Evening all!
You probably already know I
graduated this summer, followed by a busy and exciting few months. Now I'm settled in Glasgow and looking to start a new journey for 2017. I’ve enjoyed seeing what fellow
classmates have been up to over the past summer. Some have moved on to new courses, others, internships and grad jobs. This week I want to bring
everyone’s attention to Sally at Luna Viola Design, a Fashion Management
graduate who has proceeded to create a brand of her own selling handmade jewellery
and homeware. I had a chat with Sally about prepping products, getting into the
creative mood and her future plans.
WHAT LED YOU TO START YOUR OWN BRAND?
I had always wanted to work
for myself and loved being creative so when I was unable to find my dream job
after university I decided to create it myself.
WHY ‘LUNA VIOLA’?
Well, to be honest, I wanted
something short and snappy to begin with but kept coming back to Luna Viola
Design for some reason. I’ve always loved the name ‘Luna’ and have a
fascination with the moon and space and thought that I would be able to
incorporate this aspect into my collection designs as the business progresses.
‘Viola’ is a family name – my grans cousin who died at the age of 14 in the
1940’s and I have always been fascinated by her beauty and the way that she stood
out in photographs. Then… ‘Design’ to tie everything together – I hope it
worked!
Colourful, Personal and
Creative
WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION?
This may sound cliché, but
all around me. I love the seaside and adventure so that has become a big part
of the inspiration for my first collections. Pinterest is great for on trend
colour inspiration too!
WHAT'S BEEN THE HARDEST
THING ABOUT STARTING UP LUNA VIOLA?
I do everything on my own
from physically hand-sculpting the jewellery and gluing on countless buttons to
photography for the website and social media to tracking down supplies and
everything in between. It’s a lot of work for one person especially someone who
is just out of uni and still trying to find her way in the world. But I love
every minute of it.
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU
PARTICULARLY ENJOY LISTENING TO IN ORDER TO STAY FOCUSED?
I love listening to various
podcasts about creativity and business – TED Talks are great and really inspire
my work and drive to keep pushing forward. I love a bit of country music too!
TAKE US THROUGH YOUR WORK PROCESS?
I usually begin with putting
a Pinterest board together of colours, textures and shapes before moving onto
sketching up some ideas. Once I have a clear idea in my head of what I want to
produce I then get making. Most of my work is made from Polymer Clay so I would
select the general colours that I wanted to work with, condition the clay and
then go ahead and blend colours together to make a unique set of colours and
patterns. Once I am happy with the combinations I would roll them into beads,
or sculpt the clay into necklaces, little dishes or whatever else takes my
fancy. If I am making beaded necklaces for example I take all the different
beads and waxed cotton cord and decide on what look I am going for before
stringing them and adding final touches. Then it’s time to shoot them for
social media and the website and then they are available to buy. Working with
polymer clay is quite a long process and can get a little frustrating at times
but once I have the finished product sitting in front of me I know that it’s
all totally worth it. Watching Netflix always helps too!
WHAT ARE YOUR PERSONAL WINTER MUST HAVES?
Bright colourful necklace to
add a little something to a cosy outfit – just like our SMILE necklace, Gilmore
Girls on Netflix and Earl Grey tea.
WHAT DO YOU SEE IN LUNA VIOLA'S FUTURE?
I’d love to open my own shop
alongside other creatives so it would kind of be a design collective. Hopefully
a little café could be added to the shop along with a workshop area for people
to come and learn different crafts. So really my ultimate dream is to have a
design hub because I think creativity is really important in all aspects of
life and handmade items should definitely be favoured over the mass produced
items we see across the board.
Until the official website launches, you can always check out some products on the Luna Viola Design
Etsy or check them out on Facebook and grab yourself a Black Friday/ Cyber Weekend deal.
Broke BB x
