NEW BEGINNINGS, AND WHERE IT ALL BEGAN...

It’s finally here! A shiny new website to go with shiny new jewellery! It seems only right then, given this new beginning (coinciding with the start of Spring – my favourite season :) ), that I introduce myself properly.

It’s lovely to meet you all.

Without it ever being a conscious decision, I’ve always wanted to start my own business - and it had to be creative at that. At the age of seven, I cleared away one of the shelves above my bed in my purple-coated bedroom, and upon it placed various homemade keyrings consisting of scooby strings and wooden beads and those flimsy steel carabiners that come in craft magazines. After a morning of making, I proudly ushered in my parents and big sister, letting them browse my new ‘shop’ and watched over them, hawk-eyed, willing my poor family to buy a piece of plastic for the grand sum of 30p. Eventually, the wooden beads turned into coloured glass beads and silver wire, selected one by one by my eager hands at Hobbycraft, as if it were at an additive-filled sweetshop. Yet for some reason, the idea of beading never really took hold. A few years later, it was greetings cards, festooned with faux calligraphy and smatterings of gold paint, that I envisaged to be my entrepreneurial masterpiece. Whilst cardmaking is still a fun hobby, my ideas had nothing on those of Scribblr or Meticulous Ink.

Art classes, too, were an enjoyable activity and something in which I had fun and did well. Yet - a sentiment echoed by many a maker - they never quite scratched the creative itch, and we were confined to curriculum-pleasing painting and drawing, rarely venturing off the white page. It was during a foundation year at Bristol School of Art when I first began to let creative thoughts wander. The concept of creating for the sake of creating was entirely new and wildly compelling. Spending weeks flitting between the kiln room, life drawing classes, pottery wheels and carpentry workshops, and having the creative freedom to just do, was completely novel – and addictive. It was during this time that I attended a jewellery workshop with the wonderful Kim Thompson – and it was here that I found an obsession with silversmithing.

Alongside this, however, ran the typical pressures of academic accomplishment and the jumping-through-hoops that the UK’s education system places upon all who follow it. A love of ancient history and mythology, borne out of a Percy Jackson obsession, had me on course to study Classics for the first time, and so university it was. This did, however, lead to creative freedom falling by the wayside, as I continued onto a BA course in Classics and French.

University has, and continues to, teach far beyond the reaches of the modules on offer. Its educators display and share an unimaginable wealth of knowledge, and the experiences I have had thus far, not only in my degree but also in the opportunities available and the friendships I have made, make it all worthwhile. And yet, without the ability to escape the busyness and mind-boggling lectures by way of making jewellery, I’m not sure how I could cope. All that was left then, was to find a way to combine these passions - of making jewellery and my degree content - and make the often-outdated Classics relevant. And thus, a brand was born!

Whilst there are still many plans in the works, including new collections, materials and inspirations (I’ll hopefully be publishing some research-based posts, too!), I’m thrilled that I can say that this is my job: to make classically inspired jewellery to be worn in the present day, and that I can spend my days adorning lovely people with pretty, shiny things.

There’s a long way to go, but I’m happy I’ve gotten this far – and I can’t wait to take you along with me!