We’re hiring!
Since the second lockdown lifted, we were on the look out for new members for our wee team! We’re so happy to say that we now have a full team!
Skye Hearts
One of our new ‘lockdown 2020 designs’ and the first we launched was our Skye heart necklace, a detailed silhouette of the map of our island within a heart.
Our design is inspired by people’s love of our island and by the community heart groups working to help others during the Coronavirus crisis.
This design is now a normal part of our collection, but first, we decided to donate the full proceeds of the first 20 necklaces we sold to Broadford & Strath Community Company. We hoped we would be lucky enough to sell all 20, to raise £1,170 for the company, but due to the unbelievable interest from our amazing customers, we decided to add another 10 necklaces to the fundraising sales so we raised a final total of £1,755.00! In March 2021, BSCC planted a community orchard with this donation. Our new design is now available as a normal part of our collection here
We wanted to raise some money for the community company to help a small way towards the wonderful work they are doing. The work they do is extensive at the best of times but during the Covid-19 pandemic they organised almost daily food shares, co-ordinated & delivered cooked meals to the vulnerable people in our community and grew their own veg at their Growers Hub. We felt it was important that those of us who were able to start returning to ‘normality’ to keep this in mind and do something small to help.
Giveaways
During lockdown 2020, we ran our biggest ever giveaway on our Facebook page. Each month – April, May, June & July – we asked our Facebook followers to nominate people doing amazing things during this crisis. We had 4 catagories – someone in isolation (as a reminder that they weren’t forgotten) a key worker (so that they knew how appreciated they were), someone voluneering in their community (another reminder that their work was appreciated) and a member of NHS staff so that we could say thank you.
A local lady who normally lives & works here in the village won the first giveaway after receiving an overwhelming amount of nominations due to being in isolation in the Children’s Hospital in Aberdeen with her husband and their young son who is just 6 years old and receiving cancer treatment. They have’t been home since New Year & miss their home terribly but are thankful to all be together. This special lady received an Isle of Skye necklace and matching bracelet to remind her of home & of everyone thinking of her & her family.
See our Isle of Skye range here
The owner of one of our local village shops & Post Offices over in Kyle had a huge amount of votes for the key worker catagory and won a pair of our Celtic cufflinks. This shop owner has worked so hard since lockdown was announced, really going out of his way to provide his community with what they needed, also taking on the extra task of delivering to those who couldn’t get to his shop.
See our Triskelle cufflinks here
Another local lady, who has a farm in Plockton, won the third of our giveaways. She usually supplies the local community plus a wide range of B&Bs & hotels with her delicous fresh eggs. During lockdown she supplied the local community with her produce, including fresh veg, totally free of charge. This kind lady received one of our Cridhe necklace & earring sets, Cridhe meaning ‘heart’ in Gaelic…perfect for someone who really was at the heart of her community during lockdown.
See our Cridhe collection here
The final of our giveaway winners was a nurse working in Glasgow. We are currently making her winning piece to order for her. She has chosen one of our Cuillin Ridge rings which we know will remind her of all the happy holidays she’s spent on Skye and will hopefully remind her that her hard work is so much appreciated by so many.
See our Cuillin Ridge rings here
Price change (jewellery sales)
The Coronavirus crisis has brought many things to us all. This is of course less important than many of the effects of the virus but it has also increased precious metal prices, something which we can’t ignore.
Gold, in particular, has increased substantially – to an all time high. So if you have noticed a jump in our prices, please understand that we have had no choice and that any changes are in line with the industry standard rise in precious metal costs. We have not increased any aspect of our pricing other than metal costs. Please also consider that VAT registered shops are not receiving the VAT deduction which hospitality businesses are receiving.
We thank you for your understanding and for your continued support.
Price change (repair work)
In relation to jewellery repairs, the same increase will apply to any repairs which involve using metal. As with our jewellery pricing, we haven’t increased any charges other than metal.
We have made a very slight change to charges for our jewellery cleaning & polishing service and also our replacement watch battery service. Prior to lockdown, we did a little research into charges for these services at jewellers off the island after receiving many comments about these services seeming cheap with us. We had been charging £7.50 per item for cleaning & polishing but found that some jewellers charge as much as £30.00 for the very same service. We found that the best price we could find at a professional jewellers or watch specialist for replacement watch batteries was £10.00 (with the charge often being £25.00 – £40.00 and sometimes being as much as £80.00 depending on the watch brand), while we have always charged £5.00. We have therefore decided to increase our polishing charge to £10.00 & our watch battery service to £6.50. We hope our customers will still feel they are receiving a good service at a good, and most importantly, fair price.
Please note that the cleaning & polishing service we offer is not the same as ‘dipping’ jewellery in an ultrasonic bath which is sometimes the method used for a cheaper service. Please also note that we charge the same price for replacing a watch battery regardless of the brand of watch, ie, we don’t increase the charge for high end watches as some businesses do.
Once again, thank you for your understanding and for your continued support of our business.