Vicky Brooks used to cope with her stressful job by making beaded silk scarves and jewellery. Now she has turned her passion for beads into a career, writes Suzanne Savill

T here are beads everywhere, in all sorts of colours, shapes and sizes. Some have been made into necklaces, while others have been turned into earrings. A counter is lined with small trays full of individual beads.

Walking into Vicky Brooks' shop BDelicious on Clifton Triangle in Bristol is rather like walking into a modern-day Aladdin's cave.

The contrast with her previous job could not be greater. She spent 25 years working in the criminal justice system, in a role that meant she often had to deal with a brutal side of life that most people never encounter.

"It was a job in which I could help people. But it was also very demanding and stressful, to the point that it started to make me ill," she says.

"I found making things with beads a great antidote to the stress of my work. It was something I did as a hobby, and I had no idea it would turn into a career."

Vicky, 57, left her job last year to work full time at BDelicious, which she had set up with her daughter.

"At a time when everyone was talking about the credit crunch and people were worried about losing their jobs, I left my job and came here full time," she says.

"I'd been selling and making beaded silk scarves and had a little stall in Bath Market, and my daughter Fabienne had been working in a bead shop in London.

"After a couple of winters at the market I knew I wanted to be indoors, and my daughter wanted to move out of London.

"We decided to pool our resources and open a shop nearly nine years ago. My daughter came down to run the shop, but last year she decided she wanted to move on and at the same time I was ready to leave my job.

"I suppose this had been my exit strategy for a long time. I took the leap, and it wasn't quite as nerve wracking as I thought it would be."

The time when Vicky took over running the shop coincided with the credit crunch – and a noticeable change in the way in which people shopped in BDelicious.

"Normally we'd sell lots of jewellery at Christmas, but in Christmas 2008 we hardly sold a single piece," she says.

"Instead, we sold a lot of beads that people could use for making their own jewellery. It seemed they wanted to use their creative skills. Making jewellery has become very popular. Three magazines have been launched in recent months which are specifically about making jewellery."

At the same time, Vicky has also noticed an increasing number of people have been bringing jewellery in to BDelicious for repairs.

"Everyday I probably have four or five pieces coming in to be mended. Instead of buying new jewellery, people are thinking that they can wear something they already have, and are bringing it in and getting it repaired, or having it remodelled.

"For instance, one woman came in with an elasticated cuff with big stones. She said she liked the stones but didn't like the bracelet, so we remodelled it into earrings and a necklace."

In the past six months customers have been buying more jewellery again. However, with the growth in making jewellery and repairing old pieces in mind, Vicky is now organising what she calls "jewellery amnesty" workshops for people to learn how to recycle old pieces of jewellery to create new ones.

"Everyone has broken jewellery that they love. A lot of the jewellery has no intrinsic value but it has great sentimental value," she says.

"The idea of the jewellery amnesty is for people to come with old or broken pieces of jewellery.

"They can learn how to redesign the pieces they like by reviving the things they like and can put things they don't like into the amnesty box to be used towards creating new pieces. We can provide materials they might need such clasps and earring hooks – and we can also provide advice and guidance."

Jewellery making workshops and one-to-one tuition are already offered at BDelicious.

"One-to-one is really interesting because people can learn specific techniques that they're interested in," says Vicky.

"A lot of people come in and say: 'I can't possibly do that'. We say: 'Yes you can', and show them how.

"A woman came in the other day who had this very definite vision of what she wanted. A couple of days later she came back saying: 'I can't make it work', but we helped her out and it did work."

Vicky – who has three children: Fabienne, 36; Sue, 30; and Tim, 29 – originally studied at art college and started working in fashion, including for a small fashion house in Paris, before going to work in the criminal justice system.

"I've always made clothes and jewellery, but I've learned a lot from working here," she says.

"There's something about working with beads that's very calming, even theraputic. We do lots of children's parties here and the children come in all hyper. Then they start making jewellery and it all goes right down because they're so intent on making their jewellery.

"Sometimes we get visits from an organisation that does work with young people who have had difficulties in life.

"I remember two teenage girls who came in – their eyes were dead. I could only guess at what they'd been through, but I could tell something really bad had happened to them.

"We worked really hard with them and brought out all sorts of beads out for them to work with. After a while I could see their eyes beginning to sparkle.

"I don't want to sound all 'hippy trippy', but we can definitely see a change in people, especially young people. They're very responsive.

"There's something very special about having something that you have designed and made; something that's yours."

For more information on the workshops visit www.bdeliciousbeads.co.uk or call 0117 929 1789.