Today we are speaking to the wonderful Julieann Bird, of Julieann Beads as she shares all about her wonderful jewellery business.
What is your company, and what do you do ?
Julieann Beads are a design led family jewellery business based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
How, and when did you get started in the jewellery business ?
“I was fortunate to be raised in a creative family who excelled in traditional crafts such as ceramics, lace making, painting and of course beadwork.
This background gave me a wonderful array of practical skills as well as an eye for shape and colour. Friends increasingly asked me to make my jewellery as presents for them and it reached a point when, encouraged by my husband, I decided to see if my designs were commercially viable”.
"Julieann Beads was founded in 2005 initially selling glass bead necklaces, bracelets and earrings at local designer/maker and craft events.
The unusual and distinctive hand made glass bead jewellery which includes lovely semi-precious gemstones carefully sourced from around the World, pretty freshwater pearls and sparkling Swarovski crystals proved to be a huge success and Julieann Beads rapidly moved onto exhibiting at regional and national shows."
"Increasingly, Julieann Beads were asked to design for not just the mother of brides and bridesmaids, but brides as well who were all looking for something unique, affordable and handmade for their wedding day. The move into the wedding jewellery market was a natural progression for us and has once again been tremendously successful.
We now have ready to wear bridal accessory collections featuring not just wedding necklaces, bracelets, brooches and earrings, but a whole range of stunning tiaras and wedding hair accessories”.
Tell us about your collections !
"Hand made to order, Julieann Beads bridal accessories offer a personal touch so that the wedding jewellery is one of the highlights of your special day.
The collections are all carefully created using sparkling Swarovski crystals, dazzling diamante or luscious freshwater pearls.
Ivory or cream wedding dresses look stunning with luxurious ivory freshwater pearls and are a traditional and classic choice for many brides.
Pearls photograph beautifully with timeless elegance, and Julieann wedding jewellery and accessories give a modern twist to this traditional look.
On nylon coated flexible wire, Julieann wedding jewellery is comfortable and easy to wear.
Wedding tiaras, head accessories and bridal jewellery featuring ivory pearls link you to your dress; the last thing you want is for your dress to wear you!
The Moonlight and Angel collections feature ivory freshwater pearls and clear crystals while the Forever and Eternity ranges include delicate champagne gold Swarovski crystals."
"Some Julieann Brides take advantage of our bespoke service having favourite jewellery reworked for their wedding.
Grannies broken pearls can be given a new lease of life for your wedding day, and beyond.
Alternatively, a bride may have borrowed a tiara or piece of wedding jewellery, and would like Julieann Beads to make co-ordinating accessories to link in."
"Pearls aren’t for everyone though, so at Julieann Brides there are also extensive ranges of all crystal wedding jewellery.
The Christabelle, Truly and Verity hand made bridal accessory ranges feature a sparkling array of different all crystal finishes."
Whats new in 2010 ?
"Coloured wedding dresses are becoming more popular again as are ivory or cream dresses with coloured detailing. Julieann Beads has the full Swarovski crystal colour range so we can customise any of our wedding jewellery or bridal hair accessories to meet specific requirements.
For example the Divine collection is a jet black and charcoal grey version of our popular Moonlight range. Julieann Beads also have a popular bespoke designer service creating tailor-made wedding accessories."
"I design and hand make all of the jewellery shown on the website (http://www.julieannbeads.co.uk/) and only sell my own designs.
We are regularly featured in the bridal press e.g. "Wedding Ideas magazine", "Perfect Wedding magazine" as well as "You and Your Wedding magazine".
"We are fortunate to have a loyal customer base that return time and again to purchase their latest glass bead jewellery designs.
Once they have selected their wedding jewellery brides often come back to Julieann Beads for their bridesmaid’s jewellery; coming in beautiful ribbon wrapped gift boxes it makes the perfect thank you present that will become a treasured keepsake.
We recently launched a gift voucher service which has become exceedingly popular. Julieann Beads gift vouchers are perfect for those people you aren't sure what to buy, allowing the lucky recipient to select glass bead jewellery or bridal jewellery themselves."
What drives you ?
Several things:
"1. The right accessory on the right person brings both alive and has a wow factor beyond words...
2. Everyone should have lovely things that make them feel great, we aim to create affordable, easy to wear jewellery that is distinctive and different from that available en masse on the high street be that bridal accessories or glass bead jewellery.
3. We love what we do, running our own business, being part of the magic creating a bride's special day is an honour and pleasure beyond words (the wonderful thank you cards and messages we receive are a real testament to that ethos). We love meeting people, customers and old friends and sharing our passion. We are so lucky to be able to earn our living in this way."
Whats the future for Juliann Beads ?
"The wedding and bridal side of the business has now grown to the point where we need more hands on deck to help with the inevitable increase in the amount of business management, advertising and admin.
My husband, Malc, has now joined the business on a full-time basis.
He formerly headed a team of over 70 people for a FTSE 100 company, and has all the business, finance and management skills that our expanded business now needs.
However, Malc says that despite this as the business continues to grow we are now at the point once again where more hands are needed so the next step will be to employ more people in our design and manufacture team”
Below are some examples of Julieann's gorgeous designs.
I think everyone will agree there is something for everyone, and a really eclectic range in each collection.
I particularly love the Bermuda Heart necklace with its stunning deep blue heart, complimented with blue/green toned swarovski crystals, its divine !
To Contact JulieAnn
Website: http://www.julieannbeads.co.uk/
Email: info@julieannbeads.co.uk
Phone: 01743 369024
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julieann-Beads/280952354188?v=wall
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Julieannbeads
Words from interview, and images ©Juliann Beads
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