About Us
About Us
Bojangle Beads is a family-run business consisting of Katy Widdowson, mother Chris Neville, father Dave Neville, and husband Steve Widdowson. We began trading in October 2009 with our retail shop on Church Gate, Loughborough as one of just a handful of bead shops in Leicestershire. Since then, we have had fantastic feedback from our customers on our shop, our products and our workshops, so thank you to all of you!
During our second year of trading, we took on Claire Campbell, Chris' sister to work one day a week for us (and do all of our window dressing from now on!), Charlotte Noon (our Saturday girl) and our newest team member, Victoria Hutchings.
We have recently moved to larger premises from 17 Church Gate to 50 Church Gate, where we now have twice as much floor space giving way to a much larger product range, a larger workshop area, space for a demonstration area and "husbands corner" and a much nicer atmosphere!
Katy has a degree from Loughborough University in Textiles and has had a passion for fashion, beads and jewellery for many years. She also worked as purchaser for a large online bead retailer for 3 years. Katy’s workshops include chain-maille, wirework and Steampunk jewellery, although she has been known to get her needle and thread out for some stitched pieces!
Chris literally lives and breathes beads, and therefore is our workshop programme developer. She has particular interest in stitched beadwork, but also loves wirework, stringing, and basically anything that has beads in it!
Dave has had a career spanning many project-management roles and now takes care of the Bojangle’s accounts and finances. You may see him on the odd day when we need an extra body in the shop; he’ll be the one looking terrified beside the stairs!
Steve trained at University as a Garden Designer, but has now entered into the shop full-time. You will usually find him sat behind the counter in the shop, and he is also the website and online services administrator.
Claire is a trained Interior Designer and has a real passion for window dressing, which has sparked some wonderful feedback from our customers!
Charlotte is currently studying for her A Levels and is passionate about jewellery and is heavily in to the modern vintage fashion trends.
Victoria is a friend of the family, and will be working 3 days a week for us from March 2012. She came on a couple of workshops before she came to work for us, and like Charlotte, is now totally hooked!
We pride ourselves on having a happy and fun environment in which to let your creative spark burn, and we will always help you as much as possible. Our workshops include plenty of tea, coffee and biscuits and our guarantee of a good time.