A jewellery maker who started her business as a hobby at her kitchen table on Portland five years ago now has two thriving shops – and is up for a string of national awards.
Sophie Mitchell, 36, and Matt Williams, 41, had entirely different careers in 2020.
Sophie had worked for New Look for 13 years and Matt was a general builder. The pair, who have four children between them, saw life change markedly during the pandemic, with work tailing off for Matt due to covid restrictions but becoming more stressful for Sophie, who took to making jewellery with real flowers as a way to relax.
Matt suggested she sell them, and her first batch of 38 items sold out in minutes. Sophie’s brand Kooky Bloom was born. A further release after two weeks of intense production saw double that amount sell out equally rapidly.
Matt started to help her with the business and in June 2022 they opened their first shop, in Dorchester’s Antelope Walk. Their second shop, in Weymouth’s St Alban Street, opened in June 2024.
Matt glows with pride when he talks of Sophie’s achievements. She is in the running for four awards at the UK Small Business Awards in Birmingham in December – Best Family Business, Female Entrepreneur of the Year, Best Creative Business and Best Small Business.
They were approached by the Royal Horticultural Society twice to sell their real flower jewellery through their five shops, but production could have been an issue, with Sophie already busy stocking the shops, and having added silver and gold jewellery to her offerings.
Matt said: “Sophie is flat out, making jewellery six or seven days a week. But we’ve gone from releasing new stock every two weeks to every month this year and it became possible to stock the RHS too – the flower jewellery is very popular in the RHS shops.
“Neither of us has any kind of business background and we never planned any of this – we are just doing our best to keep pushing the business on and it’s doing amazingly well so far. Sophie is amazing – what she has grown from that initial £50 investment is incredible.”
n Kooky Bloom’s Dorchester shop is open Mon-Sat 10am-4pm (3pm on Wednesdays).
The Weymouth store is open seven days a week: Sat-Mon 10am-4pm, Tues-Thurs 10am-5pm and Fridays 10am-3pm.
n kookybloom.com
