I hate selling.

There I’ve said it. I spend a lot of time wondering how I got into the business of selling when it’s not something I’ve ever been good at. I had a summer job in London when I was 19 – cold-calling offices to sell them double-sided typewriter ribbons (yes I’m that old). I think I lasted three days.

It’s a hard time for selling right now. A lot of us aren’t quite sure how we are going to pay our bills this winter. I usually trust my gut to read the room when I’m coming up with new designs or trying to do a bit of ‘marketing’ (another term that gives me the cold shakes), but I haven’t bought myself anything very treaty or nice in ages. So it’s not easy trying to figure out what to say. I don’t want to use payment plans like Klarna because I don’t want you to buy my designs unless you can afford them and they will brighten up your life, or if you’re buying a gift - a friend’s life in some way.

I originally designed this bracelet for a beautiful young woman – using her mother's words from near the end of her life. Her father read from the notebook she had kept at her funeral. She’d been in pain and on a lot of drugs, so they were disparate thoughts, lists and memories, but interspersed throughout: the phrase 'be brave,' again and again, like a mantra to herself, and finally right near the end, 'be brave, it's supposed to be hard.' ...