Taking the Creative Path to Happiness and Fulfilment- Anna Stibbe, TCSND

The wonderful community-based jeweller Kath Dare defies this with her story gifting the message that one must persevere to achieve their dreams. While the only clarity she had about her future as a teenager was singing in a band and becoming a mum, her innate and palpable passion for the creative arts carved out her journey. Speaking to Dare at her stall on North Cross Road, East Dulwich, she recalls her childhood and her lifelong creative talent, beginning as she crafted ‘a little house out of a box the washing machine was delivered in’.

Dare explored different creative careers. She worked for a milliner, a jeweller and enjoyed a job stringing pearls, however her personal creativity and passion drove her to the successful handmade jewellery business she owns today. This overshadowed her initial challenge at college where she felt ‘ill-equipped in the classroom’, having finished education at 16.

However, contrary to the apparent need for meticulous planning, Dare’s business spontaneously began through making her own wedding dress. Visiting London bead shops to bead the front of her dress, she remembers being ‘mesmerised’. This inspiration was elevated as she began to make more jewellery pieces following her wedding, initially only selling them to friends. While her business began only ‘about feeding the habit… earning enough to go and buy more beads’, Dare was faithful in the possibility of success. She highly values perseverance following her business’ expansion from school fairs, to craft fairs, to bigger shows and now a thriving business.

Dare offers an array of beautiful, handmade jewellery at her North Cross Road stall on Saturdays, while during the week she works on commissions. Her passion for jewellery-making shines through her optimistic perspective on the potential mechanisation of the jewellery industry, believing ‘there will always be room for someone like me’. Although Dare acknowledges the reality that jewellers are becoming less common, she believes the personal aspect of handmaking memorable and meaningful jewellery means more than a ‘soulless’ machine. She offers services only available through personal skills, repairing broken rings with stones missing, showing that remodelling is one of the ‘aspects that are irreplaceable’ in the jewellery industry.

The outstanding message of Dare’s story is that of perseverance. She emphasises the importance of not giving up, but argues ‘you will always face challenges but you’ve just got to keep going and believe in yourself’. The success she has created for herself through undeniable and captivating talent shows that the most fulfilling avenue to follow after education is that which makes you happy.