Doreen's beads is a small home company. I (Doreen Ballard) design and hand make every piece using sterling silver, semi-precious stones, and Swarovski crystal.
Since approximately 1990, wearing jewellery with semi-precious stones was some sort of fashion in Hong Kong, where I lived until 2004. I joined the fashion wearing necklaces, bracelets, etc. At that time I was working for an import/export company, and had the opportunity to attend the International Jewellery show, held there every year. My interest and knowledge in semi-precious stones and freshwater pearls quickly grew.
In 2003 with my thousands of thanks to my best friend Linda, I joined a course on bead jewellery design and making, in order to help repair my broken heart. My passion for jewellery soon developed to include making and designing one-of-a-kind pieces using the Sterling Silver, freshwater pearls, and semi-precious stones for which I had a great passion. As you can imagine, my own personal jewellery collection soon started to grow from International jewellery shows too! My friends and relatives soon started asking me to make their own one-of-a-kind jewellery.
The following year I met Keith, my "Mr Right" on the Internet, and moved from Hong Kong to the UK, where we were married in 2004.
As well as now living happily together as a married couple, we also compliment each other as a business partnership, as Keith is involved in the Internet, and so was able to write and host the website for Doreen's Beads through his own company On-time Electronics & Entertainments Ltd
