Supplier Spotlight on Claire Ogden Designs

Today, I feature the fabulously talented Claire Ogden, owner and accessory designer of Claire Ogden Designs. I met Claire through the wonderful world of Twitter and was extremely grateful when she featured us on her lovely website. I too wanted to return the favour so here she is, the wonderful Claire Ogden:-

What is your business called?

Claire Ogden Designs - I am Claire Ogden, a Jewellery Designer I live in Saddleworth in Yorkshire, a gorgeous part of the world, very picturesque, and from my little workshop I design and create handmade, individual, one of a kind jewellery, wedding tiaras and hair accessories. I am a mum of two little boys, a wife to a wonderful husband and work full time as a Secretary.

How long have you been doing this?

Two years now, it has been very hard work too, you have to do so much multitasking!

What aspired you to start your business?

I cannot sit still; I have far too much energy that simply needed channelling. I have tried different crafts before but never felt truly satisfied, I have found I am passionate about making jewellery and my ideas run riot, I am bursting with enthusiasm and I am so proud of what I have achieved, what I create and my testimonials, I have made so many people happy and feel special, that is what it is all about.....I started my company because I was advised to sell my pieces from a supplier, those were some of the wisest words I have heard and nearly two years on I am very happy about where I am and what I do, yes I do have long term plans but working full time and being a mum and wife has to fit in somewhere too so I have to pace myself rather than become overwhelmed which can result in resenting what I do.

What aspect of your business gives you the most satisfaction?

The satisfaction I feel when my idea is successful, I LOVE my blog and have met so many wonderful people through being a kind hearted person (which I am) I have a LOT going on but I am keeping tight lipped until everything has run smoothly so I can shout out about how it all worked and what a good idea I had. I love making jewellery, my new ranges are really hot at the moment and the feedback is really good, it would be lovely to be sort after!

The end result, the feeling of receiving the testimonials and pictures from my clients. Being good enough to receive lots of repeat business. Knowing I offer a good service and stunning pieces.

A typical day in the life of Claire Ogden Designs......

My weekdays and weekends are very different, during the week I go to work throughout the day, it is up early, help sort the boys, shower, dress and leave the house after lots of kisses and cuddles to get the bus at 8.00am. My wonderful husband takes the boys to school club (prior to school) and continues on to work. The bus stop is across the road (phew) and I catch the bus and spent the hour journey on my phone catching up with twitter, emails and web based info and try to switch off for 15 mins by reading a book (I am an AVID reader!!!) I arrive in Manchester City Centre and do any errands that need running before work and begin my job at 9.30. I work as a Secretary in an Architects Practice, my job is very varied and I have a lot to do, I break for lunch and catch up with my emails, my phones really is my life support or schedule a blog post or just switch off and read. I officially finish work at 5.00pm, get the bus home and fill my hour journey reading (I need to switch off on the way home and my battery on my phone is usually dead around tea time!) have I mentioned I LOVE books???? I read one a week...or thereabouts...I am a walking library....I think a lot of my inspiration comes from books, stories, characters...anyway I REALLY adore books! Get home (usually last off the bus, I live in the hills, high up in the moors!! Not quite actually but I do live on the top of a big hill) my hubbie has tea on the go when I get in and we have a big catch up of the day (I speak to Stephen about 100 times during the day even just to say hello, he is my ultimate support and I couldn’t begin to do a quarter of what I do if he didn’t help out, oh and we would all starve too!) All four of us sit around the table to eat tea (we do for every meal and always have) we usually serve in the middle and just dig in; we talk about everything we have done during the day. After tea I might try and catch up with some jobs (this usually doesn’t happen until the weekend) and sit down in my little workshop to schedule blog posts or features, I try to catch up with my social networking and send out emails I have promised (massive to do list!) If I am lucky I schedule my tweets in for the following day and chat on twitter. Some evenings I design and create other evenings I catch up online.....I do a lot of researching and resourcing online and I MEAN A LOT, this can take hours and hours and nothing else gets done no matter how hard I try.

The boys go to bed about 08.00pm and I try to read for half an hour before I go to sleep.....did I tell you I am an AVID reader.....ha ha ha. The top and bottom of it is I probably try to do too much, I work to deadlines at work and have a lot on my shoulders so sometimes I come home so tired I do nothing but sit with my family, we aim to have movie night at some point, usually on a Saturday, family time is important too.

What are your future plans?

To get recognised for my work, create a buzz about my pieces and up and coming designs.

Some fabulous photo’s of Claire’s work that she has kindly allowed me to use on my blog .

Some stunning examples of just some of the designs created by Claire. For more information about Claire and her stunning collection of accessories, please visit

http://www.claireogdendesigns.com/ or connect with her on twitter www.twitter.com/@cogdendesigns

Thank you Claire and also thanks to those that read my blog!

Tracey - Midway Media xx