Silver Solver Una Griffin - Single Mum Following Her Dream.

When Una Griffin was made redundant she used the opportunity to set up her own jewellery business - Lovu.

At Lovu Una Griffin sells beautiful, funky sterling silver jewellery she imports from Mexico – from her front room in Ranelagh, Dublin 4, Ireland. Prices are keen as she has no overheads, and the single mum is finally following her dream.

“It was being made redundant earlier this year that made me think, things are so bad, I may as well give this a shot. I have always loved jewellery, since I was given a jewellery-making set when I was about seven. I have been tinkering away since, but never tried to make a living from it.”

Una took €3,000 from her post-office savings account and took off to Mexico to buy silver, with little more information about how to do it than she had gleaned from some Google searching. A week away, a journey up dirt-tracks to mining villages three hours outside Mexico city, and a bit of luck later, she had what she wanted: samples of beautiful, funky, John Rochaesque silver jewellery and beads she knew she loved and hoped others would, too.

She set up a stall in her kitchen one evening and invited friends, and their friends, for an evening of wine and silver, and the pieces “flew out the door”.

Almost all of the pieces are sterling silver – and so last forever, in and out of the shower – and are akin to the kind of work you would expect to find in Designyard or Kilkenny Design.

The pieces include: rings with funky, bright blown glass “stones” in silver plate, the least expensive costing €12; silver beaded and agate bracelets costing between €30 and €35; and chunky but sophisticated silver rings at €45. She also has simple pendants and necklaces – some of which can be worn a number of lengths and ways depending on how they are fixed around the neck – for between €60 and €135.

She has converted her front room into a shop, with display cabinets, a sales desk and a business name – Lovu. “Well, it’s the return of the cottage industry isn’t it?,” she says with a laugh.

This original article is by Kitty Holland of the Irish Times

Lovu is at 19 Cherryfield Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin 6 (Tuesday to Thursday, 9.30am-2pm and Tuesday, 6-8pm). www.lovu.ie

The FabJob Guide to to Become a Jewelry Designer
covers topics of vital importance if you want to become a jewelry designer and get hired as a jewelry designer or start your own jewelry design business.

New Online Gift Business for New Moms

Wouldn’t you just love to take the hassel out of buying a lovely and useful gift for a new mom you know?

Well Maeve Barry has done just that when she started her online gift business www.babyelephant.ie after being inundated with bunches of flowers on the birth of her baby. Maeve’s idea was for an online gift business to offer presents that could be pampering and practical. Now in business for six months, she has started to deliver worldwide, and has added two new organic skincare brands – Cowshed and Mambino Organics – to her range. The new online gift business next-day courier delivery in Ireland is €5. Baby gifts such as organic cotton rompers start from €33 and mama gifts start at €44.

Click Here to Discover How to Become a Gift Basket Business Owner

Value Fabrics

Congratulations to Helen Turkington (pictured above) who has just opened a second shop in Ranelagh (Dublin, Ireland), this one devoted to a selection of 200 value fabrics selling for 40 per cent less than similar quality, designer branded products.

The range starts at €10 per metre, and the rolls of fabric are displayed beside paint samples to help you concoct a pleasing colour scheme. “A relatively small amount of money can revitalise any home,” she says, “by recovering old pieces of furniture or changing the curtains.” Upholstery and curtain-making services are available through her interior design consultancy, or you can simply buy the fabric and do-it-yourself. The selection includes linens, silks, brushed lambswool paisleys and floral damasks. You’ll find Helen Turkington Fabrics at Terminus Mills, Clonskeagh Road, Dublin 14. Open Monday-Saturday. See www.helenturkington.com

Shirley Conran on Fame and Fortune for Women

Shirley Conran, superwoman author and women's rights campaigner argues for a simpler tax system and women handling their own finances

Shirley Conran is an internationally-renowned writer and campaigner for women’s rights. Her latest project is to help teenage girls better understand money. Her new book, Money Stuff for Girls, is due to be published this month.

She was married to design tycoon Sir Terence Conran. Their two sons, Sebastian and Jasper, are also designers. She lives on her own in Putney, south-west London.

Conran, 76, is famed for her books including Superwoman (1974), a guide to household management, as well as novels such as Lace, which was an international bestseller in 1983. She became the first women’s editor of The Observer colour magazine and then women’s editor of the Daily Mail.

For the full article click here.

Family Influence - How to Become a Jewelry Designer

Perhaps it was inevitable that Elaine-Sarah Comerford would be drawn to the world of jewellery design and production, given that she grew up the youngest child in a creative family.

Her father, Andy, was an important influence on her from an early age. An electrician by trade, he had a passion for leatherwork and encouraged his children to involve themselves in artistic projects.

Comerford remembers her four older brothers and sisters constantly cutting up and refashioning their clothes, adding patches and lace to lend them their own individual look. Last year, father and daughter collaborated on a beautiful leather presentation case with silver clasps, and it was while rooting around in her mother’s sewing box that Comerford was first attracted to the shiny buttons that lay among the spools of thread, scraps of fabric, needles and pins, which influence her distinctive range of button-inspired jewellery.

Comerford initially trained as a goldsmith and jewellery designer with the Craft Council of Ireland, under the tuition of award-winning jewellery designer Jane Huston. On graduation, she approached the Enterprise Board and set up her own business with the assistance of her fiance, Mark.

The couple designed their own home in Waterford, with a workshop and gallery. She has focused her collection around a sterling silver bracelet, adorned initially with one beautiful button. Additional limited-edition buttons can be added to mark an occasion such as a birthday, anniversary or first child.

Following Comerford’s appearance on RTÉs Dragons’ Den, filmed last January, entrepreneur Niall O’Farrell, the man behind the phenomenal success story that is Black Tie, acquired a 35 per cent stake in the business. See www.buttonmemories.com for details.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

Mom takes position with UN Africa food programme

Working Mom Has to Worry About Pirates

She claims she is a housewife at heart but one of the hazards of her working week is dealing with the threat of pirates taking over her vessels in the Indian Ocean.

Helping the less fortunate is all in a day's work for Arklow woman Mary O'Neill who has recently taken a position with the UN as port captain for its World Food Programme in Africa.

Having lost her husband Michael to illness in 2006 Mary has made a big change in her life swapping South Wicklow for Tanzania and all the risks that come with it.

This, however is not Mary's first time to be involved with aid work and in the last decade, she has also been in charge of aid reaching some of the world's most disadvantaged people in Eritrea and Iraq and victims of the tsunami in Indonesia.

A mother of three, (whose three children are now in university), Mary told the media this week that security is a big issue when crews take to the water and that pirates are a constant problem of which they must always be aware.

While family members at home understandably worry about Mary's safety while she is on the job she says she makes a point of calling her parents in Arklow regularly to let them know how she is doing.

Having worked with the UN in Rome handling aid shipments for more than two years, Mary moved back home to Arklow in 2004 when her husband's health worsened.

Previous to this she worked in the port of Massawa for six months ensuring that food supplies reached people in Ethiopia who were caught up in the conflict there.