July 10-12th marked the 2015 County Kent Show. This year I popped up there twice – once to camp in their car park to watch The Red Arrows (shhh, don’t tell them) and once to visit as many of the artisan stall holders as possible.
I made my way to the Produced in Kent food tent to say hello to friends, clients and members. Was lovely to see friends from Dine Thyme, past and current clients Nip from the Hip, Oer The Moon and Buttonwhole plus other Produced in Kent members like The Wooden Spoon, (yummy passionfruit curd!) and Chegworth Valley.
On my way round the show, I was drawn to a lovely stand with beautiful silver jewellery. Now, all fairs have a company selling jewellery right? And it tends to be much of the same, but this lovely business was different. I was greeted with ‘Everything is made from spoons!” (It later transpired that she gets utterly sick of saying this over and over, as does her neighbouring stall holder who has to hear it over and over!) I met a lovely lady, Carolyn, who owns a very unique business called Mousie Murray. She makes beautiful silver jewellery from British antique sterling silver spoons. She sources these small antique spoons from all over. She dates them, photographs them, buffs them, ‘pickles’ them which causes impurities to rise to the surface that she then buffs/cleans some more and then hand hammers them into rings, pendants, earrings and bracelets.
Anyway the result is beautiful as you can see.
Now, what makes her stand out from other jewellery sellers? Well first it’s her unique idea – to upcycle antique sterling silver spoons into items of jewellery. A lovely and unique idea. Secondly, her branding is very consistent with the same logo, feel and palette of colours running through her marketing material. Also, the fact that you get a dated photo of the spoon before it was made into a ring or pendant is a lovely added bonus! This attention to detail is ingenious! Thirdly, her personality. When you run a small business, you are the driver and the face of your business, so your personality is so important. Carolyn loves each and every spoon that she has lovingly transformed into an item of beauty. She is passionate about her products, loves what she does and this shines through. She was a pleasure to meet and a pleasure to buy from. Lastly, was her brand story – she used to have another completely different job that she didn’t really enjoy so she set her energy, heart, soul and passion into her new jewellery business Mousie Murray and the success of her business is the reward for this dedication. She loves what she does, is skilled at her craft, has a unique idea, pays attention to the detail, has consistent branding, is passionate and dedicated and so the selling of her products happens easily. (Too easily! I bought four items from her!)
This is why I love working with passionate artisans. They are skilled at their job, love what they do and are passionate towards their business.
I’d really love to learn more about your artisan business so please tweet me @lisafromklarity or @_artisanacademy with your website link.
Lisa from Klarity x