An interview with ear designer Abby Summerville
(and founder of Helix and Conch)
Edit: Abby very kindly gave me a discount code to share with my followers! Either use this link or use the code ENTHUSIAST20 for 20% off plated items1 :)
I am constantly fascinated by the jobs people do, and overjoyed by the fact that I get to talk to people about said jobs. A few months ago I posted my chat with Helen, a honey sommelier:
and today I’m back talking to Abby, the founder and owner of Helix and Conch. Helix and Conch exclusively sell dainty earrings, and have app(ear)ed2 on celebrities such as Nathalie Emmanuel, Lily Allen, Myleene Klass,
, and more.So where does ear design come in? Well, one day, after receiving her umpteenth customer message featuring a picture of their ear and a message asking “what do you think would suit me???” Abby launched her ‘ear design’ service, where she will create a suggested ‘stack’ for your particular ear and style. As someone who’s aiming for many more piercings (and who still recalls with vivid embarrassment the time she was refused piercing in the window of Claire’s Accessories a decade ago because of the scar tissue she had from previously closed up holes), but has never thought about her ear as something that could be designed, I wanted to know more.
Hi Abby! Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a 46 year old mum living in Bedfordshire with my partner and two sons, who are 7 and 13 and our nutty Hungarian Vizsla who is 2. I’m a sucker for pretty things, whether it be make up, bags, jewellery or homeware, and I am addicted to Halo Cookies & Cream ice cream…
What did your “career path” look like pre-ear design?
I left school halfway through my A-Levels as I was the least academic person I knew, and wanted to ‘do’ rather than learn.
I went straight to Cambridge Business College as I wanted to be Richard Branson’s PA (!!) so I did all the RSA exams (I can still type around 104 words a minute) but then fell into a temping role at a highly entrepreneurial-led company that sold all those little products we pilfer from hotels! I sat on the reception desk for a day before the Owner overheard me on a call and told me I was a sales person, not a receptionist — and the next day I was at the Lanesborough 5 star hotel in London selling slippers and shampoo to them…
I was in sales from 19 years old until the present day and having worked mainly with entrepreneurs, I’ve learnt more about real life business than I could ever have learnt in an academic setting. With all this knowledge I decided to become self employed and set up a Brand Consultancy. Here I helped small brands launch, doing their branding, working with them on their product formulations, marketing and sales plans and then getting them into retail stores. I worked with some amazing men and women, one of my favourites being Josh Wood, colourist to the A listers. Sales just seemed to be ‘the one’ for me.
Talk to me about ear design. What is it? How does it work?
So many people get their ears filled with lots of piercings, but then when it comes to upgrading their jewellery once they can remove the piece they were pierced with, they get a bit overwhelmed. I launched an ear design service where you send me a picture of your ears with the measurements of holes to edge of lobe, your style, metal colour preference, sparkly or simple etc, and I will then create your ear stack. I send it to you with links to all the products on my website so you can go shopping if you choose to. If you have asked me for ideas for where to have your next piercing, I will also do that if your piercings need balancing out!
What do you love most about your job?
It doesn’t feel like a job! I love that I have built a wonderful community, that many of my followers on Instagram talk to me like we’ve known each other for years, and some of them I have now as they ordered from me in my first year and a couple of them have hit the 25-26 order mark! I started it in 2019 as a side hustle whilst I was in a 4-day-a-week senior Sales Director role, but in 2022 H&C had grown so considerably (I started with £400 for the whole launch and grew to 6 figures in 2.5 years) that I quit the job and went full steam into my own business. My sons no longer have to go to aftercare, their mum is happier, less stressed, basically I am now dancing to the beat of my own drum, and I never work weekends or past 5pm. That is a hard no from me.
And finally, a question I always used to ask on my podcast: what are you enthusiastic about outside of work?
Travel, walks with the family and dog (the dog prefers it to the sons!) and good natters with my friends…working on your own can be pretty lonely, so I value my time with my friends more than ever. I also love going to see Marvel films with my 13 year old…I said to him the other day ‘I need to make the most of films this year with you as you certainly won’t want to be going with your Mum when you’re 14’ and thankfully he said ‘yeah I will, you are my cinema buddy, I will just watch the film twice’. That works for me!
Thank you Abby for answering these questions — off to stare existentially (in a good way) at my ear now! You can check out Abby’s jewellery and ear design services at helixandconch.co.uk, and follow her on instagram and Pinterest.
solid gold and sale items not included
sorry not sorry for that pun