This is®, is a young creative jewellery design company based in Melbourne. It was found by Bonnie So in 2007.
Bonnie was born in Hong Kong. She undertook her design education at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and graduated in December 2007 under the programme BA Design (Industrial Design.
Upon graduation, Bonnie moved to Osaka to do an internship with Metaphys, under the direction of Murata Chiaki. She has also been fortunate enough to have worked with Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab, Melbourne – a research lab that envisioned Melbourne in 25 year time, The Strategic Design Lab of Hong Kong Polytechnic University – an industrial design consultancy, Dupont® Corian® – the inventor of Corian® and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).
During her final year of undergraduate studies, Bonnie attended the elective “By Product” led by Simone LeAmon – a semester long subject focusing on the concept of upcycling waste materials. Which led the creation her debut homeware product “This is a Trivet” and planted the initial seeds for her independent collection of products, This is®. (alternative: independent line of jewelleries)
“This is a Trivet” was first showcased at the Melbourne Design Market during Melbourne’s Design Festival in 2007. After the success at the festival, Bonnie went on to exhibit at Salone Satellite, Milan International Furniture Fair in 2008 and had her works published in the Melbourne Design Guide 2009-2011.
Inspired by the common bench top material (Corian®), she continued to explore the material based on the same concept of using limited amount of material and transform the bench top material into wearable accessories. The first “This is Accessories Collection” was then developed in 2008
This is Accessories ® intends to capture the beauty of curvilinear form. With minimal design, This is® emphasizes on the simple aesthetics of the form itself. Each design is named after its shape. The brand name forms a part of the name giving them a unique and honest identity. Bonnie hopes to use the brand and concept to provoke people to pay attention to the value and meaning of what they buy.
This year Bonnie launched her first few “This is short films” at the Design:Made:Trade and opened her first Pop-Up Shop together with a Melbourne local fashion designer Stella Ann at the Melbourne GPO Building. Currently, she is giving back to the industry as a tutor teaching BA Design (Industrial Design) at RMIT.
Her ambition is to open a boutique shop / workshop and hopefully continue to inspire others through the continual ingenuity and surprise of her product range.