Two sisters have used their past experiences of emotional turmoil to pour their heart and soul into their own jewellery business.
Deborah McCann, who lives in Lisburn and Kirstie Reeve who lives in the West Midlands combined their knowledge and skillset to launch a thriving new business during lockdown.
The sisters have both overcome tough times in their past and have channelled that into their business named Lustre & Love, a unique brand that has been created to give wearers a sense of clarity, strength, inspiration, hope and joy when wearing their jewellery pieces.
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Speaking to Be, Kirstie, 41, explained how the idea for the business came around and how the collections mirrored her own personal story.
"I worked at a jewellery company at the time, in the Head Office and it had a big online website so I could see how it worked from the back end, so with Debbie's design background and my knowledge of the workings of it, we said why don't we go ahead and do it.
"The story of both collections sort of mirror my story a little bit. The 'Strength' one came about because I came out of quite an abusive relationship, mentally abusive, so I found the strength to overcome that and come out of it. So with the Strength collection, it was just something to symbolise it and give other people who have struggles and have that strength inside, to remind them that they've got it.
"So that's why we had strength engraved on it and chose quite a strong colour, and the engraving is quite discreet but its visible to the wearer, so I always think if you're wearing it and you're having a moment of self-doubt, you can look at it and it gives you the reassurance that you've got this and you can do this."
The single mum-of-one continued: "Then the Clarity collection is sort of moving on from that, once you've come out of that bad situation that you're in and you start loving yourself again you get that clarity that you can move forward and life doesn't have to be like that, so you can move on with it and see that there is a new life."
Deborah, 45 added: "Also the stones we've chosen reflect the meaning, so black Onyx is a symbol of strength and it's a strong colour so that's why we chose that stone, Then the Opal is a beautiful stone with loads of colours going through it and it's just a happy stone and we thought that it was perfect for Clarity.
"We've also got a signature shape for Lustre & Love which is really unique alongside the hand-cut stones and it was important for us to have a theme running through it so every part of it was considered."
The mum-of-two, who has lived in Northern Ireland for more than 20 years, explained how she faced a tough time in lockdown with her own mental health, having operated a successful bespoke bridal accessories business for the last 15 years, Deborah K designs.
She said: "I've been in the bridal industry for the last 15/16 years and then Kirstie and I were just talking one day and I said I'd love to do a fashion jewellery brand because it is so difficult to get really nice, meaningful jewellery that was just a bit different. Everything was just a bit standard like a locket or a circle with an engraving on and we just felt there was a bit of a gap in the market as well and that's how the concept of Lustre & Love was born.
"I'm a people person so I liked seeing the brides face to face and I really missed my family as well [during lockdown] because I'm here in Northern Ireland and the rest of my family are elsewhere and we couldn't fly or anything so that was difficult as well.
"The bridal side of the business was tough because you didn't know what was going to happen and the bills still have to be paid but there was no income, so it was tough. But Kirstie then came on board with my other business, Deborah K as well and we turned a bad situation to our benefit.
"Before [lockdown] I didn't have an eCommerce website so Kirstie helped build the website and basically changed the business, and we are now able to sell online and it's made a huge difference. We doubled the sales for Deborah K in the year of Covid so it was great."
Speaking about how working together and helping each other through tough times has brought them closer, Deborah said: "One of the things is, we've been on a real journey both Kirstie and myself, but this business has really brought us closer together. Now, we do have had our minor disagreements, but we talk every day, we laugh all the time and with the situation with Kirstie and the journey that she has been on, I've been there for her every step of the way.
"So the strength of the sisters and our bond, we've not let anything beat us and we're using the negative situations that we've both had to put into the business, it has definitely given us strength.
"I think Kirstie and myself are a good team because I'm a designer and Kirstie keeps me in check and reigns me in a little bit and gets the business on its feet and organised.
Kirstie added: "I think we compliment each other well"
The Lustre and Love jewellery range is available to buy online.
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