Those of you who know me, will already know that I’m not a fan of the cold hard faceless sell but am a huge fan of the personal touch! And that’s partly why The Supermums Craft Fair works so well because when you buy something from a stall, you’re not buying from a large corporation, you’re buying from a small business who cares! Behind every stall is a person and I have always encouraged them to come out and say hello in their descriptions and now I have taken it that one step further with this fabulous feature so you can get to know them even better!
Each week a stall holder from the super duper website will be chosen to become…yes you guessed it… Stall Holder Of The Week! This award is given to someone who has been seen out and about networking their stall and generally being an absolute star! And this week the award goes to…. drum roll please…
The lovely Jo from Ajenno by Jo Handmade Jewellery! Congratulations on being the latest stall holder of the week Jo! Let’s start off by finding out a little bit about the face behind the stall shall we, so don’t be shy, tell us a little bit about yourself! It made my day when I found out I had been chosen as Stallholder of the week so thank you! Anyway a little about me, well, I live in Bristol with my husband Andy who is an accountant (and tries his hardest to keep track of my bead buying habit but I always manage to sneak parcels in the house) and my two children: Jack who is 2 and a half and Lilly who is 6 weeks old today (Sat). I work part time as a PA for a local company that cares for the elderly, although I am on maternity leave at the moment. I love snowboarding and try and go at least once a year. I even went this year when 7 months pregnant but didn’t snowboard, you’ll be glad to hear, I just went along to get my snow fix and eat lots of yummy French food.
A 6 week old baby! I take my networking hat off to you for being able to do all that you do! If I was impressed before, I’m even more impressed now! And talking of being impressed…if I was to describe your stall using just 5 words I would say stunning, stunning, stunning, stunning, stunning…. what 5 words would you choose! Aw, thank you Sarah J This is a tough one… I think I would choose: Lovely, Bright, Colourful, Simple and Unique.
Perfect choices! So tell us Jo, when did you first start making jewellery and what was the first thing you ever made? I first started making jewellery many moons ago after learning the basics one night at my local Brownie pack. We started off making colourful spiral earrings using beads and wire. I still have a pair lying around somewhere I think.
And following on from that, when and why did you decide to turn your jewellery making into a business? It was around 6 years ago; hubby was working evenings in a local bar so I was home alone. I started trying to teach myself new techniques and skills and making more and more jewellery to pass the time. Then friends and family started to place orders for specific designs and it just grew from there.
Let’s talk beads! Do you have a favourite type to work with… I love working with handmade Lampwork glass beads (made by melting rods of glass by a hot torch) because the colours and designs are always so vibrant and unique. I have met loads of talented artists who make these beads and many of them have offered to teach me to make them myself but as yet I haven’t taken them up on their offer… watch this space.
Ooh that is something I think you should definitely try and I very much look forward to seeing the results! As you might have gathered, I love everything you make which begs the question do you ever make something that you love so much you end up keeping it for yourself… Oh all the time, it can be very hard to part with something I’ve made that I love but I know I would never have anything to sell if I kept everything . I have built up quite a collection of jewellery as you can imagine.
I can imagine and am very jealous too! So tell us, with so many gorgeous makes to choose from, what is your favourite item on your stall right now and why? I love the rainbow stone bracelet because it has so many lovely colours in it. This is one I definitely found it hard to part with but compromised by telling myself I would make myself something similar out of all my fave colours.
Burning question and its one that every stall holder of the week must be asked… chocolate or wine… Wine wine wine. Give me a bottle of red over chocolate any day. Although if I was given both I wouldn’t say no ha ha.
Chocolate for me, hurrah! (I’ve been given rather a lot of wine lately so the sugar rush is very much needed!) Another tough question for you….if you could only pick one stall to be your favourite on the website, which one would it be and why… There are so many lovely stalls on the website at the moment that it’s hard to choose. I think my favourite at the moment would be: Little Moo Boutique, I only discovered it this morning and fell in love with all the gorgeous designs.
Well its been lovely chatting with you Jo, one last question before I let you go and open that bottle of red…. What would you like the future to have in store for Ajenno by Jo Handmade Jewellery… I have a few ideas but whether anything will come of them is another matter. My ultimate goal is to open a handmade gift shop here in Bristol selling not only my jewellery designs but whole range of pretty hand made goodies. In the mean time though I am working on increasing the number of stockists I currently have and working on new ranges including a gorgeous bridal / wedding range.
As I’m sure you will agree, Jo was a fabulous choice for the stall holder of the week award! And to do it all with a 6 week old baby, WOW! Of course, there are so many other stalls who have been stars over the last week and they deserve a special mention too. Sadly I can’t pick all of them so each week I will pick just 4 and this week, in no particular order, special mentions are going out to….
Before you go…these are a few of my favourite things…. There are so many amazing and gorgeous products on the website, so many talented stall holders! Each week I will picking just a few of my favourites items to share with you and these are just some of them…. Why not take a little time and browse the site to find your own…
If you would like to meet some more stall holders then why not join the group Supermums Chatty Room on Facebook! Its a place for all stall holders to show off their stalls and get to know each other but everyone is welcome to come along and join in the fun. After all, what could be better than chatting and shopping with friends! And please do come back next week to see who has been chosen as the next… Stall Holder Of The Week…. xxx