Beaujangles

Hi and welcome to my ETSY shop ....
I am a self-taught silversmith now living in the UK (Brighton). I moved back from Dubai after living there from 1997 to 2015.
My Jewelry career began one boring summer in 2002, when my wife and two daughters had left the heat of Dubai for the relative cool (or rain) of the UK. This was a yearly occurrence that most ex-pat males had to endure.
(Note: We were known as WANKERS – Wife Away No Kids Eating Rubbish)
I was wasting my time just looking through our local bookshop when I picked up a book on making silver jewellery. I had loved metal worked at school and was the only boy in my year to get an “O” level in it, (probably due to my Dad being a precision engineer). I bought the book and spent the rest of the afternoon reading it. The following week, when I joined my family in the UK I asked around and found that there was a great shop in Brighton selling everything I need to do some basic silver work. I bought a few tools, (borrowed a few from my Dad), and was ready to go. When I go back to Dubai I set myself up on the kitchen table and started to play. It wasn’t long before I had made a pair of silver spiral earrings and from that point on there was no stopping me. I bought up every book I could find in Dubai (and on Amazon) that I thought would help me, and slowly I began to improve. My designs became more complicated, I moved from earrings to rings to cufflinks, even to silver stands for hand-painted Ostrich eggs! I was up for anything. In June 2006 I found ETSY, initially, I was disappointed, I had uploaded 5 items and had 0 response, maybe I was not that good after all. By October, I was beginning to lose the will to live, when one day on the way home from work I came up with the mad plan of making a pair of space invader cufflinks. By 13th October I had sold my first pair!, then my 2nd, 3rd, 4th…OMG what was happening …I eventually found out my cufflinks had been featured on a popular geek blog, (boing boing) and were an instant hit. I have continued to follow the Geek route, and love receiving new nerdy requests. Since this is still my hobby and not my profession, I can keep my prices low, although now, most of my profit goes to fund my eldest daughter through her veterinary Degree in London.
UPDATE: As of April 2015, I have now moved back to the UK, to pursue my life long dream of working for myself. I am now a full time silversmith. I create all of my pieces from scratch, and if I think they will sell well, I make mold and cast them. This enables me to keep my prices low, and use 100% recycled silver which reduces my carbon foot print.
I hope this has given you some idea of who I am, and if you have any questions or commission ideas please contact me, and I will be more than happy to help if I can.

Thanks BJ