Durban - Shauna Neill started Blossom Handmade five years ago as a small, home-industry business, where she designed and made everything, and sold the ranges at local markets and open days.
Today, it’s a fully fledged online business with five staff.
Neill sells off her website and other online boutiques, such as Hello Pretty, Ideas Market and Etsy.
Last year, she took up retail space alongside other creatives in a collaborative store in Gateway called the 100% Co-op.
Being in the spotlight has also worked to her advantage. Durban fashion designer Kathrin Kidger used the jewellery to accessorise her range for last year’s Durban Fashion Fair.
Soon after, the Department of Trade and Industry chose the brand to represent KwaZulu-Natal Design at Import Shop Berlin, where ranges were sold to European buyers. This year, it made sense to be at Design Indaba, and prospects only seem to get better and better.
Neill says: “Every item designed and created at Blossom Handmade is made with love.
“It gives me immense pleasure to be able to visualise something beautiful in my mind, and then turn that design into something tangible, that I can then see being worn by beautiful women around me. I never create a piece that I would not wear myself, which keeps me true to what I believe is good design and good workmanship.”
Her products are created from various materials.
There are T-shirt necklaces made from cotton knit waste fabric which can be worn five different ways as a scarf or necklace; knit bangles which are covered in crochet in a variety of gorgeous colours; fabric and lace bangles which are covered in different cotton waste fabric prints/lace; and silver and semi-precious stone earrings.
Each piece is handmade using telephone wire – a traditionally South African material, made fashionable through the use of relevant colours and forms. Her latest range is in wooden sea beads.
To find out more, see www.blossomhandmade.co.za.
The Mercury