How I moved house and found freedom in a new city in 2021.

I started 2021 in Glasgow - we moved to the Southside in March just before the first Lockdown. We thought moving there would be fun; we’d be closer to our friends, able to enjoy the thriving café scene, it’d be easy to nip into town for dinner or a cinema trip, even popping through to Edinburgh for the day to visit friends. Well, we weren’t to know, but we were a bit wrong! Covid hit and every plan we had made got cancelled.

So in very early January 2021, we packed up the flat and moved north to Inverness, just before the introduction of another Lockdown.

Winter and Spring 2021

Thanks to an understanding landlord, I was able to set up my studio at home and keep working during lockdown. I had plenty of new places to explore on my daily walks with our dog Alder. From the islands to the canal and River Ness itself, there was a lot to get to know. On more than one occasion I saw otters swimming in the River Ness which was so cool. I have seen more red squirrels since moving here than I’d ever seen in my entire life and we often hear the buzzards as they fly high above the forest. I found a lot more freedom here, and I feel very privileged to live closer to nature and have the ability to work from home too. It’s certainly been quite a change from what I had in 2020.

I applied for a bursary from the VACMAs to do an “at home” residency where I spent my time exploring my local area and translating those ideas into wax, you can read more about that here.

As part of my commitment to being a sustainable maker, I pledged to plant a tree for every order over £100 that was placed with my business, and at least 2 for every set of engagement, wedding or partnership rings I made. Keep scrolling to find out how many I’ve planted this year.

It was so nice to see things changing for you in 2021 too. Some of you were finally able to go ahead with weddings, despite delays and rescheduling due to Covid, it was so lovely to see you celebrating.

Here are a few of my favourite commissions from the brilliant ones I had in 2021.

Summer and Autumn 2021

In amongst all the Lockdowns of 2020, a project I’d been working on had been side tracked, so in early spring of 2021, I made a collection of Assynt pieces for the Rockpool gallery in Lochinver which proved to be very popular.

As you’ll know, this wonderful website you’re currently looking at was built in 2021 by the talented Sarah Creates. She designed the new branding and packaging too, which you might have seen me share on Instagram, I’m so excited to have the boxes made in 2022.

In November I had my first in person market since 2019, at the WASPS Christmas market in Inverness. It was so wonderful to be able to go back out to do markets and see clients again. It was especially nice to introduce myself and my work to a whole new audience of people who might not have heard of me before. If you found me there, it’s so lovely to have you on this journey with me.

After counting orders from my website and commissions and I had a total of 78 trees to plant in 2021!

However, rather than buying trees for every individual order, I signed up to an account with Ecologi earlier in the year which will help offset the carbon costs from running my business. So this year I’ve actually planted 235 trees, you can take a look at my forest. I had a couple of large gallery orders, as well as a client who bought a number of bangles so I made sure to count those as more than one order too! Even better, some of the trees are planted in the UK and have been planted near where I grew up - take a look. I’m excited to plant more trees next year and increase my impact.

I’m so thankful for all of your support and interest in my work this year. It means so much to me that you engage with my work like this; enjoying my newsletter, reading my blog posts as well as buying my jewellery when you have the right occasion. Thank you! I hope you’ve also had a better year in 2021 and that if you’re struggling that you’re able to find something restful and peaceful in amongst it all.

I’ll see you in 2022.

Jen

I may be having my winter break but the shop is still open; all orders will be posted on the 5th of January.