Bringing fun to every day life: What it's like to...Be a jewellery designer

She hopes to raise smiles with her range of necklaces, bracelets and button badges, which are full of comical elements inspired by things she enjoys from films, television and books, everything from Monty Python to Terry Pratchett.

The 29-year-old also enjoys making cheeky items like her 'smarty pants' necklace and is often pleasantly surprised by who finds them appealing.

"I made a necklace which was a pair of pants and a 90-year-old lady bought one. I asked her 'is that for your granddaughter' and she said 'no, it's for me'.

"I had the biggest grin when she said that. I thought it was great that there was now a 90-year-old walking around wearing one of my pants necklaces," says Lynsey.

She has been running her jewellery business, Lynsey Luu, named after her childhood nickname, since graduating from the University of Wolverhampton with a BA (Hons) degree in textiles in 2011.

"I design every piece myself using my personal interests as inspiration. These include Monty Python sketches, Terry Pratchett books, video games, zombies, fanzines and pretty much anything weird and wonderful," explains Lynsey, who lives in Brierley Hill.

In her final year, she enrolled on the Speed WM scheme, backed by the university, which aims to equip people with business skills. She was voted Star of the Future by other participants of the course.

"At university, they were teaching us how to prepare for working in the industry for someone else but I wanted to work for myself.

"I was really interested in surface pattern design and how I could use this to create different products. I started with pin badges and then jewellery," says Lynsey.

After completing her textiles degree, she launched her jewellery line and shortly afterwards even received the backing of Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis.

He runs a scheme called Small Business Sunday giving ‘retweets’ to up and coming businesses which catch his eye. Lynsey was delighted to win the award in November, 2011.

Since then her range has grown to include her latest range of pretty resin flower necklaces as well as printed hip-flasks, stationary like custom pencils and notebooks and greetings cards.

The majority of the items are made in her home studio but when it's not physically possible to do so she uses other small businesses to help.

She sells them through her own website, at Crafty Happenings in Wolverhampton and at Shop in the Square in the city's Mander Centre.

Lynsey's products have been at Shop in the Square which sells handmade gifts from over 30 talented artists from around the Black Country for around five and a half years.

She is part of the team that run the shop, which first started in June 2013 as a pop-up shop with funding from the Portas Pilot and High Street Innovation Funds.

It is a community interest, not for profit company set up to support a wide range of local micro businesses in the creative industries sector.

At the moment her most popular items include her resin flower necklaces which come in a variety of different pendant shapes.

"They are created using real dried flowers which are encased in resin in a mould. I love this process although it takes around two days to make and finish, the outcome is so beautiful and unique. I love capturing a bit of nature.

"They are available in different moulds like hearts, spheres, twists and crystals. The crystals have added holographic pieces to help catch the light for that gemstone effect," explains Lynsey.

Wildlife including a bee, beetle and butterfly also feature in her jewellery line with some designs laser cut from wood and either hand-painted or etched.

More playful items include gin bottle and piece of cake pendants, 'mama bear' necklace and Scrabble letters.

She enjoys being creative and when inspiration strikes she is determined to see an idea through to the end.

"I like coming up with new ideas for designs and products and finding out what works and what doesn't. I like the whole process from drawing out an idea to selling the finished product. I'm often working late into the night.

"I make my own displays too as I know what's going to work best with my products. Some people don't like my cheeky stuff but I don't mind, you can't win them all," says Lynsey.

Her biggest order was for 2,000 mermaid pin badges for a company offering a subscription box full of mermaid themed bath, beauty, lifestyle and fashion items.

"The pin badges went all over the place, to Canada, Australia and America. I kept seeing photos on social media, it was great," says Lynsey.

Since starting her own company, she says she has learned a lot about the world of business and being her own boss.

"I was a bit naive at the beginning because I thought people would just come to me and buy my products but you have to put a lot of hard work in to promote your products and attract customers.

"It's not just all fun things like designing and making, you also have to do the less exciting things like admin and tax returns. But I'm loving every minute of it, " explains Lynsey.

*See www.lynseyluu.co.uk