I originally started selling knitted cushions and clutch bags that were made on my ‘good old Knitmaster’ domestic knitting machine in 2011. While I was selling these at Portobello market and London’s oldest market- Spitalfields- situated in East London - I was teaching myself to crochet. It was through my love of statement jewellery- over embellished designs and my new-found love of crochet and its possibilities that the Eliza Joan crocheted necklace was born.

Here’s my design CV:
I am an Art teacher and I work for a London knitted swatch company, I have designed for Topshop, WGSN, sold work at Pitti Filati in Florence, Premier Vision in Paris, I was a finalist in the Envy Design Competition and I exhibited at New Designers in Islington. I participated at Alternative Fashion Week in 2012 and I have been featured in Elle, Instyle, Marie Claire, Simply Homemade, Crafty and Simply Crochet magazine.

I live in the very English sunny south east coast of England, surrounded by countryside- a minute from the beach and a short train journey from the buzz of cosmopolitan London that allows me to both relax and crochet while focusing my thoughts as well as shop for inspiring supplies, keeping track of street-style trends and visit the mother-ship (Liberty’s of London).

I work in my studio in my hometown of Eastbourne, UK. The studio is surrounded with yarns of all colours, crochet books and every Vogue magazine since 2002! I’m not kidding- they have literally become furniture! It seems they make great coffee tables!

I always look at Vogue every month for inspiration- colour/ shape etc, but really I look for potential design ideas everywhere- relying the majority of the time on these ‘happy accidents’ I mentioned before- such as crocheting around spectacle frames after my mum broke hers, crocheting around curtain rings after I found some in a workbox. I love the embellishment designs from the 1960’s which I stumbled across when writing my dissertation on the ‘myths and the mini-skirt 1965-69’ and the best-selling bow tie designs were inspired one afternoon by a Cary Grant film. I hope to have a reputation of craftsmanship and romanticism in my work along with luxury and a signature style of whitty and whimsical opulence.

Every day is different for me as I literally undertake every part of the business from designing, to promoting, from photography, to selling.

I tend to take all my product photography in one go when I have a few designs to photograph as my photography set-up takes me a while to get perfect. Once I have images that I am happy with- I upload them and tell their individual story on Etsy.

The good thing about my work is that I can take it anywhere- I literally carry my tools with me (black yarn, a 3.00 crochet hook and a mini pair of scissors) wherever I go.