Exploring balance and contrast in design through evocative lines and elegant simplicity.
Handmade from precious and semi-precious materials, each piece is designed with attention to detail, giving equal importance to wearability and aesthetic.
Little Mountain strives to create pieces that are interesting as adornment as well as sculptural in their own right.
Mitsuro Hikime
The Cascade range of jewellery has been made using Japanese Mitsuro Hikime wax, traditionally a mix of refined beeswax and pine rosin.
Also called Taffy wax from the technique of “pulling” the wax to form striations, this wax is shaped into rings and sculptural forms which are then cast in precious metals using the Lost-wax casting technique.
In ideal conditions the delicate wax is worked quickly and with a light touch to avoid fingerprints on the wax, crushing delicate shapes or breaking the final form as it cools and hardens. The challenge in using the wax means that many pieces are rejected, and the wax is re-moulded and shaped again. Approved pieces are then encased in a plaster mould, the wax then burnt out (providing the 'lost- wax' name), and finally the cavity filled with molten precious metal. The cast pieces are then cleaned up and polished, and often oxidised to enhance the lines and banding formed by the wax.
Meet the Maker
Little Mountain Designer and Creator Fiona Webb
After an introduction to jewellery making through an Advanced Diploma in Jewellery Design, Fiona then went on to complete an apprenticeship at MDTdesign, one of Melbourne’s best known diamond jewellery boutiques. Under the tutelage of expert designers and master jewellers, Fiona was encouraged to explore the boundaries of jewellery design.
In 2004, Fiona moved to Macedon, a quiet village nestled in the Ranges at the base of Geboor/Mt Macedon, Victoria. This became an idyllic place to raise a family with her partner Chris Flenley, the sculptor behind Weldism.
Inspired by a connection to the natural landscape around her, Fiona decided to create and launch her own business in 2017, naming it ‘Little Mountain’.
Little Mountain respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which we live and work. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future.