ALL THE DISCOS

Hello! And happy July! (I sure do hope its going to start acting like it at some point!) This week it is back to our Creative Q&As, and I’m sure excited to introduce you to the fabulous Steph from All The Discos – your one stop shop for all the 80’s inspired, bold, loud and beautiful jewellery that your heart may desire (in my case, I desire a lot…)!

Steph uses a gorgeous variety of fabrics, including luxury no-shed glitter, matte leatherette, cork and even hand painted wood. While designing and making all of her products, she chooses shapes which aim to reduce waste, and uses remnants, second hand and discontinued fabrics – so some items are limited or one of a kind!

And they’re also available as clip-ons, so all you babes with un-pierced ears can join the fun too!

So thank you to Steph for taking the time to feature, and I’ll leave her to introduce her business…

STEPH: All The Discos is a disco inspired accessories brand which seeks to help bring a bit of party into the everyday. So you could wear at the office, supermarket or festival and night out. Everything has a large dose of 80’s and early 90’s influence as it was such a huge time for fashion, film and TV and of course music! I love it all!

I have always had a creative side, I’ve grown up in a family of artists and very creative people so its definitely rubbed off. I spent many years working as a make up artist and have worked on many photoshoots and fashion shows and its definitely given me skills I am now bringing into my business. All The Discos started about 4 years ago and is always growing and evolving. Funnily enough, my earrings started life as Christmas decorations, and now they are adorning peoples ears all year round!

JANEY: I mean, I often find myself gazing at Christmas decorations in shops thinking about what good earrings they’d be, and have been known to sport a good lobe bauble myself. But also the opposite – I think I might display my ridiculous earring collection on the tree this year…

But back to discos and lightening bolts – please can you tell us what your design process looks like? Where do you find inspiration for your glorious products?

S: So, my inspiration can come from anywhere (my latest collection is inspired by my favourite Jem Doll from my childhood). Its a lot of trial and error and I don’t usually sketch my earrings first, I will get some scrap fabrics and try to play around making prototypes, looking at size, weight, comfort, how they hold up, all of it, there’s some rigorous testing! Once I am happy I will select my final fabrics and work out how to put everything together. There are lots of different techniques I use, I really love learning new skills, but everything is made by hand by me with love. 

J: Jem was such an icon!

I really like that not much sketching happens as part of the process, and that most of the time it is just you letting your creativity flow and seeing what happens – happy accidents are the best, and something is clearly working!

So as you say, music is something that influences your designs – please give us your top 3 songs on your making playlist… go!

S: Oh there is no way I could just choose three! But currently there’s some Paula Abdul, Belinda Carlisle and Kylie (always!) I am trying to get into the habit of posting my playlists on Spotify so you can follow me (All The Discos) to see what I am currently listening to.

J: Instant follow! (I spotted Mel & Kim on the playlist so it was a no brainer really…)

When choosing which lightning bolts to wear for the day ahead, are you more likely to pick up a pastel leatherette; some painted pattern; or all over glitter?

S: Today I am wearing Bright Confetti glitter ones, but yesterday I wore my hand painted grid Super Bolts. It definitely depends what I am wearing, another bonus of making prototypes and samples is that I always have plenty of options.  

J: Cor talk about perks of the job?!

Are you taking part in any events, markets or pop-up shops this year that we should keep an eye out for?

S: I am a member of Indie Roller, who are organising some fabulous online events this year. I am also a member of Pedddle and Tresstle so any markets I am taking part in will usually be on there. At the moment I am still waiting on dates for cancelled and postponed events from the last year so watch this space. I am also in the process of organising a pop up shop, I’ve done a couple before and loved it! Soon as I know I will confirm on my Instagram (@AllTheDiscos).

J: Eek this all sounds super exciting!! I cannot wait for more real life events, how did you find the virtual versions of that you took part in over the last year? Do you reckon they’re here to stay?

S: Luckily a lot of the organisers of my real life events quickly put together virtual ones. Others were organised through organisations like Indie Roller and Pedddle. I was asked to take part in a few which was great. I really hope they are here to stay as they give you an opportunity to spread your wings further. Just before lockdown started I was beginning to travel further for markets so they were a great way to keep that momentum going. I hope I can get back to that soon.

J: 100% agree (if you’d like to read more on the subject, I wrote 3 posts on virtual markets back in October. Read the first one here!).

So Steph, where can we get our own fix of the disco??

S: My website: www.allthediscos.com

I’m also a partner with And So To Shop so you can find my products there.

I have just launched my wholesale catalogue, so one of my main focuses is now on getting all my sparkles out far and wide to as many gorgeous indie shops as possible.

J: Yay! Sparkles for all!

I hope you were able to learn a little more about Steph and her fabby business, and that her products might find their way into your basket in the near future! Thank you so much for coming along, and please do go and give her a follow on Instagram, and tell her how phenomenal she is!

I’ll see ya here next week for another Q&A with the talented creative business owners we adore!

Janey