She's not real, sorry!

It's actually just me, Ellie, running the business.

Creator, designer, maker, admin, social media, website, customer service, events, accounts, the lot. 'Polly Plant' is our brand, based in Wath upon Dearne, South Yorkshire.

I started creating polymer clay jewellery in late 2023, created a website and started selling my pieces. In April 2024 I was ready to start taking Polly Plant to events. I quickly found that my pieces were popular rather than unwanted (great news!) and now we're trading in many places including Sheffield, Leeds, Birmingham, Lincoln, Liverpool and Manchester. We are also expanding into retail spaces, currently stocked by three shops. This part of the business will continue to grow, and our products are always available to purchase directly from our online store as well.

My background is retail and customer service, in which I worked for over 10 years. Most recently, I was a Sales Executive selling BMWs and MINIs across Yorkshire and Derbyshire for 6 years. The decision to leave the motor trade came from two main factors - my mum's health and my own. Momma Plant has Parkinson's, and although she doesn't need me very often at the moment, we are sure that the time will come where I need to be around more often, and I may need to drop what I'm doing to get over to her pretty quickly. Unfortunately, a traditional 9-5 career may not always be able to cater for that.

The other, more immediate factor is my own health. I was diagnosed with Clinical Depression in my early twenties, and after a few suicide attempts I managed to turn my life around - with a lot of help and support. The down side is that I still have 'down' days or periods of time, where even the simplest of things can become impossible, such as eating or showering. Balancing that with work was a huge struggle for me. Calling in sick regularly was awful and over time, my confidence became non-existant.

The majority of my time is happy and positive, and it's taken years to get here. I didn't want to lose myself and all the progress I've made within a high pressure environment that felt harder to survive every day.

Because of my past, happiness and good mental health is a HUGE priority to me. More than money, more than holidays or free time etc. I knew I wanted to run my own business, and it had to be something that I loved and was passionate about - otherwise, what's the point?!

Polly Plant is now in it's second year of business, but what we've achieved so far is something I'm incredibly proud of. It's been a lot of risk, worry, doubt, panic - but with my stubborn nature and the amazing support from family and friends (especially my partner, Ste) the momentum is building and I'm hoping it won't stop!

Year two was planned to be a retail growth year - more shops, wholesale etc. but at the end of last year, we discovered that a little one would be joining us in the summer of 2025! Ambitious me knew I'd have to adjust my plans, and so I'm going to enjoy creating new pieces and attending events until the big day in August.

At the moment we are just making earrings and necklaces, but once the brand becomes more widely recognised we will look to expand our product range to include other accessories and offerings. Next year we will continue to explore more retail opportunities including wholesale, add our own events to the calendar and look into ways to work with and collaborate with other brands.

Polly Plant isn't just jewellery, it's a safe community for people from all backgrounds where we celebrate individuality, support all body types and gender identities, admire every colour of skin and welcome kindness and love without judgement. Happiness is not just my personal priority, but now my brand's priority too. I hope you feel at home with us.