Our second interview with Natalie, founder of Biju: a handmade, eco-friendly jewellery brand. She shares with us the hardest and best bits of the making process, and her top piece of advice for fellow creatives!
BA: How do you make your jewellery? Do you have a studio you work in?
Biju: I make my jewellery at my home studio at the moment. I have a room dedicated to my work, however to be honest I sometimes end up taking over the whole house.
BA: What is your favourite product you have made?
Biju: Some of my favourite products are from the first jewellery collection I designed in uni. I was working on them in my dad's workshop and got to spend a lot of time with him which was amazing. This and the more complex nature of the jewellery makes the collection some my favourite work so far.
BA: What is the hardest thing about your process?
Biju: One of the hardest things, if you can call it that, is finding a way around the difficulties of binding paper and silver together in a unified piece. As materials of such opposing qualities, when silver melts paper burns, and when paper folds silver cracks, so it is an exciting challenge. I would say it's both the blessing and the curse of what I do, so I am never bored!
BA: What's next for Biju? Any big projects on the horizon you can tell us about?
Biju: I am excited to be finding my way back to jewellery as I had a long break during the past year and a half. I am excited for new designs coming up, an updated website and new stockists, and also very humbled and thankful for shops like Brand Academy who did not give up on small independent designers like myself. I plan to take part in as many shows as possible as soon as everything is back to normal.
BA: Do you have any tips or words of wisdom for any budding Creatives starting out?
Biju: I am at the very beginning of my business still and there are many days when I question it all and doubt my ability to take this further. What I know for sure, and I would tell anyone in the same position is that if you do something that you enjoy you should hold on to it for your own sanity first, and stick to it despite the bad days for "business". One day the good news will come and even if that takes a long time, you have to appreciate the satisfaction of just creating something out of nothing. That's the greatest reward really