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Behind The Bolo With Semplicé Designs
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Time to read 4 min
From Lainey Wilson and Ella Langley to Tyler Childers and Bob Weir, the Nashville artist behind Semplicé is quietly redefining the bolo tie
You’ve probably seen a Semplicé bolo before, even if you didn’t know the artist behind it.
Lainey Wilson has worn her work. So have Ella Langley, Tyler Childers, Billy Strings and Bob Weir. Every piece starts in the same place: at Mackenzie Palladino’s East Nashville studio, where she still makes each one by hand.
“I’ve been at my bench working consistently to shape my designs for the past 9 years. The details I add to each piece, whether that be a certain hammer texture, sawed out detail, or words to the back of my pieces.. They all change with time.”
Ahead of the fall show, Mackenzie created something especially for Round Top Finds: a custom double turquoise bolo, inspired by the same design Ella Langley has worn by Semplice.
She started designing bolo ties only a year into her business, at a time when she remembers seeing them almost exclusively on male country singers.
“I started designing bolo ties a year into my business, when nobody was really wearing them casually. The only people wearing bolo ties were men who were country singers, so I do feel like I changed the demographic by adding a feminine approach to my designs. The fact that most of my designs are unisex makes them extremely approachable.”
Then came MerleFest in 2019.
“The first festival I ever vended was Merlefest, early 2019. I had Tyler Childer’s band walk by my booth and stop to look at my pieces. They later brought him back by the purchase a piece, and truly the rest is history.” Childers wore the bolo onstage that night. The photo appeared in Rolling Stone, and Mackenzie work began reaching more musicians, including Billy Strings.
Two years later, she moved to Nashville.
“When I moved to Nashville two years later, I naturally started working with women in Country. Ella Langley’s stylist Stef and I consistently worked together early in Ella’s career to design pieces that would help her stand out with her style and aesthetic.”
She has now been designing for Ella and her team for nearly three years, designing pieces for Ella Langley and her band members for everything from TODAY Show appearances, to album covers, to music videos.
Whether it's Ella Langley or Lainey Wilson, each piece is created by hand. In fact, when we first met Palladino at Zapp Hall, she had her leather wrapped hammer and tools laying next to the pieces she made with her tools, which made us wonder what is her studio like?
We got a peek in to Palladino's East Nashville studio, where she hand crafts every piece from sawing down the metal in to various shapes for pieces, to sourcing stones, to hand stamping the back with personal messages or lyrics of songs for artists.
“My studio is a mix of both masculine and feminine energy, as my work and my overall aesthetic conveys. Dark wood, candles, palo santo.”
There’s a Stevie Nicks poster on the wall and a framed photograph of Bob Weir wearing her work. Above her bench hang two finds from Round Top: a painting of a Native woman with her hair in the wind and an early 1900s painting of Mother Mary.
Her soundtrack might be Hermanos Gutiérrez or older country from George Strait, Keith Whitley and Waylon.
“I love my space, it’s cozy and reflects the natural elements I include in all of my designs.”
Although she's already designed for dream clients, we had to ask who else is on her list to create custom pieces for? Three came to her mind, Stevie Nicks, Miley Cyrus, and Colter Wall.
For all the artists who have worn Semplićé, one remains particularly personal.
“Bob Weir owning and wearing my work will always be my greatest career highlight.”
The turquoise bolo has “Be Here Now” stamped on the back. Weir wore it while performing at Playing in the Sand in Mexico.
“I started my brand as a Grateful Dead jewelry artist, I love their music and it was so inspiring for me as an artist to listen to them while I worked. I built my brand around the positive messages their lyrics held, and it has stuck with me ever since.”
The names may get your attention. The one of one nature of the pieces is what makes Semplićé special.
“When people invest in pieces from me, they are choosing to be different and unique. And most importantly, they are choosing to support an artist. Each piece is one of one, which means nobody in the world has that exact piece.”
No two stones are ever exactly alike. That philosophy is also what makes custom work so personal.
Wynonna Judd in her Semplice
“This is why I love creating customs for people, truly any design is possible and I love working with others to create their dream piece.”
For Round Top Finds, that meant two natural turquoise stones chosen over Facetime, warm gold metal and a light tan braided leather, all worked by Kenzie’s own hands.
It feels less like jewelry made for a season and more like the kind of piece that eventually becomes a family heirloom. The kind someone might recognize you by now, then find in your jewelry box years from now.
This fall, Mackenzie is bringing a wide variety of bolos Semplićé has become known for, earrings, and more, along with something new.
“I have so many really cool designs I’m bringing to Round Top! I will be continuing the year of the fire horse theme with an elevated style of horse hair pottery bolo ties and ceramic designs, many of which are inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe.”
She has sourced ceramic pendants and burned the horsehair onto them herself, alongside turquoise bolos in a range of stone colors.
“This will be my best show yet. I am challenging myself to create pieces that are even more unique and complimentary than ever before.”
In Round Top, where the best find is usually the one you didn’t know you were looking for, made by an artist you meet in the dusty fields along Highway 237.
SEMPLICE DESIGNS
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