If you have been around long enough you will know that the origin story of Amy Jennifer Jewellery starts in Thailand. If you’re new to my brand, read all about how I started out on a small tropical island here.
Life is never boring for my small jewellery brand. Typically, jewellers need to stay in one place as the equipment required to run a workshop doesn't exactly fit inside a suitcase. But, I am not one to make it easy for myself and I live life with constantly itchy feet.
“The only constant in life is change.” Heraclitus
Life changed again in early 2020 when my partner and I decided to take the leap and move to London- despite for many years both of us claiming we would never trade in our flip flops and move to a big city! Once we made the decision to leave Thailand we had a long list of places to live, and each one had big pros and cons. As I am British and Brian is American we first had to whittle down which country we would decide to live in. Living in the US would be a dream for me but logistically it wasn't possible to make the move straight there from Thailand. Hopefully one day!
AJJ jewellers bench - my most important piece of furniture
At the beginning of 2020 all plans were set to move to London. Life was in full swing and the word Covid had never even floated through our ears. For this reason, it was nearly impossible to get an apartment bigger than a shoebox for a reasonable amount of money in central London. The competitiveness of the market meant we viewed places at 10am and by 12pm someone had already made an offer. It was quite the contrast to the extremely relaxed lifestyle we were accustomed to.
Of course, we did find a new home and after learning the ropes pretty quickly my daily calls to the agent got us the apartment we wanted. It was small, but the little bungalows we had in Thailand were tiny too, so we made it work.
Less than 2 weeks later Covid hit the UK and we all went straight into the first lockdown. At the time I was rattled by how close it had been for us moving into our new home and the whole world shutting down. It gave me anxiety just thinking about what would've happened if we had been 2 weeks behind schedule!
A new situation forced us into another new way of living. We had the excitement of being brand new to London on our side and we spent the first couple of months really exploring the area we now lived in. Walks through the many beautiful local parks, taking trips up and down the Thames path with views of Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf. We felt lucky to have the time to explore our new surroundings.
Thames Path with Tower Bridge and The Shard in the distance
Lockdown life with daily walks in the park
Working from home was nothing new to me, I have had home studios for 5 years now and feel like I have nailed down the home-work life management and am well versed in the art of self-motivation. However, there has never been two of us at home at all times….in a small apartment…
After our one year contract came up we decided it was finally time for something bigger. Fortunately by early 2021 half of London had evacuated to the country and there were endless great apartment choices to choose from at a fraction of the price they were a year ago!
We found a dream apartment right on the river Thames and threw ourselves at the landlord to accept our offer.
Of course Meow has been with us the whole time!
It all starts with a blank canvas....
Fast forward a couple of months and we are finally settled in, both of us are working from home with separate home offices so no more having to listen in to each other's Zoom calls! I am totally in love with my new studio, my workspace is where I spend all my time and dream up all the AJJ designs. Being next to the water again fills me with so much joy, and although it's not quite the Gulf of Thailand, it is my beautiful slice of London.
Where the magic happens...
Tools of the trade
Amy,
I loved reading about your adventures. It’s been awhile since we were there I remember a lot of the areas you spoke about.
We really look forward to spending some time with you and Brian!!
Love M&K