that drive, she added, is about legacy. She wants her 5-year-old son, Ziggy, to grow up seeing opportunity where she once saw limitation and to understand that creativity, identity and conviction can coexist. Two years ago she introduced Haus of Ziggy Lee, a children’s clothing and accessories line named after him that she said is produced through small-scale, ethically run manufacturing.
As part of that commitment, Ms. Dickinson regularly leads workshops for young people, including those in juvenile justice centers. “I came from family violence, I came from social housing. I never thought I could do this, but I did it,” she said.
“I love to teach kids to have self-worth, because it took me a long time to have my own self-worth,” Ms. Dickinson said. “I just want to be an inspiration to kids and to let them know that they’re strong and they’re confident.”
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