The Accessory Kids: The 10-year-olds taking creativity to the next level
By Kelsey McCabe
A group of primary school students have launched their own sustainable jewellery collection to raise money for their school.
The Accessory Kids are five 10-year-old students in Year 5 at John Ball Primary School in Southvale Road, Blackheath – Emma Conway-Pinto, Amaia Dunstan, Sia Chawla, Ben Gioe and Jasmine Stuckey.
The group work together to create sustainably sourced, handcrafted jewellery that they sell at cake sales, school fairs and Blackheath Creatives Shop in Montpellier Vale, Blackheath Village.
The children donate the majority of their earnings to John Ball Primary School, although founder Emma Conway-Pinto says they each keep a small amount as pocket money.
Amaia, who was the first of Emma’s classmates to join The Accessory Kids, said: “My favourite bit is when we get to sell the items. I love it because it brings all your inner creativity and you get to be with your friends, laugh and have fun.”
The materials for The Accesory Kids’ jewellery are a mix of donations from parents at their school and materials that they find for free online, while their crafting tools all belong to Emma’s mother.
Emma said that she hopes to eventually see The Accessory Kids expand to a stall in Greenwich Market or Bluewater Shopping Centre, as well as to recruit more of her classmates. But, she’s very proud of how far the business has already come.
She said: “It is very enjoyable and we make new friends.Â
“I feel proud and I love that my business started out with headbands and we now make different types of accessories. I love my school and I want to make it better for other children like me.”
The idea for The Accessory Kids began during lockdown in 2020, when Emma, then five years old, passed time doing crafts like painting, making face masks, and drawing short animations with her mother, Dana Pinto.Â
When her mother offered her headbands to up-cycle, Emma said that she felt her first spark of interest in creating accessories.
In October 2021, The Accessory Kids, originally known as The Art of Em, opened its first stall at the school’s cake sale, and has continued to sell their wares at school events, as well as at their stall at Blackheath Creatives.
Their latest collection will be on sale at Blackheath Creatives through the end of June.
Pictured top: Emma Conway-Pinto at The Accessory Kids’ stall at The Blackheath Creatives Shop (Picture: Dana Pinto)
Everyone at the South London Press thanks you for your continued support.
Former Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has encouraged everyone in the country who can afford to do so to buy a newspaper, and told the Downing Street press briefing:
“A FREE COUNTRY NEEDS A FREE PRESS, AND THE NEWSPAPERS OF OUR COUNTRY ARE UNDER SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL PRESSURE”
If you can afford to do so, we would be so grateful if you can make a donation which will allow us to continue to bring stories to you, both in print and online. Or please make cheques payable to “MSI Media Limited” and send by post to South London Press, Unit 112, 160 Bromley Road, Catford, London SE6 2NZ
