Lottie's Story

My name is Charlotte, but most people call me Lottie.

I'm 28, from Barnsley, and work hard for a living. That's just how I was brought up.

In my spare time, I bead. 

I learned sitting at my nan's kitchen table when I was young. She kept a battered old tin of beads and thread and on weekends she'd sit with me and show me how to make something beautiful from almost nothing. She always said that being proud of where you're from is nothing to be ashamed of. I've never forgotten that.

A few years ago I started sharing my Union Jack pieces online. I wasn't expecting much. I just wanted to share something I loved making with people who might appreciate it.

What I got instead was a pile on!

Comments telling me that beading wasn't British. That I was appropriating other cultures. That my pride in my country was something to be embarrassed about. That I should just pack it in.

So I did what I always do. I quietly got on with it.

I looked into the history properly and found that bead craft has deep roots in British and European folk traditions going back centuries. This was my heritage, not something I had stolen from anyone.

Nobody was interested in that story. No one seemed to care about a working class girl from Barnsley making Union Jack bracelets and proving the internet wrong.

So I just kept going. Kept making them, kept wearing them, kept sending them out to people who felt the same quiet pride that I do.

If you've found your way here, I reckon you might be one of those people.

Every bracelet goes out with care. When you wear one you're not just wearing a piece of jewellery. You're saying something.

Thank you for saying it with me.

Lottie x

Made with pride. Worn with pride.