Juliet Carr is a self-confessed "glitterologist".
She can talk for hours about grades – there's coarse, and fine, and textured – and myriad colours she has sourced from craft stores both locally and overseas.
![Juliet Carr, of Pirdy, is part of the new crop of artisan makers using social media to grow their businesses.](/web/20170103165730im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/j/9/n/d/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtjh2g.png/1483335893953.jpg)
Carr, a mother to a 14-year-old daughter, is one of a growing crop of Melbourne artisans, many of them women, who are helping to fuel a resurgence of handmade clothing and jewellery.
Thanks to social media, especially Instagram, and a slow pulling back from the deluge of fast fashion that's inundated Australia in the past few years, labels such as Carr's Pirdy are thriving in the handmade space.
![Resin earrings embedded with glitter have become Pirdy's signature.](/web/20170103165730im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/j/r/f/q/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtjh2g.png/1483335893953.jpg)
Carr said support for handmade goods was growing as more people yearn for a "connection" to their goods through the "conscious consumption" movement, which is championed by slow fashion activist Livia Firth.
"You're supporting someone directly. It's nice to look at something and say, 'I know the person who made this'. There's just so much rubbish out there," Carr says.
Designer and stylist Estelle Michaelides, who stocks Pirdy at her online store You.Are.Your.Style, agreed social media was bringing power back to designers.
"What's more, [a designer] can directly chat to her customer and there's such a special appeal to that from both ends. As a consumer to know you're getting a reply directly from the designer makes you feel respected and appreciated," Michaelides says.
![Heart of Bone creator Emma Abrahams.](/web/20170103165730im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/j/r/g/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtjh2g.png/1483335893953.jpg)
"Once again, customers want service, attention, personal focus and appreciation, and although designers use social media as their 'shop', consumers are still getting this one-on-one service."
Carr's 3800 Instagram followers pale in size to the accounts of "influencers" – many of whom are models and bloggers paid for carefully edited product placement shots from their exotic travels and fun-loving lives.
![Designer and stylist Estelle Michaelides at the Melbourne Fashion Festival.](/web/20170103165730im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/j/r/g/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtjh2g.png/1483335893953.jpg)
But to Carr, they're real.
"[My Instagram] is not about pushing the sale, it's about the fun side of it," she says.
In the past 12 months, Pirdy earrings have been spotted on the likes of Paris Hilton, who picked up several pairs during her Australian tour, and media personality Lauren Phillips, as well as influential curators at the National Gallery of Victoria, whose shop has become one of Pirdy's biggest clients.
Another label that has gone from strength to strength in recent times is Heart of Bone, the rock-gothic jewellery by Emma Abrahams.
Unlike Carr, who launched Pirdy through the Rose Street Artists' Market in Fitzroy eight years ago before gravitating towards a more digital presence, Abrahams' business was "born" on Instagram nearly three years ago.
Since then, her celebrity clients have included Billy Idol, adult film star Jenna Jameson, and rock star Joel Madden, while her artwork has also caught international attention. Most of her online traffic comes from the US, although she has hundreds of loyal customers in Melbourne, from socialites to music industry identities.
"It was unbelievably quick. Because [my designs] are original and handmade, because I share my studio process, I share my inspirations and give it all some context, my customer base just loves being part of something different. It's built a great little community," Abrahams says.
"The fact that you can launch an entire brand with no capital, no stock, no staff and no traditional media support is exciting to so many creatives out there. That wasn't possible five years ago. The world of fashion has changed so much. Creatives are running the show."
As business picks up, Carr is resisting any urge to grow too fast or outsource, opting instead to spend 10 days straight sanding the latest order in her Windsor studio.
Being able to tell her customers that she made the product is important to her integrity, she says.
"I saw some advertisement for alcohol and it said 'crafted longer' ... I am seeing the word crafted chucked in so many places, I don't even know what it means anymore," she says.
She said consumers were becoming wise to the benefits of buying handmade – and using social media to photograph themselves in the product and send it back, creating an invaluable feedback loop.
"People are becoming more conscious, more aware [of where products come from] ... When you go to a trade show, you see all the [potential] landfill. I find it really ugly."
Abrahams agrees people are turning away from the generic aspects of mass fashion.
"There is so much same same out there, cool women want brave jewellery. Pieces that people stop you in street and go nuts over," she says. "Who wants to fit in. I have zero interest in that."