Origin story of starting my first small business

I thought I would share the full story behind worry knot and how it all came to be. Throughout my adult life, I have struggled on and off with anxiety and I am a very keen advocate for speaking up about mental health and all that goes with it. I know a lot of people out there still feel uncomfortable opening up about mental health, although there has been huge progress in the past 5 years.

Amazing campaigns and organisations such as Time to Change, Mind and Rethink have really paved the way in creating real conversation and real change in recent years. Growing up in such a time where the progress in conversation mimics my personal journey is both fascinating and inspiring and I hope that one day in the future my grandchildren and their friends utter 'I'm feeling a little lost today, my anxiety has reered its ugly head' just as easily as 'I've hurt my shoulder' or 'I have a bit of a headache today'. One day this will be reailty. I am very hopeful.

With my anxiety, I have also had and developed a few bad habits over the years relating to chronic nail biting and picking. You may often see me with plasters or tape around my thumbs where I have been sat for hours picking away. Its not pretty but its real. Its me. I am still embarrased that I do this and wont openly tell everyone how I hurt my thumbs but to me it offers some temporary relief. Sometimes I go for weeks without doing it though! Great!

Anyway, this is the back story of how Worry Knot came to be. I knew I needed something to fiddle with, something that I can use to ease my anxiety easily wherever I go and create a healthier habit. I have always been quite creative and I love accesories, jewellery, crafting and fashion too.

One day when having a coffee with a dear friend, we were talking about wanting to make jewellery and how amazing it would be. We were discussing the idea behind jewellery that can be used as a therapeutic aid, as something you can fiddle with and help ease anxiety. My friend mentioned worry beads and a light bulb moment happened. I spent the journey home driving in my car thinking about either buying worry beads or even making myself a nice worry bead necklace or something.


Then I researched worry beads. Worry beads have been used in Greece for centuries to pass the time or ease anxiety. Pretty cool huh? A lot of the traditional ones are truly beautiful and the history behind them is wonderful. Some are even so rare that they can cost up to 10,000 euros and I really respect the historical and cultural singnificance of them.

There was just one downfall for me, they arent something I would usually wear or carry. They can look slightly chunky. I wanted to design a more modern take on worry beads, something you can still move and manipulate and swing but that look a bit prettier and discreet. Malas are also lovely but I want my jewellery to be less based on religion and prayer and more on the therapeutic properties that come with worry beads.

At this point I wanted to mention that my designs are aimed to merge worry beads with modern looking jewellery design and not be mistaken for traditional komboloi and their cultural significance, aesthetic or properties . As I say, a lot of my inspiration comes from komboloi but a lot of my inspiration also comes from beautiful jewellery design. I also love gemstomes and healing crystals for their colours and their symbolisms so I plan to use these themes throughout my collections and designs too. 

I also read some interesting articles about worry beads making a bit of a comeback in Greece in 2015 due to their recession.

It is only day 3 of this new venture and I am humbled by the kind responses, support and feedback I am getting but I know its very early days and I have so many ideas for my jewellery, I just cant wait to share my products and journey with you all. I hope that my products assist in the modern comeback of worry beads too and assist with alieving many others anxiety or damaging habits that can come with it.

I hope you are all staying safe, well and working from home if possible too. My worry bead jewellery may just come in handy at this time too, you can even gift it to someone else?

Thanks All! Emma x

emma@worryknot.co.uk