Meet The Makers!

Have you ever wondered who the makers are that create the exquisite pieces to be found on Best Handmade? Wonder no more! Here you will find out more about our Talented Creators.

Melanie Keers – Gloryous Artisan Jewellery

Hi everyone, my name is Melanie, and my shop is Gloryous Artisan Jewellery. I live in the most easterly town of Great Britain , Lowestoft Suffolk but was born in Rhodesia which is now Zimbabwe.

I was introduced to jewellery making by my brother Mikey B who was a guest designer on Jewellery Maker and the rest is history. My company is named after my late mum Glory who unfortunately never saw any of my creations.

My passion in seed beading, shrink plastic, working with Shibori silk and wire wrapping, but enjoy macramé and seed beading too as well as doing my cross stitch and looking after my cats. 

It fascinates me in the way that the earth combines elements to create such wonderful creations which humans have made into jewellery to celebrate their femininity, individuality, and power. A simple design will show a stones natural beauty but when you add to a bold statement piece it makes it outstanding. I love the different colours of gems and the way a gem changes the look and style of a piece of jewellery, add it to Shibori silk and you have something luxurious.

I do not duplicate my designs but when commissioned to make a similar design I try to make each creation as unique and bespoke as possible. I also love to create trees of life using semi-precious gems to make pendants or dream catchers / window hangings, again each one is unique, and the choice of gemstones and wire changes the visual aspect of each piece.

My jewellery and designs are by no means perfect, but they are unique and individually and hopefully show some meaning to the gemstones.

Another of my passions is upcycling jewellery into new things. I use beads from broken necklaces and bracelets to create my spiders and scorpions as well as taking an old necklace and repurposing into a headband or even separating the components and creating new jewellery. This is one of my favourite past times upcycling jewellery and giving them a second life.

You can find me most weekends at craft fairs in and around Suffolk and Norfolk and especially love dressing up for themed fairs.


Thomas & OliviaThe Olive Home Shop

We are Thomas and Olivia, welcome to The Olive Home, the perfect place to find handcrafted and personalised gifts. 

We are a UK based business on the Isle Of Wight which started during the first lockdown in 2020. We followed our entrepreneurial and creative ambitions to create the shop we have today!

We have creative backgrounds with our parents and relatives using their craft talents to make gifts for the family so we wanted to branch our further than this to share theirs and our own workmanship from one home to another through our business.

Personalising our products is a core part of The Olive Home, we know the importance of giving and receiving a meaningful gift so we like to help our customers create those special moments. A lot of our products are made using sustainably sourced wood from the Isle Of Wight, our range of woods includes Utile, Olive, Walnut, Oak, Beech and Ash.


Who or what is ostentatious. 

Ostentatious was created by me after my TV work where most knew me as Mikey B.

 Ostentatious is an extension of my other business where I also showcase my creations.

I started making jewellery as a hobby many moons ago creating and designing firstly for myself, but as time went by I started creating for family and friends.

When the word got out as such, I started taking commissions from clients who wanted unique homemade jewellery. 

 Personally I create pieces which I hope are unique, different and stand out.  

I believe that jewellery should express something of the owner, should express a person’s individuality and perhaps have a meaning or portray a memory.

I hope my jewellery designs help provide a 

means for someone to express themselves.

 I work in a multitude of media’s from silver, polymer clay, resin and gemstone embroidery.  I truly love the extensive selection of materials and gemstones available now.


Carole Duck – Duxenall Dog Bedz

Duxenall Dog Bedz is the name of my business ( Surname, and used to have smallholding in S. Africa with ostriches and all!)I have invented and hand make a wood and canvas dog bed which is totally flat-pack!Can be posted out and taken on holidays.
62 yrs old now and a cancer survivor.  Whilst in treatment the doctors told me to eat anything and everything to combat the weight loss.Well!  6 yrs later no-one has yet told me to stop!  Needing exercise and having moved from a flat to a house with a garden, I got my latest furry friend Harry, he is a cross labrador collie.  He chewed the expensive beds and cushions I bought for him so I decided to make something I could replace myself.  Friends liked the design, Harry didn’t chew it once and a leaflet came through my letterbox,saying there was funding available for new business ideas in my area.  I applied and the rest is history!
Normally making at home and selling at local craft and pet shows, covid has made me attempt to find a market online.  So here I am!
I have extended my product range to now include, doll beds – also in the flat-pack format for the Tiny Tears size Doll, doggy bandanas, doggy fetch cushions,and covid masks made from waterproof ripstop canvas and double layer cotton inners, as I wear hearing aids,I have designed the elastic to go around the whole head and not the ears for comfort.
Grandmother to four, eldest is 17 yrs and youngest twin girls are nine, my world!I am hoping the eldest grandson will be joining me in the business and taking over the reigns one day!


Oliver Karger – The Runner’s Wall

Hello everyone, I am Oliver, owner of The Runner’s Wall medal displays. It probably comes as no surprise that I am a runner, cyclist, swimmer and lover of all things sporty, exercise based and everything that keeps us healthy & strong. The Runner’s Wall is all about celebrating achievement, success and providing a reminder of your journey & commitment behind every medal that you have earned. Our medal displays are all made & designed in the UK but we ship all over the world and it puts a huge smile on my face knowing that we are helping people celebrate their events worldwide.The Runner’s Wall started off in 2011 as I wanted to display my own medals rather than having them sitting at the bottom of a drawer. Not being able to find anything suitable I decided to reach out to a local laser cutting company to get one customised for myself. When I saw how good it was I instantly knew that other athletes would love the product. And so it began, where the business has developed from a single display for ‘runners’ to where it is now. A range of stylish and contemporary displays covering a range of sports from triathlon and football to judo and  equestrian rosette displays. Inspiration for new products is both challenging & exciting, yet offering a personalised service to create custom displays for people is always one of my favourite aspects of work and one of the most popular requests that we receive.Alongside providing a quality product with top customer service, I really want to give people a reason to smile and feel good about themselves every time that they look at their medals hanging on the wall. Our medal displays are designed to bring joy, pride and a feeling of achievement- so go ahead, celebrate your successes with The Runner’s Wall.


Sarah Howes – EVJ Personalised

Hi. I’m Sarah, founder and owner of EVJ Personalised and mum to a teenager who’s not only my world but the inspiration for my shop name.
I’ve always loved making gifts for family and friends and now I’m lucky enough to be able to work a part time job and turn a hobby and love of crafting into a small business
I live in the East Riding of Yorkshire and have posted out gifts all over the country as well as to the USA, so my small business is gradually growing. 
We do a wide range of products to buy my most popular buys are personalised frames, many of which are custom designed, all are unique and all created by me, on a laptop from my home. 
Get in touch today to customise a gift for that special someone, at EVJ Personalised 100% love, care and attention to detail goes into all our gifts
Thanks for reading and happy shopping 

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Lynn Purslow – Neillynn Rocks

I’m Lynn from Neillynn Rocks and I am the one that makes the jewellery for you, I also prep some of the Fossils that we also sell along with the Crystals and Minerals. I have always had an interest in Crystals and Fossils, so taking that hobby and putting it to some good use, I decided to make my own jewellery using the Crystals and Fossils that we have collected over the years. And now 20 years + on I am still doing so, along with my husband Neil. I have been using Resin to make some of the jewellery and most of the keyring’s as this gives me a different medium to work with and also a lot more scope. The Fossils go nice into the Resin as do the flowers, thus giving you an unique item of jewellery. We also sell Crystals and have a good range of them at reasonable prices, some of them tend not to be sold as I tend to get over attached to them ! This also extends to the Fossils, much to hubbys annoyance ! I tend to make my jewellery on the way the stones look and fit together so this leads to the design and the look of the item, I tend not to make more than 1 unless asked to do so, If that design is popular, then I will use different stones to keep from having repeats all the time. Every item that I have for sale is made by myself and most can be changed if needed, that’s the beauty of making and designing your own. If I use the Fossils along with the Resin that then is unique to that one, as with nature being what she is no two are ever the same. I was asked by Kath, my next door neighbour, to make her a set after she had see me with earrings, necklace and a bracelet on and then her friends also wanted some making and that started it all off and we are still here after 20 + years ! I enjoy what I do and it gives pleasure to them that receive that one special item that has been made for them. We have loyal customers that buy from us all year round, if it is at one of the shows that we do or at the Goostrey shop in Cheshire , so we decided to try the internet to reach out to others all over the country for them to be able to see what we do and to be able to buy from us but still get the customer service that we extend to our customers here and at the shows, no shows this year though due to the virus,. We hope you also like what we do and come and give us a try. All of the items come boxed and we even make the boxes !