Catherine decided that she had to earn some money to buy stones, so she took over a cheese shop in partnership with her sister. “I didn’t make a lot of jewellery at that time, but it was a laugh and I did find a husband!” Catherine met Paul – “he was the egg man,” she says laughing – and once again it was time for a major re-think on the job front.
“We got married and I got pregnant with the first of my daughters and it became impractical to carry on with the cheese shop – although it was a lot of fun! We decided that, if I was going to make a go of the jewellery business, I had to do it full time or not at all. That’s when we opened up the Mill, hired a nanny and started to develop the business properly. This made a huge difference although the pressure was on because there were bills and school fees to pay. It was a sort of sink or swim time.”
The business grew and Catherine employed more jewellery makers, took on trainees and devoted more and more time to the design side of the business. Her staff is focused and happy and Catherine is proud that there is little, if any, staff turnover. She is also very thorough when it comes to training and her apprentices follow a five-year course. The expansion into Jersey three years ago was a huge leap forward, and Catherine and Paul are delighted at the response they have received. “It was a good decision and we are now building up a good client base. Paul was flying home to Guernsey when he read about the Windmill Pub in Jersey. We had been looking for premises in Jersey for a year but nothing was right. This seemed to fit the bill perfectly.”
Catherine now employs 26 staff across the islands and in the UK, and she is still very passionate about designing and never seems to run out of new concepts. But she does admit to wanting to spend more time with her daughters – Vikki, 15, and 13 year old Penny – and she now makes more time to be with them. “I love to spend time with my family. Vikki is totally focused like me. In fact, she wants to be me and have my job now. Both my girls enjoy art and, looking back, I loved art too when I was their age and thought I was good. Unfortunately my teachers didn’t agree so I rebelled and they threw me out. There is a vast difference between art and design.”