We met the amazing previous tenant called Nom who had been at 24 Market Street for 17 years, selling leather goods. He had decided that he would like to retire and live in the South of France permanently (nope we are not jealous of him). After meeting him and seeing the shop, our idea of having pop up quirky hand made silver jewellery shop turned into that of having a permanent jewellery shop, to be there whenever you need a friend to chat. The address is:
Yzill,
Unit 1/A, 24 Market Street,
Brighton,
BN1 1HH
(in between Bella Italia and Plateau and opposite The Town Hall).
The shop needed a bit of TLC and a lick of paint, we saw such potential that we fell in love with the space. We started the renovation in August and it took a month and above and below you can see the transformation from before to after to the bright and colourful shop we have now.
We wanted our shop to be as cheerful as possible so anyone who passes by the shop would see it and smile. They say that happiness is contagious and that you can spread it far and wide with smiles.
We can't wait to see you in person at our shop and we hope that you will make time to visit us very soon!
]]>We are so proud to be featured by Women's Business Magazine Dynamic in May/June 2020 Issue.
Dynamic Magazine is designed for women in business and, by women in business and launched in June 2019.
Dynamic Magazine is part of the Platinum Publishing Group, publishers of the largest circulation business magazine in the UK.
The answer is yes, but it’s probably not something you will notice on jewellery you wear regularly and keep polishing regularly with a soft silver jewellery polishing cloth. However, yes if left all sterling silver will tarnish over a prolonged period of time, as the components in the air, specifically hydrogen sulphide (a by product of fossil fuel use), will cause a blackening on the surface of the silver. The black is caused by silver sulphide. This can be removed by polishing the surface with a suitable polishing paste. In salt water if there is a copper part to the alloy, then the surface will tend to turn green, if this has thickened (i.e. with artefacts found under water or at the beach) it is quite difficult to remove this without losing the shape of the jewellery underneath, so care should be taken not to wear silver jewellery into the sea to swim, or in to swimming pools or jacuzzis, as the chlorine will react with the copper in the alloy and cause a green tarnish.
Sterling silver tarnishes when it is exposed to certain elements, commonly including sulphur in the air, which causes silver sulphide to form on the surface, which is black. Or when immersed in chlorinated or salt water the silver will tarnish due to exposure to chlorine or salt, typically this forms a green or black tarnish on the silver. So it is best to care for your jewellery by regularly polishing with a soft silver cloth, this will prevent build up of any silver sulfide on the surface and by not swimming or wearing your jewellery in chlorinated or salt water. If you do by accident, then as soon as you realise, rinse your jewellery in freshwater, and wash with a mild soap, if any discoloration has occurred then use a silver polishing paste to buff up and restore the tarnished area.
Perfume and your sterling silver jewellery will also not mix well, so be careful to avoid spraying or putting perfume on if you are already wearing your jewellery, if perfume touches the surface of the sterling silver it could cause tarnishing or discolouration.
Some sterling silver will be less prone to tarnish if the other metal used to make the sterling silver is a precious metal such as palladium, platinum or gold, they give resistance to tarnishing but are quite costly and therefore not commonly used.
You can also paint the surface of the silver with a clear varnish or lacquer to stop the elements in the air that cause damage reaching the silver, this treatment is used in museums to preserve silver artefacts that are on display, but it is not practical for the treatment of jewellery. Oils from the hand will prevent the lacquer sticking to the silver, so it will first need to be cleaned with alcohol. A typical lacquer used is one called Agateer No. 27 or cellulose nitrate.
No sterling silver will not rust, however it may discolour when it reacts with other chemicals in the air over a prolonged period of time, and it will discolour if worn in the sea to swim or worn in a chlorinated swimming pool or jacuzzi.
No silver plated jewellery will not rust, however it will discolour in a similar way to sterling silver if immersed in chlorinated water, or salt water. Then you have a big problem, because it will not be possible to repeatedly polish or repair silver plated jewellery, in fact they could be ruined by just one accidental immersion.
It depends whether you mean hopping in the shower, doing some washing up or going for a swim. Be careful when considering a swim in either a pool, or the sea, as both chlorinated water and salt water will cause discolouration to your silver. It’s not the water that causes the damage but the chemicals (chlorine) or the properties of salt water. The good news is that with sterling silver it is tough enough to withstand you polishing with a paste to bring back the shine of your silver.
No silver plated jewellery cannot legally be stamped 925, because 925 is a hallmark stamp for sterling silver jewellery, which silver plated jewellery is not. Silver plated jewellery just has a thin layer of plating, it is a cheap alternative, usually for costume jewellery and does not have good durability.
There is a big difference between the structure of sterling silver jewellery and silver plated jewellery. Sterling silver jewellery are items of jewellery that are made of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% additives (copper, nickel, or a combination of metals). Silver plated jewellery is a cheap, but not durable, alternative to sterling silver jewellery. Silver plated items are made of another kind of material like copper, nickel or brass that is coated with a very thin layer of sterling silver.
Silver plated jewellery and sterling silver jewellery certainly look very similar, especially if you don’t have much experience with precious metals, however you can separate them from each other by looking at the stamp or label.
Silver plated objects are normally labelled “EP,” “EPNS,” or “Silver on Copper.” In addition companies are not allowed to label silver plated items “sterling,” which is why the term “sterling plated” does not exist.
On the other hand, sterling silver is labelled “925,” representing its 92.5% silver content. Jewellery items over a certain weight must be hallmarked by the UK Assay Office.
In the long term sterling silver jewellery will look much better than silver plated jewellery, because if it becomes tarnished then you can polish it back to it’s full glory, however plated silver will not wear well when you polish it.
Silver plated jewellery is usually lighter in colour than sterling silver jewellery. For example if you hold two ring the same size and the same shape, sterling silver will be lighter.
Sterling silver jewellery is a far superior product with much higher value compared to silver plated jewellery. Due of it’s far higher pure silver content and durability, sterling silver jewellery holds it’s value over time. Sterling silver is a much better product, which is why sterling silver jewellery is more expensive than silver plated jewellery. Sterling silver can also be melted down, refined, and the silver content can be redeemed and up cycle to make a new jewellery.
Silver plated jewellery are more affordable in the first place, but they do not hold their value or retain their appearance at all well. This means that over time, silver plated jewellery will have very little or no resale value. Additionally, because the layer of silver in silver plating is very thin, reclaiming the silver through refining is barely worth the effort.
The persistent gender imbalance in the media continues. To pull back and look at it from it’s most base level, we can look at the cover of any men’s magazine, but let's take GQ for example, and see the differences in how the genders are portrayed.
While it is true that GQ is a men’s magazine and thus their target audience is not young women or really women at all, this is the perfect, albeit a tad obvious, example to look at when discussing gender in the media. These are just three examples, but there is an overarching trend in print that the less a woman wears the more someone will be interested in “what she has to say”, whether it’s really what she has to say or what her body is trying to tell you is also up for your own interpretation.
We are saying that it is time to wake up to what the media is doing. They are portraying men as strong, confident and macho and portraying women as fragile, non-dominant, or solely sex objects.
Women make the decision in the purchases* for:
94% of home furnishings
92% of vacations
91% of homes
60% of automobiles
51% of consumer electronics
There is gross inequality in representation of women in politics world wide. Women make up only 24 % of Members of Parliament (MPs) around the world.
In the House of Commons in the U.K., 32% of MPs are women. Worldwide, only 24% of people elected into any political office are women.**
When it comes to education women account for two thirds of the 750 million adults without basic literacy skills.°
Women own less than 20% of the world’s land. A survey of 34 developing nations by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization puts that percentage as low as 10. This is staggering if you consider that half of the world’s population is women. More than 400 million of them farm and produce the majority of the world’s food supply. Yet female farmers lack equal rights to own land in more than 90 countries.°°
Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least 1 in 3 women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. A global estimate by the World Health Organisation puts this figure at 35% and most of it is intimate partner violence. Risk factors that make men more likely to perpetrate violence are when they have unequal gender norms, including attitudes of accepting of violence, alongside other factors such as upbringing and a low level of education. Women are more likely to experience intimate partner violence if they have an attitude accepting of violence, male privilege and women’s subordinate status, alongside other key factors such being abused in childhood, witnessing their mother being abused and a low level of education. Yzill will support and empower women by offering confidence and skills work shops, these we hope will offer support and mentoring from the Yzill Foundation and their peers for disadvantaged women. °°°
This inequalities go on and on and highlight a central question about the role of women in today’s world. Why have women, who labour for two-thirds of the world’s working hours, produce half of the world’s food, and control about 70 % of global consumer spending, been unable to create a collective power or take a collective action in order to achieve social change. What is important in bringing all these women together is, somehow, to create a kind of collective power.
WE WILL NOT CHANGE THE WORKPLACE UNTIL WE SPEAK WITH ONE VOICE. WE HAVE TO BE OUR OWN BEST FRIENDS AND HONOUR WHAT OTHER WOMEN BRING TO THE TABLE. (DR. ELLA BELL)
References
*https://hbr.org/2009/09/the-female-economy . Accessed 18th November 2018
**https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/commons/media-relations-group/news/house-of-commons-to-hold-first-ever-meeting-of-women-mps-from-every-parliament-in-the-world. Accessed 18th November 2018
°(https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-and-gender-equality. Accessed 18th November 2018
°° https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/women-own-less-than-20-of-the-worlds-land-its-time-to-give-them-equal-property-rights/ . Accessed 18th November 2018
°°°https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women . Accessed 19th November 2018
]]>More and more people are recognising the unhealthy sexist and hetero normative stereotypes and messages that traditional fairy tales contain. Reportedly both Keira Knightley and Kristen Bell have criticised key storylines in classic fairy tales. Keira Knightley commented on the Ellen Show (17th Oct 2018) that her daughter was not allowed to watch several Disney movies with sexist portrayal of female leads, including 1950s Cinderella “because she waits around for a rich guy to rescue her.” The Little Mermaid is also banned in Knightley’s household because the character gives her voice up for a man.
Gender Stereotyping prevails in Fairy Tales and the most common themes are as follow:
Body Norms and Beauty
Princesses are portrayed as beautiful in every way, facially, with white skin, long hair and small feet. You’ve never seen a plus size Disney princess have you?
Evil Women are Ugly
Evil characters, commonly step mothers and step sisters, are female and are physically unattractive by societal norms.
Rescued By a Man
The lead, good female character is always portrayed as being saved by a Prince, or a man, and this is a romantic (positive) thing. The good female is generally submissive, accepting her lot in life, typically bound to the home.
Home Bound Women
Another disheartening commonality that Snow White, Belle and Cinderella share is their heightened domesticity. The only way Belle can save her poor father from the Beast’s entrapment is by becoming his house maid and Cinderella is bound to a life of floor-scrubbing while poor Snow White has to cater for seven male dwarves [https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/fairy-tales-children-stop-reading-parents-body-image-gender-roles-women-girls-sexism-a8067641.html] whilst passively waiting for her prince to appear and save her.
Marriage is the Ultimate
Marriage is the ultimate goal, giving negative role models for both women and men.
Sexual Aggression
Sexual aggressiveness or assault is acceptable and not a negative thing, for example in Sleeping Beauty the prince kissing princess in her sleep, in original version princess has baby in her sleep Giambattista Basile's "Sun, Moon, and Talia," the predecessor of "Sleeping Beauty," the princess actually wakes up when she gives birth to the children of the prince, who has raped her in her sleep [https://www.bustle.com/articles/149098-5-fairy-tale-tropes-that-perpetuate-sexism]
Polarization of Women – As Good or Bad
Polarization of the appearance of women according to their character, they are good, young, slim and beautiful or evil - old, fat (or usually not slim) and ugly by societal norms.
Women are Not Supportive of Each Other
Women do not help each other in life and are vindictive and competitive with each other, men ‘help’ (rescue) women who are young, slim and attractive, by marrying them. The theme is often that other girls or women are not to be trusted and are your competition. E.g. Cinderellas’ ugly sisters trying to stop her from going to the ball. In Snow White the Evil Queen doesn’t want Snow White to be more beautiful than her.
Lack of Sexual and Racial Diversity
Fairy tales typically display an absolute lack of sexual and racial diversity. Characters portrayed are almost inevitably white and straight.
Fairy tales are a common thread throughout the fabric of childhood in modern society. Most fairy tales have distinct trends that focus on validating women through their beauty, submissive and feminine behaviour while men are portrayed as strong, heroic and at times, violent. Rather than being a mere reflection of societal ideals, these fairy tales perpetuate Christian, patriarchal concepts as a means of maintaining the gender hierarchy. [Anthropology 324 Essay, Happily Ever After (or What Fairytales Teach Girls) pp.38-42, Alice Neikirk, accessed 31st January 2020, https://hilo.hawaii.edu/campuscenter/hohonu/volumes/documents/Vol07x07HappilyEverAfter.pdf]
The typical female lead character is submissive, accepting of her lot in life while waiting for the prince to appear and take control of her destiny.
In many ways, some of the more popular stories can be interpreted as an elaborate ‘beauty contest’, emphasising the message that a woman’s youthful appearance, especially when paired with her appropriately meek demeanour, is her most important asset (Lieberman, 1972)
Conversely, women that are not beautiful are a source of suspicion. The evil stepsisters in Cinderella are at least in the author’s mind, unattractive women compared to their attractive counterparts. In this respect, a character’s beauty makes them dangerous; their unappealing physical form sets them up for another form of victimization. Here again, one can assume that the authors have shifted the treacherous behaviour of men to the actions of other females (Deszcz, 2002).
The mutilation of the stepsisters’ feet in Cinderella also presents the notion that women will go to great lengths in order to undermine each other. This common theme sends a message to girls that they cannot trust one another, a message in approximately 17% of the tales (Baker, 2003). [Anthropology 324 Essay, Happily Ever After (or What Fairytales Teach Girls) pp.38-42, Alice Neikirk, accessed 31st January 2020, https://hilo.hawaii.edu/campuscenter/hohonu/volumes/documents/Vol07x07HappilyEverAfter.pdf]
Sadly things haven’t changed that much in modern media productions, typically women in films are portrayed in a sexist way and it is well documented they need a certain level of attractiveness to win the role in the first place.
Picture credit https://testkitchen.huffingtonpost.com/grimm/#