Barra is quite a nice place to be a dreamer, there’s lots to explore and find, and my husband was brought up there so knows all the secret places to go. I became a bit obsessed with finding the tiniest shells on the beach (I had no idea they could be so small!) and my photo gallery became rolling smudges of colours - sea, sand, seaweed, rocks, lichen, shells and huge views - and I wanted to capture that somehow in my work.

I had SO MUCH fun making these earrings! It’s one of those designs when absolutely every bead and charm is lying on the table and things just start to come together. Each pair is one-of-a-kind. They’re super fun, shiny, eye catching and so comfortable to wear since they’re made with lightweight materials - mostly acrylic and brass.

Is it a gilet? A waistcoat? A bodywarmer? Or even a vest? I didn’t really know what this little item would identify as, but the Gardener’s Gilet had a nice ring to it and since I made my first one in the spring as an extra layer to wear when gardening, it made sense to call it that.

As I was rooting through some things at Hannah Zakari and updating the sale, I came across a box of things I’d put aside when packing up the shop that had been meant to go online and somehow I’d missed them! So, they will be my first ‘& other things’ on dot&hana instead.

So many good intentions that didn’t happen in 2022, not least, launching this little website! I posted a single instagram where I said I ‘quietly’ launched the website, so quiet it was almost silent! So this year I have to be a little bit louder I guess…

The Japanese ‘hana’ (花) simply means ‘flower’. In Hawaiian it means ‘craft’ (or ‘work’) and in other languages where the word is used it has a universally positive meaning, from ‘happiness’ (Arabic) to ‘hope’ (Kurdish). Using the word/name ‘hana’ for my new business creates a really nice connection to Hannah Zakari.

I had already been making tentative steps to close the ‘bricks and mortar’ part of my business, Hannah Zakari in the latter half 2021, so I was faced with the decision to stick with that plan, or bring it forward. When government announced that financial help was going to be made available I was so relieved to have a bit of breathing space…