A heads up for those few customers who still shop with us via Etsy: our shop there is now closed. You can, of course, still purchase all of our current designs online in the jewellery shop.

Some history

When I first decided to test the waters with selling handmade jewellery online, like many other designers and makers I opened an Etsy shop. This was back in 2006 when Etsy was relatively new and the site seemed to be a happy and supportive haven for people working in this field - and for the customers who like what we do.

Initially I was very successful selling via Etsy and this helped me to create a vastly more viable business than I had previously. However, within about 18 months I became very disillusioned with Etsy: the way it was operated, its fee structure, the way designers were effectively trapped by having Etsy as a business partner - and much more besides.

By 2008 I had set up my own independent online jewellery shop, which you'll find here on this website. I directed all of my marketing efforts away from Etsy and towards my own shop. Soon enough this paid off with my own shop becoming my primary point of sales, plus I was far more in control of what is still the single most important part of my business.

I still kept my Etsy shop open for the increasingly few customers who preferred shopping there and for those who were still first discovering my designs via Etsy. However, sales there have continued to decline markedly each each year.

In addition, both as a seller and a buyer, I think Etsy is just a shell of what it was, as outlined very well in this recent article: How Etsy alienated its crafters and lost its soul.

If you're still an Etsy seller and are considering also moving your business away from the venue, I wrote an article a while back about how to go about it to protect your business: So you want to close your Etsy Shop?

The end of the line

Given all of this, we've now decided it's no longer worth the effort of maintaining a shop on the site: it's time to close it down.

You can still shop all of our current range of jewellery - just not via Etsy.