Blog

I am proud to spend the next few weeks introducing you to some of the work available at the studio & online here at Little Joy, which we hope will help you toward the coming festive season, truly sourcing sustainable, well designed, and made craft from all corners of the world for your perfect gift selections.

“Sjaelv was born out of the desire to create minimal and timeless leather goods that withstand the test of wear and time. All of our bags and accessories stand for clarity in design and the beauty of untreated, natural leather.

We are really passionate about sourcing responsible and believe in thoughtful purchasing. This is why we love to focus on working with pure vegetable tanned leather which will darken and age beautifully with time and wear.

All of our leather goods are entirely designed, hand-cut, and lovingly handcrafted in our small studio in Hamburg, Germany.”

Johanna @sjaelvbags

Their mission is to create, beautiful, and sustainably made products that are made to last. The designs meant to be minimal and functional through time and not just for one season. Sjaelv designs are all about quality over quantity and efforts in sustainable material sourcing and ethical manufacturing. All of our bags are made of really pure and natural, vegetable-tanned leather from Europe which will get better and better with time and wear.

Jade has powerful healing properties and can be very effective when working close to the neck and the top of the spine. Jade is a symbol of serenity and purity. It signifies wisdom gathered in tranquility and is said to increase love and nurturing. A protective stone, Jade keeps the wearer from harm and brings harmony. Jade attracts good luck & friendship, stabilising the personality and promoting self-sufficiency. It helps to soothe the mind, stimulate ideas, and release negative thoughts.

A “dream stone”, Jade brings insightful dreams. It aids emotional release, especially of irritability. Jade encourages you to become who you really are.

Introducing our hand-cut POINT & DOUBLE POINT crystals, they are all completely unique, however keeping within the same size specifications. The points encapsulate the harnessed energy required to transmit healing into our environment and space. Crystal points essentially reveal which direction the crystal energy flows from. The exclusive Little Joy double points design is adapted to increase the direction of energy flow.

Combining carefully selected one of a kind stones with a range of bracelet, necklace & earring designs, you can choose your own hand-cut crystal that speaks to you. Each unique crystal is numbered, and each design, simply select & build your own bespoke piece.

The ethos behind this project is combined with the current global Covid-19 crisis. We have developed the collection around healing crystals that will help with our intentions to have a healthy mind and body post lockdown. Now is the time to rebalance and reconnect with ourselves, ready to return to our faster pace lives with the confidence and power to move forward.

Pink Tourmaline

Together we have hand selected a beautiful range of pink tourmalines, consciously sourced and fair mined in Brazil. They have been hand cut in the UK & America, before reaching the Little Joy studio on the Isle of Wight. Each fine fragment and slice displays a beautiful range of soothing pastel colours. Pink tourmaline calms & soothes the heart, especially when dealing with anxiety. As well as being an aphrodisiac, pink tourmaline encourage feelings of safety in love, which in turn instills confidence. It brings compassion & wisdom when dealing with others, and also promotes flexibility of thought.

Tourmaline is thought to attract inspiration, compassion, tolerance & prosperity.

Our designs are a helpful aid in balancing chakras. When worn, the carefully thought designs place the tourmaline in significant areas of the body to release tensions and remove any emotional blockages. The Paraiba Pink Tourmaline slices are also nicknamed the “Rainbow Gem” in Brazil, which we felt in keeping with the current Covid-19 crisis as the rainbow has been a significant emblem of hope, shown by neighbours & communities, spreading joy & compassion to those suffering, and in thanks to the key workers and NHS for their incredible work.

Fashion Revolution Movement…

WHO WE ARE

We are Fashion Revolution. We are people from all around the world who make the fashion industry work. We are the people who wear clothes. And we are the people who make them.

We are designers, academics, writers, business leaders, policymakers, brands, retailers, marketers, producers, makers, workers and fashion lovers. We are the industry and we are the public. We are world citizens. We are you.

OUR VISION

We believe in a fashion industry that values people, the environment, creativity and profit in equal measure.

OUR MISSION

We want to unite people and organisations to work together towards radically changing the way our clothes are sourced, produced and consumed, so that our clothing is made in a safe, clean and fair way.

We believe that collaborating across the whole value chain — from farmer to consumer — is the only way to transform the industry.

Our mission is to bring everyone together to make that happen.

WE ARE A GLOBAL MOVEMENT

Fashion Revolution is a global movement that runs all year long.

We celebrate fashion as a positive influence while also scrutinising industry practices and raising awareness of the fashion industry’s most pressing issues. We aim to show that change is possible and encourage those who are on a journey to create a more ethical and sustainable future for fashion.

Fashion Revolution strives to be action-oriented and solution focused. Rather than making people feel guilty, we help them recognise that they have the power to do something to make a positive change.

We often call ourselves “pro-fashion protesters” because we love fashion and want to see it become a force for good.

We try to always be bold, provocative, inquisitive, accessible and inclusive. We tend to avoid negative protesting, victimising and naming and shaming. We do not target specific individual companies because we believe that the industry’s problems are bigger than any one company’s actions. We do not advocate boycotting simply because we don’t see it as an effective way to achieve systemic change.[1]

FASHION REVOLUTION WEEK takes place, 20th-26th April 2020

On the anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, which killed 1,138 people and injured many more in 2013, we encourage millions of people to come together to campaign for systemic change in the fashion industry.

We are living in a climate emergency and the fashion & textiles sector is one of the most polluting and wasteful industries. The industry continues to lack transparency, with widespread exploitation of people working in the supply chain. Never before have there been this many people on the planet in slavery, and fashion is a key driver of this reality. Brands and retailers are still not taking enough responsibility for the pay and working conditions in their factories, the environmental impacts of the materials they use or how the products they make affect the health of people, animals and our living planet.

#fashionrevolution

Find other brands and makers and suppliers who support the movement to check out the hashtag and follow @littlejoyjeweller for more information.

Perhaps you have an old piece of jewellery that’s no longer your style, and you would like to upcycle into a modern design. Perhaps you have an idea for a very special gift, but you just can’t find it on anywhere! You may be interested in customising a current Little Joy design, perhaps by adding an alternative precious stone, changing the dimensions, or adding a hand engraved message upon it! If so we would love to help you design and create your dream piece.

We would love to share with you a special service we have offered currently, that our client was happy for us to share.
Megan came to visit the studio + showroom to ask for a very special request. She lost her father a few years ago & wanted to utilise some of her father’s ashes within a piece of jewellery she could wear each day and keep close to her heart on her journey. Over the year we have worked with many clients to help produce such designs within lockets and brackets and ring designs. Megan wanted a Ron design. She wanted me to set the ashes behind a stone and for them to remain hidden and not visas through the stone. We looked at a variety of options for designs. Megan admires the SUN ring and WISHBONE style rings so I designed a ring stack incorporating both rings. A champagne diamond took the place of a clear diamond to hide the ashes and also compliment Megan’s beautiful red hair she adopted from her father. The rings are made in white gold with a contrasting yellow gold cup to create a unique twist to her bespoke ring set. A fine milled edging around the diamond adds a little extra sparkle and a gentle planished edge to the wishbone ring also gives a beautiful contrast and sparkle to the set.

The make was photographed to show Megan her father’s ashes being set under the stone and to show her loved ones.
It’s such an honour to make each and every commission, but when I am asked to make something as special as this, it really touches me. A true honour to make for such wonderful young women. A simple timeless design I hope she will enjoy wearing forever on her journey with the knowledge a part of her fathers holding her hand and forever in her heart.