ALYSSA'S STORY
welcome to ALYSSA'S WORLD-the wonderful world of House of Alyssa Smith and Alyssa Smith Jewellery !
A warm welcome to House of Alyssa Smith. Home to our award winning and incredible miniature masterpieces, we strive to push the boundaries on what jewellery can be. As well as creating timeless pieces you can wear and enjoy, both now and for years to come.
Ever since I was a little girl, from about the age of 4 or 5, I have been obsessed with creating wearable pieces of artwork. My first ever pieces of jewellery were made from odd buttons and beads, and even pasta. I was always encouraged to be really creative. I don’t remember ever wanting to do anything else, apart from making jewellery for a living! These days, we like to call those wearable pieces of artwork – Miniature Masterpieces, and Alyssa Smith Jewellery was created!
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WHERE IT BEGAN
Alyssa Smith Jewellery emerged into the jewellery scene late 2009, and was born from Alyssa’s lifelong passion for everything tiny and sparkly. Designing and creating jewellery always came naturally to Alyssa. Hand making her first wearable pieces at the age of about 4 or 5, with nothing but some elastic, beads, odd buttons her mother had saved from clothing, and a little bedroom floor as a workshop.
Over the years, that same bedroom floor was turned into a working office after Alyssa graduated from the University of Hertfordshire with a degree in Applied Arts and Marketing in 2008. With a small investment of £500 from a family friend to help with raw materials and basic tools, she started her jewellery brand along side working part time in a little gift shop. By paying careful attention to buyers shopping habits, and at the same time- sending herself on free courses in business, book keeping and how to start a business, Alyssa was able to create her own brand!
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SOWING THE SEED
Selling her jewellery on stands and markets around Hertfordshire and London was where it really began. Stocking small independent shops with her designs, Alyssa took the plunge in 2010 and left her part time job to fully focus on her fledgling startup company. Some called her deluded for leaving a secure job in the middle of a recession, but Alyssa knew she had to give it her all, and more importantly – a back up plan was not an option.
Using everything around her as inspiration for her designs, and every available platform to show the world her designs, Alyssa took ‘social media’ to another dimension. Alyssa began to use the platform of twitter to market her designs, even before she had a fully functioning website! Click here to explore our first ever social media platform!
” I still remember it like it was yesterday. I opened some social media accounts in the business name because I knew they were a free platform to market my jewellery to a potential worldwide audience. I taught myself all about social media, and was determined to make people see my jewellery! I had only just come out of university, and I was in so much debt. I simply couldn’t afford to run features in magazines like other businesses did, even buying my own business cards wasn’t an option. I remember spending hours on end, day after day, writing to well known and respectable business people and famous faces with my story, to see if they would be interested in wearing my jewellery at all. I was absolutely shocked when I had replies from them, including the (then) Prime Ministers wife- Samantha Cameron, Kate Moss, Sienna Miller, Suzi Perry and Dawn Porter, to name a few! This is really how I started to pencil my way onto the map and make a name for myself, to be honest “
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BREAKING INTO THE INDUSTRY
It was shortly after Alyssa started her business that her first best-seller, the iconic ‘Tweetie Bird’ necklace, inspired by social media (featured in Company magazine, the Sunday Times and many more) took the celebrity world and beyond by storm.
Using social media as a platform for her business, and also as the inspiration behind her first collection certainly helped her stand out, from the early days.
Soon, this little silver bird was Alyssa’s signature within the jewellery industry, and famous faces such as Theo Paphitis, Suzi Perry, Dawn Porter, Gail Porter, Caroline Flack, Jamelia, Sheridan Smith and Beverly Knight all donned one!
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GROWING THE BRAND
Alyssa’s bedroom floor became a bedroom floor again, for the first time in many, many years- and Alyssa was able to move her growing business into her first ‘workshop’ space. It was 120 square foot and had no window. In fact, it was actually a cupboard in a high rise block of shared business suites in Letchworth Garden City- but this cupboard was the smallest room available, and was all Alyssa could afford- definite step up from the bedroom floor though- and the extra room allowed Alyssa to create her designs, and start to manufacture on a larger scale.
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ALL THINGS ENTREPRENEURIAL
Fast forward a few years, and Alyssa became the Resident Entrepreneur at North Hertfordshire College, where she attended as a teenager. She would assist with students business plans and ideas, as well as helping with guest lecturing.
Alyssa was named as the face of the ‘Peter Jones Enterprise Academy’ at the same college for a couple of years, before she left to focus more on her own brand, as well as becoming a National Ambassador for the Federation of Small Businesses.
Alyssa has spoken at The Houses of Commons several times on business matters, including taking on Apprentices, being a woman in business, and has also attended a round table meeting at Number 10, to discuss the issues women face in business. Alyssa has also spoken on stage with Richard Branson at a Gazelle Entrepreneur event.
Both the company, and Alyssa herself, have won numerous awards since the brand was started, and Alyssa likes to champion and help support other women, and young people in business.
This passion for business was so much so, that Alyssa was selected for an 8 part TV series for channel DAVE in 2016, called ‘The Money Pit’ and hosted by comedian Jason Manford, where she invested her own money into young start up businesses, and other first time businesses.
Now based in a wonderful and spacious workshop in the Hertfordshire countryside, Alyssa’s brand continues to grow organically without investors or shareholders, and today, our small (but wonderfully talented!) team work hard to continuously refresh and develop our UK designed and manufactured miniature masterpieces, for our collectors all around the world.
Alyssa taking part in an 8 part tv series on Channel DAVE, 2015, where she invested her own money into fledgling start-up businesses
Alyssa speaking at the Houses of Commons in 2016 about her support for Apprenticeships to business owners, on behalf of the Federation of Small businesses.
Alyssa spent many years as the Resident Entrepreneur at North Herts college and was the face of the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy, supporting students with their business ideas.
Alyssa wins Retailer of the Year 2017
Richard Branson is a fan of Alyssa, and loved her interview she gave Virgin Startups in 2015.
Suzi Perry has been a huge support to our little brand from the very early days
Alyssa and team at the Silverstone British Grand Prix 2019 at their showcase
Passionate about women in business, Alyssa attends a number 10 round table on behalf of the Federation of Small Businesses as their (then) National Ambassador.
Alyssa at The Houses of Parliament in 2014 with (then) leader of the opposition Ed Milliband, speaking about small business needs
Alyssa on stage (left) with Richard Branson speaking at an entrepreneur festival in Birmingham in 2013
” Turning your dreams into reality in precious metals is my dream, and I can’t think of anything else I would rather be doing, My brand is everything to me, and I feel so lucky to have collectors all around the world who enjoy our pieces. Afterall, they are absolutely designed and made to be both worn, and cherished, for now and for years to come “
PERFECT PARTNERSHIPS
We are absolutely delighted to have secured partnerships with individuals and organisations such as Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Wolves FC, Hesketh Racing, The SHARD, and with TV broadcaster, Suzi Perry with our innovative motorsport themed jewellery. We are also so happy to be supporting some incredible charities such as Promise Dreams Children’s charity, through sales of our Motorsports collections.
We are always looking to partner with like minded organizations to bring ever innovative designs that move, open, spin and even upcycle old formula one car parts, such as our incredible Carbon Collection with Racing Gold.
Exploring innovative ways to create both our complex and intricate designs ensures that we always come up with breakthrough pieces within the jewellery industry, but as the brand matures and time passes, we are also constantly striving to help reduce our carbon footprint as a small company, and this is something we will continue to work on, and that is really important to us. We have made many small changes over the last few years, but will continue to work on this, hand in hand with our jewellery designs.
INSPIRATION EVERYWHERE
” My inspiration has always come from the things around me. Right from the early days, I wanted to create a brand making unique and original jewellery that people could come to when they want to find something they can really connect with. I believe that your jewellery should be part of your life story, and I want to create pieces that you can wear through all the moments that life gives you. I love to use my own experiences in life to create my designs, and quite honestly, so much of my design inspiration actually comes from our wonderful customers and the ideas they give to me! I absolutely love a challenge and I am always looking to push our designs and skills even further. Making our wearable pieces of artwork in such tiny forms makes me so happy!”