Creating memories that last, always-forever

Aim

I aim to expand my business by creating a studio, having more space I can take on more orders to provide comfort to those who are grieving.

The reason for creating always-forever

Hi, I’m Gemma, the creator and owner of always-forever. After my Nan died, I wanted to get some jewellery made containing her ashes, but the prices were ridiculous and the designs available were not to my (or my Nans) taste. Feeling bad for not doing anything with the ashes I looked again but still the prices were high, so I did some research, sourced what I needed and with a little time and patience I made my own memorial jewellery! This led to making items for family and friends and through their recommendations I made pieces for their friends too. So last year, October 2019, I started always-forever on Facebook, offering affordable memorial jewellery and keepsakes. My dream would be to do this full time as I love creating these keepsakes and knowing they provide comfort to people makes it even more worthwhile.

Helping others

We don't see always-forever as just a brand, it's a way to offer support to others dealiing with grief. Here at always-forever we know how hard it is to lose someone and by creating these memorial pieces we’ve seen how it offers a little bit of comfort to those who are grieving. This project isn't just about making keepsakes, it's about offering support to those who need it.

Our products

Currently we offer a variety of memorial jewellery and keepsakes, we make items from cat whiskers, horsehair, breast milk, human hair and ashes, although all of our products can be made without ashes or hair. All of our items are made with love and care, each piece created is unique and has sentimental meaning to its recipient.  We work closely with our customers to ensure they are completley happy with their item before it is encapsulated in resin, if you have an idea for a bespoke piece please get in touch. 

We plan on extending our range to include personalised, engraved handmade jewellery.

How will the money help always-forever to grow?

To reach our full potential we need a minimum of £1000, the money raised from this project will be used to:

• setup a studio with heating and ventilation. 
• buy the last of the equipment that is needed, such as a pendant motor and mini laser engraver to create new personalised jewellery pieces.
• help turn our website into an online shop. 
• craft stalls and wedding fayres.
• create a marketing campaign.

This would give us the chance to expand our business, with more space we will be able to buy, and store, supplies in bulk at a discounted rate passing, the saving on to our customers. With the right advertising campaign, we can hopefully branch out across the UK and not just locally and with new tools we can offer a broad range of products to suit everyone’s taste and budget. 

Unfortunately, we have had to turn customers away as we currently don’t offer the products they require, with your help we will be able to fulfil our goal and offer a variety of products whilst keeping prices affordable. If we can reach our stretch target, our creator will be able to attend jewellery making courses and get the tools and materials to be able to offer 100% handmade jewellery.

Aims for the future

We aim to have our online shop up and running by the end of July 2020, so customers can easily browse our products and place orders for delivery across the UK.

By the end of 2021, we will have gained new clients from attending craft and wedding fayres and branched out our wedding/flower preservation range.

Our dream is to have our own premises with a large studio area visible from the front of the shop.

Customer feedback

We have a 5* rating on our Facebook page, here are a few:

Rewards

If you would like to donate to our project we have some great rewards on offer for supporting us:

£2 - Thankyou email

£5 - £5 voucher to use against any order or a thank you on social media

£10 - £10 voucher to use against any order or a thank you on social media

£20 - Resin love sign

£25 - £25 voucher to use against any order or a thank you on social media

£30 - Jewellery, ring or pendant

£40 - Large resin heart

£50 - Any 4 resin letters or a thank you on social media

£100 - £100 voucher to use against any order or a thank you on social media

If you chose a reward and would like it to contains funeral/wedding/anniversary flowers, pet hair or ashes, you are responsible for paying the postage to send the items to me. However, if you live locally you can arrange to drop them off.

Thank you for your support 

Thank you for taking the time to read our story, to see more products please follow always-forever on Facebook and instagram. If you have any questions do not hesitate to get in touch via our email [email protected]

Gemma 

always-forever

This project successfully funded on 2nd April 2020