Entrepreneur aims to sparkle with jewellery line

She has had not just an extraordinary life story, but a highly varied career spanning various creative activities.

Geraldine Elliot. Picture: Neil Hanna.

And Edinburgh-based businesswoman Geraldine Elliott has now branched out into the jewellery sector with online offering Lady Geraldine Designs. This includes a high-end range with necklaces costing up to about £28,000 as well as bracelets and earring sets, and a separate more economical offering.

Elliot previously ran Geraldine’s of Edinburgh, a dolls’ hospital and manufacturer of quality handmade porcelain dolls and mohair teddy bears.

It was said to be recommended by Harrods, Jenners and Hamleys shops and auctioneer Christie’s for its meticulous repairs and restoration that attracted customers from around the world.

And Elliott said in 2004 when the business revealed that it was relocating from Edinburgh’s Dundas Street to the Canongate that it dealt with thousands of teddies and dolls throughout the year and about 50 to 60 at any one time. “We’ve never lost a patient,” she joked at the time.

But after a significant rent increase was imposed, she turned her hand to a different trade — jewellery, making every item herself by hand.

Such a solo endeavour does prove “intense, but when it’s done and it’s beautiful you get so much satisfaction,” she says, adding that she is considering taking on staff as demand increases.

Additionally, materials are sourced from all around the world such as Italian gold and rubies from North Africa.

So far the brightly coloured accessories are proving popular in the likes of the Middle East and the Côte d’Azur. However, Elliott, who grew up in Bristol, would like to see sales take off north of the Border, where she says her heart is, and where the products are designed and made. “It would have been nice to have started from here but there’s just not the market at the moment,” she says.

Elliott also says she loves creating the pieces but is thrilled when somebody falls in love with one of them, and has received interest from a prestigious London department store to stock her collection. The ultimate aim is to be on “every high street”.

And Lady Geraldine Designs is hoping to capitalise on growing demand for handcrafted Scottish products, and vying for market share of a global gems and jewellery market projected to be worth about £330 billion by 2022, according to a study published earlier this year by Research and Markets.

It attributed such growth to a “booming tourism industry, establishment of a large number of exclusive showrooms by leading players, and rising online availability of gems and jewellery”. It also said demand is being led by the US and Asia-Pacific, with the latter’s appetite driven in part by rising disposable income.

Furthermore, the report said the industry is seeing major players that operate globally adapting their product portfolios and increasing their focus on making customised jewellery as per consumer demands, with Elliot saying she is happy to make bespoke pieces in the event of such requests.

Her move into the jewellery trade comes after the closure of her dolls’ hospital business, but she says that part of her career taught her a great deal. “It helped with the business acumen, because once in business you never forget what you learnt.”

The doll and teddy business also led to her nascent singing career after songwriter Lawrence Riva, who has engineered and produced tracks for bands such as Big Country, Wet Wet Wet and Bay City Rollers, walked into her shop.

Elliot recently released her debut album Little Miss Blue under the name Lady Geraldine. It came after she was profoundly deaf as a child, and discovering sound after an operation in her early 20s that ignited her love of music.

The album was recorded in Edinburgh but mastered in Abbey Road using the same mastering engineer as Paul McCartney, according to Riva, who praises Elliott’s unique voice. A follow-up is already in the pipeline.

The songs are said to channel some of the heartache Elliot has experienced, including an abusive relationship.

“When I finished the dolls’ hospital it was quite an emotional thing, really. I didn’t think another door would open — but it did. It gives people inspiration.”