Young jewellery maker, author has big plans for her business

Brianna Johnson took up jewellery making as a hobby when she completed her undergraduate degree in hospitality and tourism management from the University of Technology in 2017.

She experimented with copper wire wrapping and had made quite a few pieces as she was motivated by the desire to be self-sufficient.

“I was going to apply for jobs but instead, I started making jewellery at home. My sister took one of my necklaces, fell in love and never gave it back. She helped me to set up an Instagram business page that same day,” Johnson said.

Using her middle name Leigh-An, which means beautiful woman, Johnson began her career as a creative entrepreneur with mostly self-taught designs developed through experimentation.

Today, the photo of that necklace is the brand image for her business, Leigh-An Jewelry.

The jewellery designer handcrafts gemstone and copper wire jewellery, making ear cuffs, bracelets, earrings, rings, pendants, name bracelets, necklaces and customised pieces.

Her products are made from semi-precious gemstones bought from local suppliers and coated tarnish resistant copper wire.

DEMONSTRATIONS

She also offers jewellery making classes where she teaches wire wrapping for beginners and provides step-by-step demonstrations for making pendants, rings, earrings and stretch bracelets.

Though she provides the required materials and tools for classes, participants are welcome to bring their own if they desire to make a specific piece.

The 27-year-old told The Gleaner that her business was steadily growing as sales were consistent and she had repeat customers.

Johnson had big plans going into 2020 but they were derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Sales nearly stopped during 2020 because people had to prioritise and so I moved more into my writing and I managed to self-publish a collection of short stories that year, and I am currently working on a novel. Now that it’s the Christmas season in 2021, I am jumping back into my jewellery and trying to build up sales again,” she explained.

With a desire to become a writer since she was 12, Johnson started a writing challenge with a group of writers where they began with the same picture prompt for each short story, and as 2020 came to a close, she had a constant nudge to publish some of her work.

It birthed The Other Side Of The Sky, a collection of multi-genre short stories which include fantasy, Sci-Fi, contemporary and western.

It was published on January 2 and is available on Amazon.

The novel she’s working on is a sky-pirate adventure fantasy retelling called Neverland.

“It’s going to be part of a series of retelling mash-ups. That’s taking all the different fairy tales, putting my spin on them and reinventing the characters. Neverland will be the first one. Though I have the series planned, it’s not the first chronologically but it’s the one I started writing before the idea expanded so much,” she detailed.

Johnson told The Gleaner that she had an eye-opening experience as a vendor at the Association of Jamaican Potters annual art and craft fair earlier this month.

“I’ve gotten some interest, I have people signing up for my mailing list and I’ve sold some of my pieces. A lot of people have been looking at the earrings but what they are more interested in is the wired tree earring stand, so I’m going to make more of those and make them available for sale,” Johnson said.

For the new year, her goal is to create new pieces, try new techniques and make better use of social media to promote her work.

“I love making things by hand, experimenting, improving and being surprised by the end result,” Johnson said.

judana.murphy@gleanerjm.com