Shauna Neill started Blossom Handmade as a small, home-industry type business in Durban, South Africa, designing and making everything herself, and selling the range at markets and open days. Each item is handmade in the Durban studio by previously unemployed women, using locally produced materials. The very popular T-shirt necklaces are now made by hand in the newly built clothing factory at LIV Village outside Durban.
Shauna Neill is the owner of Blossom Handmade, and is responsible for the designing, sourcing, marketing and management of the business. She has a degree in marketing and has had a corporate career in brand and innovation project management. She is a self-taught jewellery designer.
“I am fortunate to have a background in business and a flair for design. This made me fearless when I started Blossom Handmade. I believed, and still do, that nothing is insurmountable.
I had an idea and I ran with it, and I’ve been blessed to see it grow steadily” Shauna continually strives to maintain a high standard of design & quality, as well as ensuring that the range is kept fresh & fashion relevant. “Within 5 minutes I decided Shauna Neill is a go-getter, a woman who knows what she wants and has no qualms striving for it”
The Blossom Handmade range of accessories includes:
T-shirt necklaces made from strips of cotton knit waste which can be worn in 5 different ways as a necklace or scarf.
-Ring Ring Bling which is a vibrant range of necklaces, bangles, and earrings made from telephone wire – a traditionally South African material manufactured in Durban – made fashionable through the use of relevant colours and forms -Silver and gold semi-precious stone earrings.
-Knit bangles which are covered in crocheted hand-dyed yarn
-Necklaces and bracelets made from a combination of wooden beads, telephone wire, and fabric “I looked at telephone wire and I saw something that was raw, natural, and proudly South African. It has such a contemporary, wearable African feel. I stared playing around with it, realizing the possibilities were endless. I could do anything…”
The range is sold…. -on-line stores
- www.blossomhandmade.co.za
- www.hellopretty.co.za
- www.utique.co.za
- www.wave2africa.com
- Bricks and mortar stores
- Stores around SA and Namibia
- Agents in Australia, France, Abu Dhabi, and Berlin
