Tanya Tsikkos is an innovative jewellery designer and founder of EntityUK. She started a career in the care industry over 15 years ago, then ended up on a self-improvement journey herself during the pandemic, where she found comfort in designing and making uplifting and empowering jewellery pieces for friends and family, to evoke feelings of hope and to keep their spirits high.
She felt deeply passionate about helping people to transform their lives and found her jewellery making incredibly healing.
With her newfound skills and passions, she changed direction and found a new way of helping people through her jewellery designs and inspirational blogs. Her offerings provide support and strength to others in thoughtful fashion and inspired reading.
Tanya Tsikkos, Innovative Jewellery Designer
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
I would say that when the Covid19 pandemic struck, that was a real turning point for me. I am an empathetic and caring person by nature, and I have always felt deeply rewarded when helping others to live their best life. The pandemic cemented to me that I needed to do something more, for myself and for others, that would give us all a greater sense of wellbeing.
I found myself connecting more positively with my emotions, and coping better with isolation, whilst in the throes of creativity. Creating unique jewellery pieces with positive reminders for each unique individual I know, and gifting peace and hope to them when they needed it the most, proved to be an even more rewarding experience.
It felt right to move in this direction and my heart felt guided to pursue this as a career. And as part of this self-empowerment journey, I have found it very cathartic and therapeutic to journal my thoughts and feelings, which have now turned into inspirational blogs that I hope lifts others as much as it has lifted me.
Can you tell us more about the design process for your jewellery collections? What sets your pieces apart from other brands?
I often get inspired by the world around me. I am very observant and love the unusual, the quirky, and the imperfect. I use these observations when looking for innovative design ideas.
Each piece I make is unique and stands out in its own beauty, and this is what sets my pieces apart from other brands. You won’t find anything else in any way the same as my creations.
I choose the reminder for each piece according to its style and character, and as it is a trend that sets itself, it is something that will call out to its owner when picked.
How do you engage with your customers and build a loyal community around your brand?
I feel it’s important to be authentic when interacting with my customers and when building trust through the brand itself. For example, I’m always mindful when using social media and try to consistently show up and share valuable content. I keep my promises too. Whenever I host a competition, or engage in random acts of kindness, I honor each thing I set out to do and follow up afterwards, to make sure that all is well. I proactively listen to my customers' needs and provide the best customer care.
The important thing is to always be transparent and relatable.
What has been the most challenging aspect of running an online jewellery store, and how have you overcome these challenges?
Well, that is a great question! To be honest, I have found the whole thing incredibly challenging. From creating a website and having to learn all about SEO’s, to social networking and photography, this has been a very insightful experience. But one that has made me realise that I can do more than I thought I could, through sheer dedication and passion.
Sometimes the toughest thing is to trust yourself and push through the unknown, but only when you do that do you see that anything is possible.
