Little Silver Star was born from a hobby. Today, Kate George works all day every day perfecting a constant stream of jewellery orders. Social media transformed her business, and her business has transformed her life. We called in to Lincoln Street Warehouse to hear how Little Silver Star has flourished.

Kate is from Wolverhampton. At first she thought she wanted to work in the fashion industry. However, after studying Fashion, Buying and Marketing in Nottingham Trent university, Kate found the industry was too cutthroat for her.

On holiday in Morocco, Kate realised her passion for jewellery making. As soon as she arrived home, she ordered a beginners beading set on eBay and set about teaching herself. After the birth of her daughter, beads had progressed to silver, and Kate had a large collection of tools.

“One of the barriers of silverwork is the price of the tools. I set myself a monthly quota for them until I had collected everything I needed.”

Kate is entirely self-taught. She’s read numerous books, watched days-worth of YouTube content and been through some patches of trial-and-error. After perfecting the art of jewellery making, Kate curated her own style. If you’ve seen her website, you’ll recognise the style straight away.

At this stage, Little Silver Star was bringing a steady income for Kate. But this was just the beginning.

“A year and a half ago I implemented a social media and marketing strategy. I worked out my ideal customer and thought about what they would want to see. Then my first photo went viral and it spiralled from there.”

Today, it’s not unusual for Little Silver Star to find their Facebook photos with over three-thousand likes. The account is run by a remote social media manager who can keep the page up-to-speed, allowing Kate herself to invest purely in jewellery making.

It might all sound like fun-and-games, but it can’t be denied that Kate works hard. When we called by, she was half-way through a 12-hour shift. The fourth of that week. Evidently, though, the hard-work has paid off. Little Silver Star will be looking to expand their workforce early next year.

The moral of the story is that passion + skill + hard work and a sprinkle of marketing = a successful business. We’re so pleased for Kate’s progress, and look forward to watching Little Silver Star develop further. If you’d like to have a look at her designs, you can find most of them on the Little Silver Star website. You can also get in touch with Kate via her Facebook page to commission a certain design or make an enquiry. You can also keep up with new designs by following @LittleSilverStarForever on Instagram.

If you’re interested about starting a creative project in Bristol, check out the Meanwhile Creative spaces available page.