THE ORIGINAL
TWEETIE
BIRD
Our original bestselling masterpiece, inspired
by social media and the modern world
THIS IS A STORY WORTH TELLING- AND MAYBE THE REASON WE ARE HERE TODAY!
This really is the piece that put our name on the map, both as a brand and for me as a jeweller and entrepreneur too when I first started Alyssa Smith Jewellery back in 2009. I could actually talk for hours about this piece, because it has so much history behind it and holds so many precious memories to me.
I remember back when I started my company, I had just come straight from university and I was in so much debt. I really didn’t have any funds to start any kind of business, so I tried to use every form of ‘free’ marketing platform possible. I would offer to write for magazines, try and showcase my jewellery at local fayres, and actually, even though I didn’t really know what it was back in 2009, I put myself on twitter to try and reach a wider customer base.
THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX TO CREATE WEARABLE PIECES
I knew it was going to be a tough ride to make a name for myself in the crowded jewellery industry, and so I wanted to use my own personal experiences to create my jewellery – so it had a personal touch. One thing led to another and I decided to take where I spent most of my time (twitter) and use it to my advantage, to create a ‘social media’ inspired collection of jewellery.
The collection features the ‘@’, the ‘#’ and words such as, follow me, tweet me… and finally- the Tweetie bird. I took inspiration from the Twitter logo for this, although I did not copy it- and I called it the Tweetie bird, because- Well, you Tweet, don’t you!
WHAT WAS THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN? IF YOU DON’T ASK, YOU NEVER KNOW!
I approached some well known celebrities and asked if I could possibly send them one. I figured the worst they could do was say no, or not respond… But to my absolute amazement, soon I had well known celebrities across the country wearing and tweeting about my jewellery, both online and making appearances on tv with it. The rest was history and we had celebrities such as Dawn Porter, Carol Vorderman, Caroline Flack, Sheridan Smith, Jamelia, Theo Paphitis, Suzi Perry and so many more all sporting one.
This design really helped me establish a name in the jewellery world, and from this moment on, I decided that I would draw upon my life experiences, and things that meant something personal to me to make my jewellery collections.