This Ilk

This Ilk is a Montreal-based jewellery brand founded by designer Tamara Bavdek, who creates bold, feminine statement pieces using vintage lace as her primary material. Each piece starts with carefully sourced antique and vintage lace — some pieces dating back a century or more — which Bavdek transforms into dramatic earrings, necklaces, and accessories through a process that stiffens and preserves the delicate textile while maintaining its intricate patterns and organic beauty.

Vintage Lace, Modern Statement

This Ilk's signature pieces are oversized statement earrings crafted from vintage lace. Despite their dramatic size, the earrings are remarkably lightweight — lace, even when treated and finished, weighs almost nothing — making them comfortable for all-day wear. The designs celebrate the inherent beauty of antique lacework: the irregular patterns, the handworked details, and the textures that only time and human craft can produce. Bavdek finishes pieces in gold, silver, and coloured treatments that highlight the lace's structural details.

Sustainable by Nature

This Ilk's use of vintage materials makes sustainability intrinsic to the brand rather than an add-on. Every piece repurposes existing textiles that would otherwise deteriorate in storage or end up discarded, giving new life to the work of anonymous lacemakers from generations past. The brand is women-owned and operated, with production handled in Montreal. Bavdek describes her aesthetic as "modern Canadian bohème" — pieces that are bold and contemporary but carry the soul and history of their vintage materials.

Montreal Made, Canadian Worn

This Ilk sells through its online store, at markets, and through select boutiques across Canada. The brand has earned a following among women who want jewellery that starts conversations — pieces that are unmistakably handmade, visually striking, and unlike anything available from conventional jewellery brands. For Canadians who see accessories as a form of self-expression, This Ilk offers wearable art with a genuine connection to textile history.