Caron from What Caron Made

Hi, I’m Caron and my little handmade business is What Caron Made. I make jewellery with beads, the smaller the better!

I was born in South Africa and moved to England in 2008 with my husband and baby. I grew up in a place called Pietermaritzburg, which was a lot of fun and I enjoyed school and a year of college. After that I came to the UK for 2 years, which was fantastic.

I then went back to South Africa and met my husband. I had various jobs in a bank and ended up working as a mortgage consultant for many years until we moved here.

I used to make beaded jewellery and string pearls before I had children, just as a hobby. However, life with kids was busy and I started up my own ironing business about 9 years ago because it was something I could do from home, it worked really well with young children.

Last year, 2019, I rediscovered the amazing world of beads. I made some earrings which one of my ironing clients commented on. She loved them and wanted me to make her some and make some for gifts. It was then that the idea was sparked to start up a little creative business and Beadworks was born. The journey only properly began before lockdown and so all of my plans for markets and fairs went out the window. I signed up the MMFH not knowing what to expect and was so blown away by the makers involved. It was so inspiring to see everyones stalls filled with the most beautiful crafts and it made me realise that this could be a my full time business. I loved seeing the MMFH grow and I look forward to watching the midday maker interviews to be even more inspired to make this dream a reality.

Watch Caron’s interview on our Midday Makers series on IGTV.

Visit her Instagram @WhatCaronMade

Andrea from Dandylion Design

Midday Makers

I started at art school at 17 and although I always felt my destiny was to be a sculptor; the desire to earn a decent living led me to study furniture and product design at degree level. When I left Kingston, in the middle of a deep recession, all I wanted to do was to set up a market stall and sell things that I’d made. The drawback was having the money to buy the raw materials to make anything in the first place. So, I ended up working for a firm of architects on a short-term contract to earn the cash to do so. Two years later I had to concede I’d become an interior designer. This led to a long career working in many sectors – public, residential, retail and exhibition. I learnt a lot, had a great time and made some great friends along the way. Although I thought I’d have more time to pursue my making passion when I started a family; freelance work paid the bills and filled the hours I wasn’t being a mum.

Lockdown in many ways has been a blessing for me. As I could no longer do anything that wasn’t home based. It forced me to assess what I really should be doing career wise as my industry had taken a nosedive.

One Christmas, years ago I had asked my husband to buy me a cheap hobby kiln. As I have always loved glass and the three-dimensional depth and purity of colour within it, I had hoped to experiment with this material. However, coming to grips with firing schedules had stood as a rather silly obstacle for far too long. Lockdown gave me the time to study this dark alchemy and it was almost a week before I blew that kiln up! Then I slogged through the technical details of firing schedules properly. Along with everything I could find out about glass compatibility and brought a new kiln.

Now, although every time I put something in the kiln it’s still an experiment, I never want to lose that sense of play. Equally over the years of experimenting with many materials I have enjoyed the endless possibilities there are in combining textures that I have grown to adore. Whether it’s timber, metal, leather, flint, plaster or something more obscure; there is a distinctive relationship I have with them all; and a respect for their limitations and potential. I can’t imagine sticking to one material forever, but I am now fully immersed in the love affair I’m having with glass and feel I’m at the beginning of a long and rewarding journey. There’s so much to learn and so many ideas I want to put into practice, that I think it’s safe to assume my new kiln will have a long and hard life.

Finally, the next best thing to my original dream of setting up a market stall, in our COVID world, is a virtual one. I am grateful to makers market from home for setting up and supporting such an exciting platform.

Watch Andrea’s interview on our Midday Makers series on IGTV.

Visit her Instagram @dandyliondesignalv

Jai from Earth Goddess Jewellery

Midday Makers

I’m Jai from Earth Goddess Jewellery by Jai and I create beautiful handmade healing crystal jewellery for the mind body and soul. I’m 42 years young and live in Norwich with my hubby, my dog pixie and my 6 chickens Browny, Snowy, Leghorn, Rogue, Suzy and Dot (they live in the garden not our house lol).

I wasn’t very artistic at school in that I couldn’t even draw a stick man and tended to gravitate more today sports, mainly swimming and dancing and was part of a synchronised swimming team up until age 18 when I decided to up sticks and become a fitness instructor on cruise liners which I did for 3 years and was fortunate enough to see all 7 continents of the world. I’ve always been drawn to beautiful things and would spend hours beach combing for pretty stones and shells with my dad as a child then gluing them to garden pots. I collected lots of beautiful things during my time on the cruise liners, jewellery, sculptures, art, more stones and shells and also a load of old tatt (which I thought was lush at the time – but it really wasn’t)

After 3 years I decided there was no place like home and returned to Norwich where I managed a health club for a few years, before upping sticks for a second time to work in Greece and then St Anton in Austria for an activities holiday company. after a couple more years I’ll returned home again, went on a cruise for a holiday and met my future husband, he moved from Romania to the UK and we settled down and got married. I wanted a job that didn’t include evenings and weekends so landed myself an entry level admin job with Norwich city council, and I’ve been there ever since, I’ve changed roles several times and now work in environmental services.

Throughout all these years my jewellery collection grew and I did a silver-smithing course around 10 years ago which I loved but didn’t really continue with it at the time. Some years ago me and my husband went our separate ways and a few years later I met my current hubby (he’s not my actual hubby as I’m not going to bother with the marriage part again) but he’s my hubby in all but law. I fell pregnant in 2016 but sadly had an ectopic pregnancy and have struggled to conceive ever since the stress of this and other life events led to me having a breakdown last year and to try to assist my recovery my parents brought me a jewellery making set, beads finding basic tools etc, I had counselling and various other assistance and slowly I started to recover, and as I recovered I rediscovered my love of making jewellery. At around the same time I met a reiki healer and had several sessions with her working on me with energy and crystals and my recovery skyrocketed. I then switched my jewellery making focus to healing crystals and my little biz was born ?

I discovered MMFH on Instagram and decided to take the plunge at their second virtual Market by posting my first ever IG video, Andy and Mrs G spotted me and we got chatting and they kindly invited me to tell my mental health journey on the first day of mental health awareness week. It was absolutely amazing, it felt so good to share my story and the response I had from others was crazy good. MMFH is such a wonderful community based market, it’s a creative family, it has this special something that I can’t put my finger on but it’s just the Mac daddy of online markets (in my opinion) I love how they encourage everyone to grow, share, collaborate and work as one for the greater good of the creative community. MMFH has my heart for sure.

You can enjoy our Midday Makers chat with Jai on our MMFH IGTV channel.

Check out Jai’s Instagram account @earthgoddessjewellerybyjai

Louise from Louby Lou’s Luxuries

Midday Makers

My name is Louise and I’m from Norwich. I grew up in Aylsham and went to Aylsham high school and later onto Eaton collage.

My business name is Louby Lou’s Luxuries. The name idea came from a nickname my mother-in-law gave me and it really have stuck, even the dog knows me by it.

The reason I started my business is because I was always buying wax melts for myself and even for presents so I thought why am I not making these myself. I have come a long way since my first ever craft fair and have definitely learnt a lot in terms of how I make my melts to how I like to set up my stall.

I now offer a range of scents in categories including Fruity, Floral & Fresh, Drinks, Inspired By and Men’s Aftershave. These can be purchased in Pick ‘n’ Mix shapes, Mini Snap Bars and Gift Boxed Shapes.

My latest product to my business is a range of fashion hoop and hook earrings.

I am working hard to try and increase my followers and I believe Makers Market From Home is a great platform to help people do this.

Have a watch of our Midday Makers chat with Louise on our IGTV channel.

Instagram – @loubylousluxuries

Roma Crookes from Unique Sonder

Midday Makers

Hi all! My name is Roma. I am the face behind Unique Sonder. I create handmade bright, one of a kind earrings from polymer clay and resin from my home studio in Coventry. My inspirations are primarily taken from by-gone eras, revisiting bold colour-ways and patterns that stir feelings of nostalgia.

I have always considered myself to be a creative type, but formally followed a more science based education, studying Medical Microbiology at the University of Leeds. Although the arts always had my heart, I was led to believe a career in them was a pipe dream. After university, I went on to pub management for the following decade. Whilst I have some wonderful experiences under my belt from that time, the nature of the hospitality industry (particular in Central London) is emotionally and physically draining.

Six months ago, I took a leap into the unknown, chasing a more fulfilling lifestyle (that didn’t include being woken up at 6AM on my days off to deal with missing deliveries, surprise inspections or staffing crises!), and Unique Sonder was born. Whilst still in it’s infancy, I am thoroughly enjoying the journey.

Sadly, my first every markets were not to be due to Covid-19. So I was ecstatic to stumble across Makers Market From Home. Not only has it been an opportunity to boost my business, I have also had the pleasure to network with a fantastic group of other makers who I now engage with on a regular basis – sharing our knowledge and experiences.

Watch Roma’s live chat with our MMFH Ambassador Lydia on our IGTV channel.

Check out Roma’s wonderful creation in her Etsy shop UniqueSonder.etsy.com

Instagram @uniquesonder

Sapphire from Sapphire Frills

Midday Makers

My name is Sapphire, I’m 26 years old, I graduated in 2015 with a 1:1 in fashion from the Norwich university of arts. I went onto work as a design assistant at Ted Baker HQ in London, lived there for 5 months but found it a really lonely place. At the time, my mum and sister was talking about moving to Spain and because we are so close it was just too difficult for me so I made the decision to leave and came back to Norwich. It took me about a month to get back into employment.

I worked for a tailoring company for about a year in Norwich while saving to start my menswear brand which I no longer work for now. I started a men’s company making and selling t-shirts in Norwich for about 2 years but I just remember thinking ‘do I want to do this forever’ and the answer was no. It wasn’t something that I could be personally passionate about so I asked myself, what am I passionate? What do I love? What can I make for me? That’s when I started Sapphire Frills.

I now hand-make statement earrings from polymer clay taking lots of inspiration from animals. My favourite animal is a leopard and I use a hell of a lot of leopard print in my collection so I also decided to donate every month to WWF to help protect Amur leopards in the wild.

There is a lot of work that goes into making each pair of earring, more than you’d think. There is about 9 to 11 stages to making each pair of earrings depending on whether they are studs or dangles.

I offer all of my studs on either hooks or hoops along with offering clip on backs and sterling silver for sensitive ears which is also very popular. The standard backs are made from hypoallergenic surgical steel which is nickel free. I have now been trading for 14 months with Sapphire Frills which has gone super fast but has been the best journey of my life! I started SF worked 3 days a week in employment but made the jump a month ago to go full time which has been the best decision yet!

I love being part of MMFH because it has connected me to so many kind people. It has brought me closer to the makers community and it’s so lovely to be able to support each other. It was also the first market that I took place in since lockdown, I have been with you from the start, one of the originals and it is very much my favourite one. I love the way you run the market Andy and this is the reason why I made the decision to tie my live Instagram markets in with yours. There’s no other market day I would choose to do a live.

Watch our #MiddayMakers chat with Sapphire on our IGTV channel

Visit her shop on Etsy SapphireFrills

Instagram @sapphirefrills

Paulomi Debnath from Handmade by Tinni

Midday Makers

Hi, I am Paulomi and I am the designer behind Handmade by Tinni, statement jewellery with a heart and soul. I create colourful happy jewellery that will make your heart swoon and your soul happy.

Little bit on my background – I was born and brought up in India (The cultural heritage has a huge influence on my design inspiration). I studied sales and marketing and worked in international chain of hotels as a sales specialist. In 2004, I met the love of my life and in 2006, we got married in Kolkata, India. We both belong to this ‘City of Joy’ and very proud to have strong roots there. That year, I joined my husband in London to start a new chapter of our journey together. With my experience in hotels sales, I was back in hotel sales management. Fast forward 14 years, I now hold a senior position in hotel procurement as my day job, have become mum of a 9-year-old imaginative boy and we live in London.

Now the fun part…. I am totally addicted to jewellery. My mum teases me that I am building secret jewellery museum. ? I am extremely proud of my eccentric collection which a mix of vintage, one of a kind or contemporary design.

Fun fact – my ‘junk’ jewellery always travels with me in my handbag whereas my laptop may have travelled in hold luggage few times. I have no conception of literal value-based priority. (Little tip – you will be stopped at the security check-in every time you are carrying too many jewelleries as the Xray machine goes buzzy. Not fun for the impatient husband while I am explaining the security team why I need 100+ jewellery option on a 3-day holiday. ?)

Handmade by Tinni, was a natural step for me born out of my passion for handcrafted unique jewellery. When I set-up my brand finally in 2019, my design inspiration came from bright colours of nature, amazing places that I have travelled to over the years and most importantly from the rich heritage of India. I create jewellery that are locally made, sustainable, respectful of our resources and responsible towards environment.

I chose cotton yarn or rope as my main design medium as I am passionate about sustainability. Cotton is an amazing material. It is sustainable & bio-degradable, soft to wear, anti-allergic, colourful, and extremely flexible to let your imagination flow. I am self-taught on different rope knots and have been creative in mixing different knots to design new styles for my collection. Never afraid of learning or improvising or mixing new ideas!

I take great pride in making each piece by hand. My aim is to make you look beautiful and proud when you showcase a Tinni jewellery.

Love Nature, Look Beautiful & Be Proud.

Becoming involved with the Makers Market From Home has been incredible – there are so many amazing and inspiring small businesses out there, and it’s such a wonderful community to be a part of.

Check out our happy chat with Paulomi on our Midday Makers IGTV series.

Visit her website www.handmadebytinni.com

Visit her Etsy shop HandmadebyTinni

Instagram @handmade.bytinni

First Light Festival Midday Makers Takeover

Midday Makers

As part of First Light Festival 2020 we did an Instagram takeover on the @firstlightlowestoft IG account and hosted a #FirstLightMakersMarket!

We spoke with three makers who have a local link to Lowestoft including Kay Lillian Designs, Helen Thrower Jewellery and Rachel’s Soaps.

It was brilliant to chat to these talented local creatives and to see inside their studios LIVE as part of #FirstLightFromHome.

Please have a watch of our interviews with these fabulous #MiddayMakers on the First Light IGTV channel here.

Enjoy!

Katy from Katy Wilkinson Jewellery

Midday Makers

Hello! Nice to meet you. I’m Katy and I am the face, the designer, the maker and sales person behind Katy Wilkinson Jewellery. Oh and the photographer, finance manager, etc, etc… I am a wife and mum to two gorgeous small ones and after years of having my own business, I can finally now say it is my Day Job! Hooray!

I handcraft simple and timeless jewellery designs in sterling silver, gold and gemstones, make to order and also take on a lot of commissions. I work from home in a purpose built studio within my double garage and love spending every minute I can in there. Having a fairly recent obsession with gemstones, I really enjoy creating one-off pieces using hand-picked gemstones. Having a small and growing collection gives me the opportunity to offer a really personal design service, whereby the customer can choose a stone they love the most to be set in their commissioned or made to order piece of jewellery.

My creative journey started when I was a lot younger. I was always one of the ‘arty’ ones at school and eventually went on to take Art, Product Design and Biology (I know – seems weird, but I loved it!) A-Levels. After A-levels I didn’t feel ready for Uni so I decided to go to collage to complete a Level 3 Diploma in Art Foundation Studies. It was only for a year, but it was a year of experimentation in different art mediums and it was great fun.

It gave me the opportunity to explore different areas of design that I hadn’t had exposure to before, such as 3D design and from there I started creating body adornments from all sorts of materials. After finding out that there were Uni courses focusing on Jewellery design, I jumped at the chance of heading in this direction and applied to a few including Birmingham City University – The School of Jewellery, where I spent the next three years.

I had such an amazing three years at the School of Jewellery. It was hard work and we were in School every day, using the workshops and learning new techniques. But as an Art based course we were really encouraged to think outside the box and so my Degree Show comprised of a collection of pieces and adornments based on the emotion of Frustration, mostly created using an amazing piece of kit, called a Laser Welder, to create cage like structures from Stainless Steel and Gold.

During my third year I won a few awards, one of which, the Marketing Birmingham’s Jewellery Student of the year 2006, gave me the opportunity to have my work modelled by Erin O’Connor (used to model for M&S) and have my work worn on the Catwalk. These experiences further fuelled my love for the industry and so as soon as I graduated in 2006, I returned home (to Wiltshire) to set up my business.

Since then, I had been working part time as a Jeweller whilst having a day job in Marketing. During this time I had built up collections and ranges, taken on commissions, had been attending craft fairs and sold online, determined to make a go of it so that one day I could finally be a Jewellery Designer Maker full time!

Guess what, in 2019 I made the leap!! When the time came to decide if I was going to head back to the day job after my second maternity leave, I decided to bite the bullet and resign! And it truly was the best decision I’ve ever made. I can now focus on being the creative that I’ve always wanted to be and at the same time, working from home gives me the opportunity to spend more time with my family.

Finding the MakersMarketFromHome and taking part in every one of the markets so far has been a great experience and a fabulous way to spend some of the Saturdays that I would have ordinarily been at physical local markets selling my creations. It’s also been a great way of growing my online profile and I have met some other fabulous makers who ordinarily I would never have met by attending my local markets and who I chat to on a regular basis now. It’s such a fabulous community to be a part of.

Watch Katy’s interview on our IGTV channel here.

Visit Katy’s website www.katywilkinson.co.uk.

Instagram @KewJewellery

Andrea from Andrea Wright Designs

Midday Makers

Andrea graduated Winchester School of Art with a degree in Fine Art Printmaking. After graduating she then started her creative career within the arts working at The Beatrice Royal Art Gallery in Hampshire where she first found herself drawn to handmade jewellery as part of her craft curation role.

Her interest in jewellery grew and Andrea moved to Justice, a high end jewellery boutique in Winchester. Here she was surrounded by the work of the top 40 British jewellery designers. Inspired she completed a silversmithing course that enabled her to start designing and creating her own collection of pieces.

After moving back to her home county of Suffolk she set up Andrea Wright Designs.

From her home studio Andrea designs and creates clean lined, wearable contemporary jewellery in silver and gold and hand picked semi precious and precious stones.

With a focus on the tactility of jewellery and surface pattern Andrea utilises her knowledge of traditional printmaking techniques to create unique textures and finishes on her work.

“Know first who you are and then adorn yourself accordingly”
Epictertus

Jewellery is incredibly intimate, not only in the sense that it’s worn next to our skin but also as a form of personal story telling. It holds our memories of people, places, relationships and life experiences. Our jewellery expresses who we are, it gives us confidence and a sense of self and identity along with conveying our sense of style.

I am passionate about designing and lovingly creating affordable luxury jewellery. Design led, timeless and elegant collections with an edge. My inspiration comes from travel and discovering and immersing myself in different cultures and from the natural world around us. I draw on my fine art printmaking background to add textures and surface pattern to my work, often monoprints transforming the jewellery into unique wearable works of art. Jewellery to express your personality and make you stand out from the crowd. Commissioned and personalised pieces to celebrate you and mark those special occasions in your life. Jewellery as unique as you.

Makers Market From Home has been a fantastic outlet for makers from all over the world during the Covid crisis. It’s a wonderful supportive community giving us all the opportunity to stay connected with our customer who we would normally see at the Makers markets and to bring our stalls to you, from our homes to yours. Huge thanks to Andy and Mrs G for all their hard work.

Check out our Midday Maker’s interview with Andrea Wright to hear her speak about her work and creative life.

Visit Andrea’s website www.andreawrightdesigns.co.uk

Instagram: @andreawrightdesigns