Natalie Houlston (Tu 12-17) has turned her love of beachcombing into a thriving jewellery business. Inspired by the natural beauty of sea glass, she founded Zephyr Jewellery, creating unique, sustainable pieces that celebrate the charm of these ocean-worn treasures. From starting with simple shell earrings to developing a brand that focuses on recycled materials, Natalie has built a business with sustainability at its heart.

In this interview, she shares the story behind Zephyr Jewellery, the challenges and joys of being a young entrepreneur, and how her time at Rugby School has helped to shape her journey.

The Story Behind Zephyr Jewellery

My love for beachcombing has been around since I was little; I absolutely loved to pick rocks and stones up from the beach and would go home with a full bucket, only to make patterns and shapes with them for the weeks to come.

This love was definitely reunited on a holiday to Norfolk after Covid: walking along the beach at Brancaster, I noticed tiny little cockle shells. With more time than usual on my hands, I decided that with a small investment and a little determination, I’d try my luck at selling them on hooped earrings. Whilst there, we also picked up a couple of pieces of sea glass, and apart from thinking about how pretty the colour was, I never thought anything of them for jewellery making purposes.

The jewellery making began as a success, and many of my friends bought a pair of these shell hoops - however, the problems began when I realised that they weren’t the most durable in the post. My thoughts then turned to the sea glass: a durable, recycled product, that shines on silver and gold. My tiny business quickly evolved, and sea glass became my focus.

Sustainability at the Heart

Sustainability is at the heart of what I do; the sea glass that I find is all recycled from beaches across the North-East, and is made from old glass bottles, or pieces of stain glass. An important part of my business is trying to look at what we as humans, already have available to us, rather than creating ‘more things’. All the silver and gold that I use for my jewellery is recycled too - it’s made from offcuts of gold casting grain; my silver is reformed from previous silver products, such as scrap jewellery, or electronics - and it’s still as hard wearing, durable and sturdy as if you were to buy it as brand new. People love the fact that each piece of jewellery is unique - you’ll never find another piece of sea glass like it, and that’s purely down to the sustainable and recycled nature of the product.

A Favourite Creation

My absolute favourite piece I’ve ever made was a multi-coloured turquoise glass, set onto a beautiful satellite chain. The beach where I go to collect sea glass is famous for these pieces called ‘multis’. For every 200-300 pieces of white I find, I find one of these. They’ve ended up on this particular beach because there was a stain-glass factory that was bombed in the first world war at the top of the cliff; when the site was cleared, the stain glass was all deposited on the beach, which 100 years later, has led to these extremely rare nuggets of glass. Every time I find one, I do a happy dance!

National Recognition – Becoming a finalist for Young Trader of the Year.

Honestly, it was so unexpected! The only thing about working for your own lil’ business is the fact that you’re often working on your own, so it was lovely to meet like minded business people who were at similar points in their careers as me. I feel like I’ve made small business friends for life, and we often share ideas and end up trading at the same markets, so that’s really lovely.

Balancing Two Creative Careers – Juggling jewellery design and professional singing.

I absolutely love the fact that I have two completely different lines of work. My singing has always been my passion, and anyone that knew me at Rugby School would know that I was always rushing from one musical event to another! Both jobs definitely use the creative part of my brain, and singing often gives me the time to think about the ventures I want to take on with my jewellery.

What’s Next for Zephyr Jewellery?

I’m working towards bringing out my own line of rings, which I’m so excited for! Each one will be lovingly handcrafted by me, and due to the nature of the sea glass - unique! I’ve also got some really exciting London fairs that I’ll be showcasing at, so it’s going to be a fab year.

Advice for Young Entrepreneurs

My one piece of advice I would give is to just give it a try. If you have the ability to put a small amount of money into obtaining just the essentials, this is all you need. When I started, all I had was a basic drill, recycled wire and some cockle shells! I started selling through my instagram, and a few orders down the line, I bought my first necklace materials - at the start I would buy the necklace materials to order, so that I didn’t invest in more stock than I needed. I now have a studio full of recycled jewellery, which all began from these 3 basic items.

Lessons from Rugby School

Rugby definitely taught me to be resilient. When you’re standing on a stall in the pouring rain, having paid for a pitch, there’s genuinely nothing worse for a small business than seeing the minutes wander by. It’s a very similar feeling to standing on the netball court when you’re not winning! I’ll be forever grateful for that resilience, which has seen me through to where my business is today.

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