My 1st ever Blog :)

Hi guys

So this is my first ever blog, (excited!) and I wanted to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about me.

My name is Linzi Rooney, I am a 28 year old single mum, I have a beautiful little 2 year old called Macie and she is my world. I graduated from the University of Ulster, Art College in 2008, I was working as a photographer for 3 years but I really missed working with my hands and decided sitting in front of a computer for most of the day, just wasn’t for me.

And so Elephant Juice was created! I’ve been running my bespoke jewellery business for 2 years now, I create custom, handmade, one off pieces from vintage silver cutlery and I love it! Up cycling is the new recycling! I’ve always bought and worn pre loved items so this felt like the perfect passion project for me to start. One piece I really loved making, was for a lady who loved butterflies. I made her a silver butterfly on a chain from a spoon that was made in the year she was born, she was delighted with it.

I’ve often been asked about where the name for my business came from so here’s the story….

When I was a little girl I remember my mum always doodling a cute elephant bum on notepads or any piece of paper she found. Unfortunately she died when I was 15, but was always in my thoughts. So when it came to naming my first business she immediately popped into my head.
In the playground when I was at primary school we always joked around miming “Elephant Juice” to each other, thinking in our young years, how absolutely hilarious it was when the classmate said back “I love you!” To which we replied “haha I said Elephant Juice!”
So I combined “I love you” with my mums little doodled elephant bum and Elephant Juice was born!

 

I run workshops where I show you how to make your own unique pieces of jewellery. These are pictures’s from a fish knife bracelet workshop I run once a month in Studio Souk. All our residents run workshops, follow us on http://www.facebook.com/studiosouk for details of these.

I also opened Studio Souk in November 2013 and the Lord Mayor of Belfast did the official opening. Studio Souk is a unique, retail space where our residents use it as their working studio. You can come along and actually meet the makers while they are working away on custom handmade art, craft and fashion. We have fashion designers, photographers, ceramicists, jewellers, and crafters. There is literally something for everyone.

We also have a lot of retailers who have their own space set up in Studio Souk as a permanent space for them to sell their work in the centre of Belfast. It’s a fantastic & unique space and it’s the first of its kind in Northern Ireland.

I love working with such a creative and talented bunch of people, we have a great team who all work together to help and support each other in anyway we can. Running a creative business can be very isolating at times and you can spend days in the studio where you don’t have any human interaction. Studio Souk gives each of us that peer support, that we all so desperately need as creative people. We need to bounce ideas of each other and vent our frustrations. Its like a happy family were we can all enjoy having lunch together on our gorgeous designer sofa’s (which by the way are for sale and handmade in Northern Ireland.) Its like an Aladdin’s cave with nooks & crannies and a treasure trove of handmade local crafts. You could literally spend hours racking through all the lovely stuff, come down to Spire’s Mall in Belfast City Centre 🙂

I hope you enjoyed reading a little bit about me & my life. I will be doing a monthly blog about all our upcoming events & news from now on. There are lots of exciting times ahead and I hope you enjoy following me grow my business as I build my team of talented people who I am very grateful to be working with on a daily basis.