Made With Love by Kat

ROMANTIC vintage has always been a huge trend for weddings, as jewellery designer Kat Dibbits has found. Her reworked vintage jewellery line, Made With Love, has proved so popular with brides that she has just introduced a special section for them into her online shop. Kat sells through the online marketplace Folksy, and her bridal collection features vintage brooches, earrings and bracelet links, reworked into new pieces using gorgeous stones and crystals in palettes of dusky pink, pale cream, lilac, gold and pastels. “Each piece is completely one of a kind,” says Kat of her whimsical creations. “I think that’s one reason why brides love the collection so much. Every woman wants her wedding day to be unique, and this is one way to help make that dream become a reality.” A far cry from the mass produced items found in High Street shops, Kat’s jewellery is painstakingly handcrafted, with some pieces taking several hours to complete. Brooch pins are snipped off and the back...

How often do you hear something described as "unique" only to see someone else wearing the same piece? Jewellery designer Kat Dibbits guarantees that won't happen with her collection - each piece is irreplaceable. Kat explains: "Because I use vintage components such as earrings or brooches, it would be impossible for me to repeat a design even if someone asked me to." Kat starts her work at the point others see at the end - with the mismatched earrings abandoned in the back of a drawer, or the brooch with the broken pin that's chucked out as junk. She lovingly restores and repairs each piece before transforming them into necklaces, bracelets and earrings that are perfect for both occasion wear and every day. "Many of the pieces I salvage are by named designers such as Coro or Sarah Coventry, and it's a shame for them to end their lives unloved," says Kat. She adds that because each piece is genuinely one of a kind they make the ide...

BRITISH jewellery designer Kat Dibbits is urging people to buy handmade this Christmas. Kat, who sells her range of reworked vintage jewellery through the UK-based online marketplace Folksy says that festive shoppers can not only find unusual gifts by looking beyond the High Street, they can save money, too. She said: “There are so many talented makers and designers in Britain who work hard to promote their work through online shops, galleries and independent traders – there really is no excuse for buying something mass produced as a gift this Christmas.” Kat’s own range, Made With Love ( www.madewithlove.folksy.com ) has a couture ethos distilled for everyday life. Each piece is handmade and no two pieces are the same. “As my work is based on repurposing vintage brooches, bracelets, necklaces and earrings into something new and gorgeous, I couldn’t repeat one particular design even if I wanted to.” Kat’s painstaking process starts with her scouring flea marke...

After being so reinvigorated by taking part in the Dog and Partridge summer craft fair, I've decided to hold an official relaunch of my shop - with a month-long extravaganza of discounts, competitions and other loveliness starting from July 1st. For more details, keep checking back here for more details, follow me on Twitter or like the Facebook page . PRESS RELEASE: Made With Love by Kat launches month of summer celebrations For immediate release REWORKED jewellery label Made With Love by Kat is back with a bang with a month of discounts and competitions. Throughout July, designer Kat Dibbits will be offering a host of offers including free postage and packing and up to 20% off all purchases. She will also be running competitions, with prizes including earrings from her range, books, and for one lucky winner, a specially-commissioned item of jewellery. Made With Love by Kat uses reworked vintage finds to create one-off pieces, from earrings that become brac...

QUEEN of recessionista couture, Manchester-based jewellery designer Kat Dibbits takes broken jewellery, mysterious keys and unwearable bits and bobs and turns them into gorgeous new one-of-a-kind creations. And her sparkling creations have a Great Gatsby-meets-English rose quality that makes them the perfect frosting for this summer’s eclectic trends. Gucci pastels will be perfectly complemented by her pale pink statement bracelets, while gunmetal metallics would work well with the bolder colours seen at Moschino and sparkling floral pieces would look great with Dolce and Gabanna’s dramatic Riviera styles.    And of course, for anyone whose retro style references the classic shapes at Raf Simons’ collection for Dior, Kat’s jewellery is the ideal way to incorporate vintage finds with a contemporary twist. In a nod to Gatsby, even discarded chandelier drops are turned into stunning pendants. Kat set up her shop, Made With Love by Kat, online ne...

When designer Kat Dibbits was designing her new collection she had one thing in mind – romance. Well with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, what else is a girl to be thinking about? Each piece is completely one of a kind and Kat says there is no better way to show your other half that you think she’s special than by buying a piece of jewellery that is as unique as she is. Secret Garden, £58 She said: “Each piece is a one-off – because of the vintage components I used I couldn’t recreate them if I tried. I have also tried to use more unusual stones in this collection – while there are the old favourites such as onyx, garnet and rock crystal I have also used lesser-known stones such as Peruvian opal and amazonite which should pique the interest of fashionistas.” Beautiful vintage brooches, earrings and other finds which could have been discarded have been given a new lease of life as necklaces, bracelets and earrings.  Key colours are the pale pinks, blues and ye...

Still looking for your something old? Jewellery designer Kat Dibbits has just launched her winter collection, and as each one-of-a-kind piece uses reworked vintage jewellery it could be the perfect finishing touch to your bridal outfit. Made With Love jewellery features vintage finds lovingly teamed with semi-precious stones, Swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls, ribbon and beautiful chains. each piece is unique and connot be recreated. The label is the brainchild of Lancashire-based arts journalist Kat Dibbits who draws much of her inspiration from the theatre productions and gallery exhibitions she covers. “All day I see such pretty images sent to my desk - from ballet dancers at The Lowry to the elegant glamour of the Halle orchestra, and it is impossible not to want to create something that is inspired by that,” she said. Made With Love jewellery can be bought from http://www.madewithlove.folksy.com. Stock is continually being updated so keep checking the website - and if you see ...

As a crafter/designer, I know there can be nothing more thrilling (and potentially profitable) than seeing your name in print. As a full-time journalist, I know there is nothing more likely to go straight in the trash folder than a bad press release. So. How do you maximise your chances of your local newspaper, glossy mag or specialist crafting magazine taking notice of you? I can't guarantee that these tips will get you press coverage, but they will certainly help. 1. Get the right person. Buy a copy of the publication or visit their website and find who the best person to contact is. Any email that starts "I'm not sure if you're the right person..." goes straight in my trash folder - it suggests that the sender has no respect for my time, which is over-full as it is, without wasting my time reading things that aren't relevent to me. If in doubt, ring and find out. While you're at it, find out what their deadlines are - and stick to them. 2. Get to the po...

Like a vintage-obsessed Clark Kent, when I'm not indulging my ego as a jewellery-making entrepreneur, I'm a working journalist. Mostly I write about music and the arts, but at Uni I specialised in fashion journalism. Now I've been on the receiving end of a lot of press releases - good and bad. And now the shop is functioning, this weekend I need to get cracking on the Made With Love releases. But to be helpful, I thought I'd share some dos and dont's when it comes to writing your own press releases - from a journalist's perspective. This is the most important thing I can tell you - look for a news angle. Your mere existence does not constitute news and does not entitle you to a feature - you have to find a hook. Being local or new (or, better, local and new) is always a good start, but also look at how you fit in with current fashion trends, consider what makes your product unique or highlight something exciting you've done recently. Having a sale or speci...