So let’s talk about responsibility. It’s having to deal with something. And what if the best way to do that is to have a sense of play and fun on the side? Truly, letting it all out somewhere whether it’s art or a certain way one wears their makeup, listening to Brazilian Fonk and having the odd drink once a week. Typing this out it sounds really soft core, but what I mean is I think responsibility comes with layers. I don’t think it’s the person who’s life ultimately looks routine and boring. Something has got to give. You have to enjoy life a little to do well at the hard stuff.

In scottish gaelic, ‘Tha uallach orm’ it means there is a stress on me. There is something weighing on me that I have to do, I have a responsibility and duty to do something. To clean up this mess, to earn, to protect, to fix, solve and care. I don’t know why ‘family’ sounds like it fits right in here. It starts with home. Take care of home before impressing the streets. So that is what I am doing, I’m fixing what I left behind. I’m fixing broken lamps, painting walls white, pulling out old weeds, dusting the old printer and making things right again. It sounds like I’m starting again at 28 years old, almost 29. And you know what here I am. Not necessarily starting again, but fixing what looks sick and broken and abandoned. And doing that sometimes I have to do some arts n crafts and cocktail making along the way. I may seem like I have a lot of free time on my hands, that I’m 18 again dancing in a club on a friday. But there is a lot that is stressing on me. You have to let loose even for a few hours to come back to that stress.

There are three words I am carrying into this new chapter: honesty, integrity and health. Oh and respect. So four words. It sounds boring, it sounds like I’m not gunning to be a CEO or famous politician or something that’s out of the ordinary. But really I just want to be these four things. Whether they’re a noun or an adjective, I want to embody them, you get the just.

Also, I do make arts n crafts and jewellery for fun on the side, check out my small business here

Have a beautiful day, stay healthy and stay safe!

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I’ve been humming and haaing what to call this particular blog, it’s gentle and more secretive. It’s definitely The Secret Garden.

I’m so in love with old literature, particularly books like The Diary of Anne Frank and A Little Princess, literally anything about a little girl with a longing for escape is so up my alley. The Secret Garden somehow feels like that place that you long to escape to, a safe landing, a bed of flowers, the greenest of grasses. I’ll never forget in the movie of The Secret Garden the little boy scratching a dead plant and discovering a green layer suggesting it could still grow. Nature has so much to say, so much growth and healing and so many of us are so perfectly happy to have a small succulent in an apartment as our way of ‘connecting’ to nature while we spend the rest of our day in an office.

When I look at nature, I see a mirror for our inner thoughts. Too much pressure and strangling from another tree’s roots send you into overwhelm, so much that you either break or plant your roots somewhere else. Nature moves, it runs and hides too. We don’t see so much of it, if anything we only see the beauty. The green trees and pretty flowers, we don’t see the earth worms and dirt burying the fossils and faeces of moles and shrews.

In life we see people, human beings in their perfection. Everything else is behind closed doors. The hard stuff, the ugly. It is so rare we see the truth behind the public mask. And if you do, if you see a beggar or smell a bad smell it is so often frowned upon, pitied and fixed. Human beings we love to fix things. We love to find solutions. We so very rarely let life make a plan. Sometimes it’s in the fixing that a new problem is created. We very rarely let things be. Of course, there are certain things that need fixing but intangible things like love, relationships, friendship, family. Sometimes you just have to let things go.

I get back to my love for old books. Maybe it’s just the feel of the old book, the memories they held. I haven’t actually read The Secret Garden, A Little Princess or The Diary of Anne Frank since high school. Maybe it’s time to move on, give them away. Let someone else experience the magic...

Warmest

Jess xxx

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And the bass keeps running, and running, and running. Another great song from the Black Eyed Peas. Can you guess what it is? Let’s Get It Started. Music is such a great outlet - to dance, move, sing, run. Lately I’ve been running lots, I’m at 6min/km and that was for 3km’s running which is a massive difference to where I was three months ago. Running is one of my favourite things - it’s a full on part of my identity now. A fabulous skin care routine at night is also who I am. As well as baking muffins, reading, and selling at markets.

Gosh, over a year ago I sold at a market in Sydney, Au and the breeze was so heavy it flew my whole table of jewellery into the sand below. I swore never to sell jewellery at a market again. And yet last month, there I was - selling in Edenvale, Johannesburg South Africa - giving it another shot! It’s so nerve-wracking but it really gets you out your comfort zone. Solution-oriented, calm, cool, collected. That is what you learn for sure.

The trick is to have heavy stands, I use lots of wood (cheese boards, jewellery boxes etc.) and not light little jewellery tree stands from Temu. I learned that the hard and embarrassing way. Make your own stands, design a beautiful fairytale forest out of wood. It’s the best way! You can check out mine for inspo.

A bumpy breeze, I said. You take my breath away, you said. What a romantic novel my life was these past 2.5 years. No Bad Vibes, that’s another really great song. I wish I could attach songs to this post, perfect for Spotify Wrapped week. I keep telling myself to stay positive, positive vibes only. It’s hard, but there’s an opportunity around every corner. Just when you think you’ve lost everything, you realise the world is actually your oyster and there’s so much ahead when you start again. What did my friend say to me years ago? You never know what’s around the corner. Truly. It could be good or bad, so buckle up for the bumpy ride. No Bad Vibes by Jazzy & KILIMANJARO - what a total sum up for my outlook on life right now.

Stay positive, brighter things are coming!

Warmest

Jessica xxx

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At the end of 2022, I began creating my own jewellery out of resin selling at Kirribilli, Bondi, and Rozelle Markets. My backroom soon turned into a mini warehouse, and I spent countless late nights preparing for weekend markets while juggling my full-time role as a Cluster Manager for a French lingerie label at David Jones.

Over the years, I’ve worked across various retail brands - learning what truly makes a customer tick and steadily climbing the retail management ladder.

In 2025, I returned to my hometown of Johannesburg, South Africa, where I launched Honey & Wildflower Co., a brand that now trades online via Shopify, Yaga and at local markets.

I’ve always loved making things, and I absolutely love selling them. I come from a family in the heart of Joburg, where art and creativity filled my childhood. My best memories are of messy, joy-filled days making paper, cooking plum jam, drawing, sewing, baking, and beading.

The name “Honey & Wildflower Co” was inspired by my fascination with wildflowers - wild, untamed, and free. They remind me to create with authenticity and heart.

I’ve studied many South African makers across beauty, lingerie, and retail, and my dream is to one day bring them all together and create a women’s hub where jewellery, intimates, and beauty unite. A paradise of everything we love, and everything that makes us love ourselves.

For now, I’m starting with jewellery.

Jewellery is something to love, to hold - it is self love! Every piece I make is inspired by meaning - joy, love, and all the little things we crave in this world. I want my customers to feel that spark of “I have to have this.”

All my love

Jess

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I’m currently sitting in my restful back garden in South Africa surrounded by louries and robins wondering how did I get to where I am now? How did I get to such a peaceful space when just over a month ago I felt such enormous stress trying to make a huge decision that really would affect my future and overall state of mind. It is kind of crazy how one moment you have one thing and the next you don’t, and hopefully in that process you get something too. I feel really at rest right now. And when I’m so at ease I feel like I can make decisions rationally (and quickly). So I’ve decided to start a business. Starting a business feels like a piece of hope, it feels warm and inviting right now. It’s like the end of a nice warm cup of coffee. That fuzzy feeling you get inside. I’m hoping this one will last because my guilty pleasure is starting something new instead of finishing something that’s not quite finished. I’m more referring to a new perfume or a nice book, but what I’m trying to say is that I hope I finish what I start here.

At first I thought I’d sell beauty products - I know a lot about skin care and am really passionate about how confident beauty makes you feel. My dad also grows a hefty amount of herbs, lemons, roses and chilli plants (which I know is great for plumping lips - only joking!). All these ingredients would have been great but I probably would have exhausted the supply. Plus it’s super heavy to stock, ship and sell at markets. I love the idea don’t get me wrong but I needed something that I know A LOT about, something that I know works, and something where I have plenty of resources. So I decided that jewellery was the ‘go’.

Jewellery is something I’ve done before, I have a relative who is in the business and I’ve also worked for a jewellery store in the past. It just makes sense. And I love it. I love twisting a jump ring until it perfectly fits and I also love how it feels to put on a nice pair of earrings. Like beauty products, jewellery makes you feel confident.

I’m excited because I want to make jewellery made from quality, locally sourced and ethically made. I also want to make it affordable. Jewellery should be fun, easy to access and should last a long period of time. That’s why I’ve developed ‘Honey & Wildflower Co,’ representing the jewellery as the ‘honey’ - nectar collected from flowers, the foundation of the business inspired by nature and the flowers around us. And you, the inspiration, the ‘wildflower,’ you who grow freely and live untamed. My work is inspired by nature and by you. I look forward to sharing more with you. Welcome Wildflower

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