Josie Burke, aka CharmedMemory creates some of the most beautiful vintage style jewelry you’ll ever see.  All of her jewelry is handmade with mostly vintage components and special little bits and pieces she has gathered over the years.

Josie is lucky enough to work and create from home. She has experienced a good measure of success selling her work online and has even sold to the stars, creating pieces for Courtney Love and New Zealand musician, Tiki Taane.

Josie also creates custom made orders, so if you’re looking for a great present or to treat yourself, we strongly recommend stopping by Charmed Memory!

Here’s our interview with Josie…

1. Tell us a bit about yourself?

   I am a 38 year old born and raised in New Zealand. My partner and I have 2 children, a 16 year old daughter and a 12 year old son, so that keeps life interesting!

   I am lucky enough to work from home and home is by the beach so it’s a really nice place to be. I love that I am in little old New Zealand and people on the other side of the world are wearing my jewelry. I have made pieces for Courtney Love, which is definitely a buzz and I also make  jewelry for a N.Z musician, Tiki Taane, which he merchandises so that has been a great experience as well.

   I love working with graphics as well so will be opening a 2nd shop on Zibbet soon, which will be just for my collage sheets

   

2. Apart from being ‘creative’ what do you do?

   I’m definitely a ‘bookgeek’! I love reading and also love movies and music. I also help my partner run his business, so I’m always stupidly busy.

3. What inspires you to do the kind of work you do?

   I love creating things that are ‘different’ and even a little bit quirky. Growing up with my Grandparents definitely inspires me, they gave me a passion for old fashioned things, especially flowers which you see a lot of in my jewelry.

4. Do you look up to anyone? Who? Why?

   I look up to a lot of people but basically anyone that has a dream of what they want to do and achieves success, especially those that have started with nothing and worked hard to get there.

5. What other passions do you have in your life?

   I collect anything old and interesting and my house is a minefield of everything old and interesting I can cram in from buttons, china, books to vintage petticoats.

6. What do you like most about Zibbet?

   I love that Zibbet is run by humans and not robots. Jonathan the CEO has been so helpful since I joined and that makes a big difference. Also the having no fees is a big drawcard. I really do like everything about Zibbet, everything is made so easy for sellers.

7. What ‘new’ things would you like to see added to Zibbet?

   The ’shopping cart’ that allows buyers to purchase multiple items is the only thing missing, but that’s already happening so I think the site is perfect as it is.

   

8. How do you promote your work?

   I don’t do a lot of promotion, but what I do is on Twitter and I do run ads on Project Wonderful.

9. How would you recommend other Zibbeters make the most of Zibbet.com?

   I can’t recommend Project Wonderful highly enough, it is a very powerful tool as far as drawing traffic to your shop. Also it is so worth having a Premium shop, buyers like variety so it’s a good idea to have as many items listed as you can.

10. In the future I’d like to be…

    …still doing what I’m doing now, simple, but I’m happy staying at home and creating.

Tags: Charmed Memory, CharmedMemory, featured zibbeter