Studio LouLou actually began as ‘Soul Glitter’, out of my bedroom, when I was 16:

I remember the blank looks my school friends gave me when I said I’d spent my birthday money on tools and a drill.

Even then, (and this is baffling to me), I had a clear aesthetic. The only subject I adored at school was textiles, where my teacher (an ex-punk and legend) taught me about Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Malcolm McLaren, and the ‘new romantics’ era. I was powerfully drawn to monochrome, embellishing, texture, rebellious undertones or evidence of overcoming adversity, black, greys, metal… but with a softer, girlier edge, and sometimes a pop of neon or pink. My raw and honest jewellery designs, like skull necklaces and stamped message bracelets, gained popularity online, and I was stocked in Rockett St George, at the start of the internet shopping days.

Sounds like a super story, right? But I was so shy and out of my comfort zone that the pressure of getting orders out was too much. One lady said she didn’t like the finish of a bracelet, and I crumbled.

In the years after, I moved away from jewellery. I had a planned jaw surgery, which was the catalyst for a tough time for me self-confidence-wise. Space and budget for a workbench were always a barrier for a hungry early-twenties gal trying to ‘make it’ (aka survive on more than Super Noodles) in London, too, so the whole thing came to a halt.

Looking back though, overcoming crippling anxiety shaped who I am today. It forced me to build resilience on my own; something that could never be handed to me.

I kept creating. I became skilled at marketing and building businesses for others. Graphic design, printing, and painting became my outlets. But jewellery was ALWAYS there.

In 2023, after 10 years out of the game, I found my rusty (but miraculously intact) toolkit in my parents’ garage in Weston-super-Mare and started making again, in the corner of my tiny London bedroom. I didn’t have a workbench, and I was using a crème brûlée chef’s blowtorch instead of a soldering iron. I was driven by how powerful those incorrect assumptions of anxiety that had clouded me for years could be - and this time, I knew I could do it.

Amazingly, I’d retained the skills I self-taught at 16 through trial and error and early YouTube, and I was off. The way I felt making jewellery (totally lost in the process for days on end… forgetting to eat regularly and shower) was a feeling nothing else gave me. Without sounding cringe, it’s definitely my ‘calling’. I’ve now got to the point where I can rent out a small Hackney studio, and at 30, I’m living my childhood dream.

My aesthetic is the same as it was at 16, but with more adventure, storytelling, and grit under my belt. I guess you could call it ‘Understated British cool. A bit surfer-girl, a bit punk. Not classically “pretty”—charged up’. Every design is for those who’d rather dig through a boot sale or find a one-off gem than shop High Street fast fashion.

It’s for those who feel most alive barefoot, laughing, swimming, or dancing with friends. I hope you love it.

Much love, LouLou ☆