Who is Aphrodite Designs?
Hello everyone!
My blog will be mainly about crystal healing about the stones I use in my crystal jewellery or the crystals I buy!
Firstly though, I feel you need to know a bit about me and what I do! My name is Alexandra Martin and I own a UK company called Aphrodite Designs.
If you told my younger self I would be doing this I would have told you 'no I am going to work in a museum'. My first love is history - preferably ancient history. The Greek myths and legends have fascinated me for years! I decided to follow this path and did an Ancient History and Egyptology degree. I graduated in 2010 - just as museum jobs were being cut. So I just jumped into a warehouse job - better a job than no job. I stayed in this for 4 years. In 2013, while in the job I had started jewellery making. I had crafted for most of life - started with cross-stitch then at 14 started card-making. I was at the NEC craft show at Birmingham and saw a jewellery making kit for £20 - the 3 basic tools, a bead mat and enough beads and instructions to make a necklace, bracelet and earrings. I decided I would try it out not expecting to enjoy it. I still have that first piece! I caught the jewellery making bug - Most crafters know how easy it is to end up taking on several crafts! I saw a kit on a UK TV Show Jewellery maker - gemstones! I am an avid lover of gemstones – have been since I was 8 - I am a TOTAL MAGPIE- anything sparkly you can count me in! I thought to work with gemstones and make my own pieces.. wow I was so excited. I started making and eventually made so many gemstone pieces that I could not give them all as presents - as most crafters can relate to! So I decided to go to a small craft fayre at Brown Edge and that is how Aphrodite Designs got started. The name came from the fact I was making items the 'designs' and I wanted to use my ancient history degree and felt Aphrodite the Greek Goddess of love and beauty was perfect name for the business! Plus there is a famous picture of Venus (the Roman Aphrodite) by Botticelli, coming out of a shell like a pearl, of which I sell. So Aphrodite designs hand makes but I also sell retail gemstone jewellery. It started as I had repetitive strain injury from my warehouse job for a short time as well as other things happening like time constraints it meant I have had to buy some bits in - plus it's sometimes cheaper to do that so I can pass the deal to my customers, which are the most important people in a business! In 2018, I decided to adapt and began a journey that I am still loving. I began selling crystals and minerals alongside my jewellery and found my niche! I began to learn from my customers about a world that I had limited knowledge on and I had not expected to bump into Crystal healing! I decided that I needed to learn a bit more about it, first of all to help my customers know about the items I had available, however it soon became a bit of an addiction! I began and completed reiki 1 and reiki 2 first so I could program my crystals and give them positive energy as well as doing a basic crystal healing course for a bit more knowledge. Now I have embarked in a 2 year crystal healing degree and I am loving it!
In 2020, I have taken the business back to part time due to the climate at the moment however I still have a passion for this and have dedicated myself to going online so it is easier for you to find me!
I have now been trading about 5 years - 3 years in a shop in Leek, Staffordshire and 2 years doing stalls in Leek, Stoke-on-Trent and North Wales So I hope this explains who I am and how my company started and where the company is going now. Any questions or items you would like me to help with give us a message or comment and I will try my best! Thank you for reading this and hopefully you will want to read the next one!
Please check out my website www.aphroditedesigns.org or find me on instagram aphroditedesigns88!