Women In Business: Brighton Style Magazine

I have recently been featured as one of Brighton Style Magazines Women In Business, you can read the interview below or head on over to their website to take a look at all the inspiring women who have been featured

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Kate Holden is the woman behind Oh Someday jewellery. She makes personalised jewellery and sells them through her Etsy shop, having taken her business from part-time to full-time in 2013.

Here’s what happened when we caught up with Kate to find out more about her recent leader role with the Brighton Etsy team, and where she finds her inspiration.

Oh and BTW, we just had to buy one of those Be Brave and Be Kind bracelets.

Tell us a bit about you and Oh Someday..

I set up Oh Someday Jewellery in 2012 and I’ve been running it full time since the end of 2013. Before this I had a part time job alongside the jewellery making, it was quite scary to leave behind the security of my other job but it was definitely the right decision and I haven’t looked back!

Have you always lived near Brighton?

Yes, although I’ve actually never lived in the city, throughout my life I’ve never lived more than 30 minutes from Brighton! I’ve recently become a team leader for the Brighton Etsy Team where alongside some other team members we organise talks, meet-ups, events and markets. I think Brighton is such a wonderful and unique place and will find any excuse to spend time there.

How would you describe the type of accessories you sell?

I mainly make personalised pieces out of brass and silver at affordable prices- so everyone can have a truly individual and personal piece of jewellery. Every piece has been made using traditional jewellery making techniques, I saw out each piece myself and they are all hand finished too meaning every piece is slightly different and unique.

When did you start actually creating jewellery?

I started making pieces of jewellery for myself when I was in school but didn’t truly discover a passion for jewellery design until I signed up for evening classes to learn silversmithing about 5 years ago now. Learning about different types of metals and gemstones and how to work with them was so exciting to me and made me realise the design possibilities with jewellery are endless.

How did you find your niche?

I think really just by trying new things and seeing which pieces my customers responded to the best. When I first started out I had no intention of making personalised jewellery but through customer requests over the years it’s now the main part of my business and the thing I enjoy doing the most! I love hearing the different things people would like put on their jewellery and finding out the story behind why they would like those particular words is always really special.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

The jewellery I make is heavily influenced by music, nature and the people around me. I’m a bit of a daydreamer so most of my pieces are thought up when I should be in the middle of doing something else, or late at night when I’m trying to get to sleep!

Most of my favourite pieces have been commissions that customers have asked for. I loved making a pair of rings with the words ‘Noli Timere’ on them which is Latin for do not be afraid and were the last words of the poet Seamus Heaney.

What tips do you have for others wanting to set up a local business in Brighton?

I think my main advice would be to just go for it! You can spend too much time thinking about doing things rather than just giving it a go.

I would recommend joining a website like Etsy where it is relatively inexpensive and simple to set up a shop. There are great communities on there that can help you with every aspect of your business.

Joining the Brighton Etsy Team has been really valuable for me and my business and I’ve met some really lovely people through it too. Going to the meet ups (which you can find out about on the Facebook page www.facebook.com/brightonetsyteam) is also really useful as everyone has tips and advice to share.

Etsy has also given me the opportunity to reach customers all over the world, which I think is really exciting!

Find out more and Kate and her jewellery here:

Website: https://www.ohsomeday.etsy.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ohsomedayjewellery

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/_oh_someday_

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ohsomedayjewellery

June Playlist

Micachu and the Shapes - Oh Baby

C Duncan - Garden

The Lunchtime Sardine Club - Dollars For Donuts

The Heartless Bastards - Low Low Low, not new, but new to me

Young Fathers - Nest

My Favourite Commissions: March

I couldn't decide which was my favourite out of these two silver necklace commissions from March so I thought I'd share both! If you've got an idea for a piece of jewellery you'd like feel free to get in contact :)

March Playlist

I'm posting videos this week as I can't get my spotify playlist to work! I never watch music videos anymore, used to spend hours when I was younger with MTV2 on checking out the latest ones...

Yay to new Tame Impala music, can't wait for their new album to come out!

Sharon Van Etten's got new music out too, her last album was one of my favourites from last year

Quite a few new ones from other old favourites this month too, including The Maccabees, Warpaint and The Cribs (who will always have a soft spot in my heart)

And a band I've only just found out about, RONiiA - Last Words

Engraving Weekend

Last weekend I went on an engraving course at the wonderful West Dean College. In case you've never heard of West Dean College before it's a pretty amazing place, it was set up by Edward James in his family mansion on the South Downs as a centre for the study of conservation, arts, crafts, writing, gardening and music. They put on lots of short courses, as well as some full time ones, every year including specialised jewellery and silversmithing ones.The house itself is so interesting to explore as Edward James was a surrealist art collector who was friends with Salvador Dali, the college has one of the famous lobster telephones and a Mae West Lips sofa in one of the hallways which they collaborated on together. There's art and extravagant taxidermy down every corridor.

 

The engraving course was taught by Wayne Parrott who is an excellent teacher and so knowledgable and helpful, if you're interested in learning about engraving I would highly recommend taking a course with him. Here's some examples that Wayne brought in to show us:

We were shown how to transfer designs onto metal, told all about the different tools and equipment you can use, including being shown how to make our own gravers and punches, and taught the basics of how to get started with engraving.

I learnt so much over the three days but it's a skill that takes a lot of practise. I'm going to carry on doing it now I'm home and hopefully be able to include it in my work in the future. Here's one of my finished pieces:

You can find out more about West Dean College and the courses available HERE

February Playlist

February's been a pretty good month for music in my opinion. I'm so obsessed with the new Unknown Mortal Orchestra song Multi Love, can't wait for their new album to come out. Courtney Barnett's new song is also brilliant and Yay! to new music from blur, probably my all time favourite band.

I hope you enjoy my playlist, as always let me know if you've heard anything good recently!

Word Of The Year

I've been reading on a few blogs recently about having a word for 2015 (my main source of inspiration was over at Harper & Finch's blog), I think this is a great idea as I decided against having any New Years resolutions this year as I never keep them! My word for 2015 is going to be: endeavour. This year I want to try new things, do my best and have as many adventures as possible! I'd love to hear if you've got any New Years resolutions, or if you're choosing a word for your 2015?

Here's To Getting It Right in 2015

Inspired by all the talk on Brighton Etsy Hour (#btnetsyhour) about blogs and New Years resolutions I have decided to start my own. This isn't my first blog attempt so hopefully it'll be 10th time lucky to actually posting regularly/ posting things that other people will be interested in, so here we go! Happy New Year everyone, here's hoping 2015 will be the best yet!

Photo credit Noel Shiveley