Lucas established his first jewellery business in 1985, beginning a professional path that would eventually take his work into galleries and creative communities across Australia and overseas. In 1989, he travelled internationally and immersed himself in different artistic communities and disciplines. The experience influenced his direction as a jeweller, and he returned to Australia with a renewed perspective on both design and making.
Jewellery, however, was never the only creative discipline occupying Lucas’ attention. He explored painting, sculpture, ceramics and printmaking, looking at the ways those practices could inform his own work. Rather than treating jewellery as an isolated craft, he brought elements of those disciplines into his approach, experimenting with precious metals, unconventional forms and coloured gemstones. That broader artistic investigation became an important part of Lucas’ development as a contemporary jewellery designer.
In 1993, he was awarded Fellowship of the Gold and Silversmiths Guild of Australia. Around the same time, he developed his first major jewellery collection and began exhibiting through galleries in Sydney and Melbourne. He later established a studio gallery in Balmain, where he spent a decade exhibiting his own work throughout Australia and Asia while also representing the work of up to 50 artists.
For Lucas, the distinction between designing a piece and actually making it is an important one. Every work begins with his own design process before being constructed by hand in his studio. He remains involved throughout, from developing the initial concept and selecting materials to forming, constructing, finishing and refining the final piece. The process keeps the designer directly connected to the object being produced.
That hands-on approach extends across his jewellery practice, including manufacture, remodelling and restoration. More than 40 years of working at the bench have given Lucas an extensive base of practical experience, while his interest in experimentation continues to push his work beyond conventional jewellery forms. The result is a practice where technical skill and artistic exploration operate alongside each other.
In 2021, Lucas opened Black Cicada Studio, bringing together a working jewellery studio, gallery and creative space. The studio was conceived as somewhere jewellery could be made, exhibited and discussed alongside contemporary art. Collaborations with local artists and organisations have also seen the space host workshops, exhibitions and demonstrations, opening up aspects of the creative process to the broader community.
