Natalia from Made To Inspire's mother and daughter team, talks to PP!

Natalia thanks so much for taking time out to talk to Personally Personalised. For starters, how would you describe your art/craft?

Combination of handmade silver and gold jewellery which is then completed with computerised engraving all done in house in our workshop.

We also design and create our own moulds for casting and then finalise the piece with diamonds or crystals or again with engraving.

Tell us something about yourself, and when and why did you become interested in hand making jewellery?

We are a mother and daughter team. Filo has been working in the jewellery industry for over 20 years. Previously she owned her own store in Burwood, NSW. She had always enjoyed the creativity of successfully designing for her customers and so decided to venture into owning her own brand of jewellery.

She subsequently approached me to join knowing that I too enjoyed designing and creating jewellery. The idea to have our own design and brand was appealing and so Made to Inspire was created.

We also wanted to also combine our personal belief that jewellery should be personal and inspiring. Filo’s own ring that she created reads ‘I can do it’. This is her personal motto that she lives by. I created my own pendant with ‘from possibility to actuality’ as I am determined to make my goals become a reality.

These are the kinds of messages we place on jewellery everyday for our customers and it feels great to be a part of that special moment.

Natalia, what type of item do you enjoy making the most, and why?

We love our Be Inspired Pendants – these pieces come in 3 styles and are specifically designed for our customers to place any message they wish onto them.

We sell many Be Inspired pendants and bangles because they can be customised. We also sell a lot of name necklaces as this is the current fashion

What type of people, if there is a certain type, would be your biggest customer?

We mainly sell to females between the ages 25 – 45. We occasionally have male customers purchasing for their wives. These customers tend to purchase from our La Familia range of pendants dedicated to the family unit. They select our pendants that can have their children’s names engraved. Our females tend to order a variety of pieces with varied messages selected or created to place onto our pieces.

How do you sell your products?

Currently our primary way of selling is through our online store and various lovely stockists who all but one have online stores. Our goal however is to venture into wholesaling only concentrating on gaining retail customers to sell our pieces direct to the public through their stores.

Natalia what advice would you give to others wanting to pursue a full or part time art/craft in general? And, specifically Jewellery making?

Do it – if you love being creative, enjoy the excitement of making something uniquely special for someone then jewellery making is great. Do your research and find out if there is something missing in the market which you can offer and the do some research to see who would be your target market, why and what options you have to sell your craft.