Fed up with working nine to five, Airdrie took a chance on her talent for jewellery design, something she had been passionate about since she was a little girl growing up in isolated far north Queensland.

“I grew up in north west Queensland, which is a very harsh, masculine and isolated environment, but I always loved pretty things.

“Making jewellery started off as just a hobby, making things for my mum and for myself, I did the grown up thing and got a ‘real’ job, but I never stopped creating, I found people actually wanted to buy the things I made, and it has just taken off since.”

After Airdrie discovered people would happily pay for her beautiful designs, she began selling her wares at some of Melbourne’s markets, where her business, Joolz, continued to grow.

“After my sales at the markets started getting bigger, I had my first runway show just over a year ago and Vogue Australia saw my stuff and was very interested, when Vogue gets interested everyone else seems to take notice.”

Since that first runway show, Joolz has been featured in many publications including, FHM, Australian Country Style, New Woman, Life Etc, and is on the cover of the current issue of Honestly Woman and also features in Fashion Weekly’s Winter Trends 2008.

At the end of 2007 Joolz was named as runner-up in the FHM Essential Awards in the accessories category, beating established brand like Dolce and Gabbana, Swatch, Fossil and Adidas. Despite being featured at Australian Fashion Week, the MTV Australia Awards and a Jimmy Choo launch, Airdrie has not forgotten her rural roots and has been travelling the countryside with her “Joolz and Champagne” tour that visited the Dust Jacket bookstore last week.