Manic Daisies

Lynn Denton, 39 from Loxley in Sheffield, has taken the plunge to turn her hobby into a business, as she launches her new jewellery line – Manic Daisies.

 

Lynn’s jewellery is created using pure silver, fused glass decorations and also – quite uniquely – Sheffield-made cutlery. After studying sliversmithing at college for two years, Lynn began to design and make bespoke jewellery from a workshop in her garage.  As her collection grew and she began to get interest from people wishing to purchase her products, Lynn began to consider giving up her job as a primary school teacher to concentrate on making her jewellery line a success.

 

Lynn comments: “I had thought about setting up my own business for a while and despite the challenging economic climate, I decided now is as good a time as any. My contract as a teacher was coming to an end so I decided not to renew it and to put all my efforts into Manic Daisies.

 

“A friend of mine recommended getting in contact with Sheffield City Council's enterprise team to talk to someone about the next steps – I had no previous business experience and it is quite a daunting prospect to go it alone. I booked an appointment with BiG and talked through my idea. I was advised to carry out some market research, look at my main competitors and work out my costs including my time – something which I had not really considered before.”

 

Lynn is still in the early stages of setting up her business and having two small children means that she can only spend a limited amount of time developing new jewellery designs and products. Despite this she will be visiting many gift fairs over the next few months and in the build up to Christmas, she is hoping to build on her customer base.

 

Lynn concludes: “The Manic Daisies website is well underway as I have had a lot of customers asking if they can purchase my products online. My ultimate goal is to complete a wood-working course and add a range of wooden jewellery boxes to my collection. The guidance I have received has given me the confidence and belief that I can make this business a success.”

 

To find out more about Manic Daisies email manicdaisies@yahoo.co.uk.