Meet Priscilla
Idunn Bijoux who has acvcepted to take us through a journey into her creativity.
Hello Priscilla, would you like to introduce yourself ?
Hi, my name is Priscilla. I am a French girl who went to study
in Spain in 2008 and never made it back home. I do not generally consider
myself an impulsive person, since I prefer to weigh the consequences of my
actions, but I do like challenges, new things and specially moving out of my
comfort zone. Perhaps deep inside I have an adventurous soul.
Since last
November, I have a little online shop, Idunn Bijoux, which is growing by the
day and represents for me a way of working with my emotions and transmitting
them as far as possible to every potential buyer who visits my shop.
What do you create ?
I am handcrafting pieces of jewellery and my specialty is
creating them by combining very small beads, Miyuki and Toho delicas. To work
this material I need a long needle and nylon thread, both intended specifically
for this kind of work.
How did you get started ?
I always liked creating objects, since I was a child I have
handcrafted decoration elements, key rings, bracelets, and also customized
others that I already had such as lamps, T-shirts… But a couple of years ago I
went to a costume jewellery workshop organized in my neighbourhood to “try
something different” and I learnt the beading technique. At that moment I
really began creating all kinds of pieces of jewellery, also using cotton or
leather cords. When I had about fifty different items, I thought that I could
take advantage of my hobby and I looked for a name, a logo, an image for my
brand.
What is your source of inspiration ?
As my shop’s name clearly indicates my first source of
inspiration was Norse mythology. More specifically my “muse” is the goddess
Idunn, guardian of the golden apples which are the source of the gods’ eternal
youth and beauty.
Now I seek
for inspiration in the latest trends and in my own mythical and mysterious
world, and I try hard to give a different and unique touch to every new craft I
create.
I
have always felt very attracted to mythology in general, being it roman,
egyptian, greek or norse. In fact I had to write a paper about this last when I
was in high school. This interest for antiquity comes from my mother, whom I
always remember during my childhood watching documentaries and reading books
about these topics. Hence my main inspiration source for my crafts.
Moreover, in my family creative
expression has always been something very patent for me, since my grandfather
used to paint with watercolours and ink, and my mother, aunt and cousin are all
great drawers, who unfortunately have never taken advantage of their talent. My
grandmother was also a very good seamstress and thanks to her I can sew and
crochet.
I think that thanks to my shop and the
creative community in which I am involved, I achieved to transmit my values and
this is why I give the utmost importance to every little thing that I craft,
since they are an expression and a reflection of what I actually am deep
inside.
How do you promote your work ?
I think that one of the best ways to promote my handcrafted
pieces is having contact with people. One should not be afraid of spending hour
after hour in social networks, blog and of course also using the forums and
community available in the selling platform that you use, since most sellers
are also buyers.
Moreover, it
is essential to value your work. Being creative is a job as any other, you
spend hours working on a hand painted bowl or, as it is my case, beading with a
needle, thread and tiny 1mm beads. Do not let people look at you the way they
look a child doing a macaroni necklace for mother’s day. We are talented and
our work deserves recognition.
Any favouite food ?
I do not have one favourite recipe, but I love cuisine made with
love. I think my taste changes depending on the season. For example during the
summer I love these original salads that you make with anything fresh and
colourful that you find in the fridge. Summer is also the perfect season for
ice cream. I have to admit that I do have my favourites as hazelnut or
pistachio, but I also try new flavours.
Any advice for new designers ?
Based on my experience, the best advice I can give to some
creative person who is starting with e-commerce is to take it easy and above
all, do not underestimate the need of a marketing action plan. What I mean is
that we are all human, and we only have 24 hours a day, so it is impossible to
take on everything in a few days: creating, photography, new listings with
descriptions, community management… so, do not rush and be patient.
By the need
of a marketing action plan I mean that you really need to think over who your
customer is, his/her age, what does he/she do, what does he/she read, etc… you
need to make a profile to know where to find him/her and how to attract
his/her interest towards your product.
The last
thing to consider is that you have to be very concise and think over very well
your shop policies. This will save you a great deal of bad surprises in case of
loss of an order or of customer’s dissatisfaction.
When not creating, what do you do ?- Apart from my creative activity, I like very much going to the
movies, spending time with my friends or reading books. I also love travelling
and walking around new places, and tasting local food everywhere I go. I am
also a great music fan, I always need to have a radio, a cd player or an mp3
nearby, I usually listen to songs in Spotify while I am working on my pieces of
jewellery.
The craziest thing you have done ?
. I
think that the first thing I talked about was probably one of the craziest
things I have ever done in my life. Deciding to stay and live and work in a
country where I was alone, without family or a job, or any experience to know
how things work here. It was quite a crazy decision, but it has been the best I
made in my life, since all the things I have been through in Spain and the
people I have met here have made me who I am today: a full, responsible,
adventurous, creative, loving, passionate person.
Any PLaces you love ?. I think that if there is someplace I should recommend among the
many I like, it should be the Dordogne, in France. There are so many beautiful
and interesting things to visit in that region that you would need several
weeks to see them all. Medieval castles, caves with paintings, canoe rides in
the river, charming cities, natural parks… This is a place I loved as a teen
and that I continue loving 15 years later.
Words of wisdom. Never think as a small shop, you need to think as a big business
and plan absolutely everything. You need to think on logistics, packaging, to
calculate your prices in a professional way… All these things are what make your
potential customer to see that he/she can trust you, your products and your
policies.
Also, as I said before, it is really important to know your
target customer, to understand what he/she does or reads, to be able to attract
his/her attention and to make him/her choose to buy in your shop.
Any favourite artist ? I have to admit that I might not have any favourite designer or
artist. I like discovering and watching what other creative people do, and I am
always surprised by the imagination some of them show. Also if I can afford it,
I love buying pieces from independent artists because I know that they have a
story of their own and they have been made with so much love and effort.
13. Her favourite item are these earrings:
Priscilla says : "I love this stone and I believe they are very beautiful and
original."
14. To enjoy her jewelry creations, please visit the following
Our
favourite piece has to be our very first, which is the dinosaur series. They
are very special to us, as we developed it after our first son was born and
painted his whole bedroom in the designs. The Alphabet is also a favourite as
we had so much fun making it, developing the characters and putting them
together with the cool typefaces.
