At Silver Hollow Jewellery we love what we do. From designing and making new sterling silver rings to upcycling coins and cutlery into unique jewellery pieces, we enjoy every second of it. We're often asked 'How did you get into making jewellery?', so today we will take a dive into the start of our sustainable independent jewellery brand to where we are now!
Meet the Maker
First of all, I'll introduce myself if you haven't met me already- I'm Dan, the owner and sole employee of Silver Hollow Jewellery (so far...). This means I'm responsible for every step our jewellery takes before it reaches you: design, handcrafting, packaging and distribution.
Writing this, I'm trying to think of which part of the business I enjoy most, but I can honestly say I enjoy anything and everything that comes with this job. I run Silver Hollow Jewellery full time and love everything from our high street markets, crafting the pieces themselves, marketing and social media management and even post office trips. I especially love the creativity that this job brings with it, which I mainly have gained thanks to my Dad who used to teach me to draw when I was younger.
How we Started
Silver Hollow Jewellery started from the depths of lockdown boredom in a shed in the back garden of my university house. While scrolling online I found a video of someone making a ring from a coin and for some reason, I couldn't get it out of my head. So, on a hot day in the middle of the pandemic, I ordered a ring mandrel (metal rod) and a Half Crown coin. It took the best part of a few hours to hammer this coin I had drilled a hole in to, for me to make a half-convincing ring.
From there I continued making rings from old coins, slowly expanding my tools until I felt ready to sell a few online. The shed in the back garden was now full of odd tools and coins, and a large 6-ton press which I still use to make many of my coin rings and other pieces. The addition of coin pendants, coin earrings, and spoon rings widened our product range, but at this point, I hadn't properly considered working as a jeweller.
Here's a picture of our very first market stall set up on Chichester high street!We started this in the winter of 2022 which was a tough initiation to market trading but we enjoyed it despite the cold!
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After finishing university I continued to teach myself how to make jewellery and started to learn silversmithing from Youtube. After a few months of studying and practising while continuing to sell my pieces online, I took the leap into taking Silver Hollow Jewellery full-time. This came with a lot of work and investment, but slowly the business has grown since then, with the addition of a website, a lot of research into business growth, high street markets, and stocking in retail stores (news on this coming soon!).
Where we are now
So, as of now (June 2023), we're still enjoying everything that comes with bringing you unique, handmade and sustainable jewellery. We're so excited for what the rest of the year will bring, the projects we have in the works, and the road to building a business and community that shares our values:
unique quality jewellery, caring for nature, and sentimental pieces that bring joy to those who wear or gift them.
Please feel free to reach out to us! If you'd like to discuss more about jewellery, or just for a chat you can fill out a contact form, or DM us on Instagram.
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