Ivy & Gold
Ivy & Gold is a local jewellery business based in Broughshane. Erinn, the face behind the business started making bracelets just before the pandemic hit. In the two years since, she has grown Ivy & Gold into a thriving business with over 24k followers on Instagram and a feature in Heat Magazine.
After capturing Erinn at her shop in Broughshane, I was able to ask a few questions about her business and how her Bracelet making journey all began.
Hi Erinn, tell me a little bit about yourself and your journey to starting Ivy & Gold.
I was on maternity leave from my job as a journalist at the BBC when I first spotted these lovely personalised bracelets on Instagram. I couldn’t find any UK or European sellers so I decided to make them for myself.
Before long my friends and family were asking me to make bracelets for them too. This was in February 2020, just before the pandemic.
When the first lockdown came along I was really afraid. My baby daughter was just five months old and had received a cystic fibrosis diagnosis shortly after her birth.
Because she was clinically vulnerable we were told to shield.
I was extremely fearful of what would happen if she were to come into contact with Covid and my anxiety about her condition sky rocketed.
I turned to Ivy & Gold, making bracelets and running the Instagram page as a way to cope and something to focus on that wasn’t terrifying.
I used the time in lockdown while my baby was sleeping to grow the business into a full-time job.
So when it came time to go back to work at the BBC I had the choice to stay at home and keep her safe, do her daily treatments and be there 24/7 for her, which was what I was used to by then.
I took the chance on my business and haven’t looked back since.
What are the joys and challenges of being an independent maker?
The joy for me is really the flexibility that it gives me in my life. I have the freedom to work around my daughter and to enjoy as much time with her as possible as well as being there for her as a medical mama in a way I don’t think would have been possible with a ‘proper’ job.
The challenge I suppose is just managing a business when I really had no business experience. It’s been such a steep learning curve for me and things have taken off at a rate I never could have imagined.
I now have four employees who work in the business with me and I have to manage large quantity ordering of supplies, cash flow, staff holidays and sickness, a shop etc.
What does a typical work day look like for you?
So I come into the office after dropping ivy off to her granny’s house at 9.30 in the morning, turn on the lights and make sure everything is sitting nicely in the shop should anyone pop in.
I then open all the post which can include new stock, bills and bracelets which are sent in for repair, before looking at our emails and answering them (usually about 20 each morning when I log on).
After that part of the admin I would print off the labels for any ready to ship items and get those posted out.
I would then look to see if there were any priority orders or problems I had to deal with and make and ship any bracelets that needed to be done that day.
Then it would be on to some planning task - at the minute it is planning for the Ted Berry market and our Christmas photoshoot.
I would serve any customers that came into the shop, helping them to decide on how to add to or start their bracelet stack.
I close the shop and head home at 5pm.
Can you tell us a little bit about the process used to create your products?
I knew I wanted our bracelets to be made with the best possible quality beads. I am a gold jewellery wearer and I had been burned so many times buying gold plated or gold vermeil jewellery which tarnished with wear and eventually just had to go in the bin.
I favoured ‘real’ gold jewellery but obviously couldn’t afford much of it.
When I discovered gold filled beads I was so excited - they wear just like gold and are more expensive and better quality than most jewellery on the fashion market.
I did a lot of research into both gold filled and sterling silver jewellery and settled on using the beads for our bracelets.
I then had to watch hours of youtube videos and try a lot of different stringing materials and knots to make sure our bracelets would last (as stretch bracelets notoriously do not).
Do you have a most popular product? If so why do you think that is?
YES! Our personalised bracelets are our best-selling products and it’s because of the meaning that we can all attach to a piece that is fully customised by us. Wearing what matters to us on our wrist.
I think so much of what Ivy & Gold is about is that connection between family, friends and other special relationships.
Because I created the brand out of love for my daughter and everyone knows the story.
Do you have a favourite product?
I think the plain gold filled 3mm bracelet is my favourite - really for the same reason as I’ve explained above. It’s a really great quality and simple bracelet which wears like solid gold at an excellent price (£37).
If you were to share any encouraging words to others looking to start a creative business what would you say?
Believe in yourself!
It sounds so simple, but you do have to believe in yourself to take the chances / risks required to have success.
I was scared to hire people, to move into a space outside my house, to sign up to markets and to invest in growing the business, but I had to do all those things to get to where we are now.
